CINEA will be holding virtual information sessions from 23-26 April 2024 to guide potential applicants through the LIFE 2024 calls for proposals. All relevant information regarding the event, including the programme, registration details and virtual networking. (More on cinea.ec.europa.eu)

Rising spending on militarization and defense is distracting from efforts to combat climate change. This is the complaint of some NGOs during an event in Brussels this week. The European Network Against the Arms Trade (ENAAT) and the Transnational Institute (TNI) organized the event based on data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which shows a significant increase in military spending to ⁤take into account the impact of European public military purchases on the weather . (LEANDRA FONTANA, more at meteogiornale.it)

Scientists are beginning to realize that the climate models they use to predict the rate of global warming are wrong, as temperatures are shown to be rising faster than predicted.

The world just recorded its hottest year on record, warmer than climate models expected, and with a heat wave sweeping the world this spring coupled with sea temperatures that have already surpassed all-time highs set just last year, this year looks set to be even worse. like last year, reports Berkely Earth in its temperature tracker. (By Ben Aris, more at intellinews.com)

Under the title "Bridging science, services and standards for a future resistant to climate change", the Climateurope2 festival was held in Venice, Italy, on March 11-13, 2024. This innovative on-site event, organized by the project, differed from the traditional scientific conference by incorporating artistic, capacity building and participatory activities. It included a combination of plenary sessions and interactive formats such as World Cafés. In addition, the marketplace allowed visitors to network and learn about other projects and initiatives. The festival served as an ideal platform to promote discussion and knowledge sharing between people from different sectors related to climate services. With a large turnout, many attendees lingered throughout the event. The input gathered will be invaluable in expanding the community network and identifying experiences to inform standardization recommendations. (More on climateeurope2.eu)

By focusing on root systems, researchers are aiming to create new plants using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool called SLEAP that can store more carbon for longer periods. For this exciting new study, scientists are using AI to optimize plants' natural ability to draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a crucial step in combating climate change and limiting global temperature rise. (Eric Ralls, more at earth.com)

A message on the state of the European climate 2023 , jointly published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service ( C3S ) and the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ), points to record high temperatures, heatwaves, fires and severe flooding that Europe will experience in 2023. It focuses on the adverse health consequences of heat stress and climate change, including a 30 % increase in heat deaths over the past 20 years, and calls for European health policies and measures. (More on climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu)

CO2news.sk is an important milestone in the Slovak climatological community. As an online platform, it deals with the issue of climate change and sustainability, bringing information, analysis and discussions on these important topics.

Tthe plants slowly suffocate, wither and dry up. They die en masse, the leaves drop and the bark turns gray, creating a sea of monochrome. Since scientists first discovered Xylella fastidiosa in 2013 in Puglia, Italy, killing a third of the region's 60 million olive trees – which once produced nearly half of Italy's olive oil – many of which were centuries old. Farms stopped producing, olive mills went bankrupt and tourists avoided the area. Without a known cure, the bacterium has already caused damage worth approximately 1 billion euros. (from Agostino Petroni and Regina Winter Poulsen in Puglia, more at theguardian.com)

Top UN officials launched a new global campaign to tackle the climate emergency on Tuesday, with social media influencers, indigenous leaders and corporate giants showing what they've done and what's to come.

Climate Promise 2025 aims to accelerate efforts from the local to the international level to take more ambitious steps to ensure that the global temperature does not rise above 1.5°, the target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the initiative, led by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), recognizes an important truth in the fight against climate change: "it's not all doom and gloom."

"Many countries have the will to take more ambitious climate action, but the world needs to mobilize to make sure there is a way," he said at the Under 1.5 by 2025: Launch event plan.

Hosted by actor Ato Essandoh, the event featured talks and pledges to action interspersed with videos broadcast from around the world, echoing a chorus of calls for world leaders to join in and keep the pledge. (More on news.un.org)

Negotiators from 175 countries began negotiations on Tuesday to agree on a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution, found everywhere from mountaintops to the depths of the oceans and in human blood and breast milk.

The world is counting on us to deliver a new treaty to catalyze and drive the action and international cooperation needed to secure a future free of plastic pollution," said Luis Valdivieso, chair of negotiations at the UN-led talks in Ottawa. Canada.

"Let's not fail," Valdivieso added as he opened the meeting, which runs until April 29.

Countries agreed in 2022 to finalize the first global treaty by the end of 2024 with concrete measures to combat plastic pollution worldwide.

The meeting in Ottawa is considered crucial as it is the penultimate meeting before the final round of talks in South Korea later this year. (Marion THIBAUT, more at phys.org)

As the EU's flagship funding for environment and climate action, the LIFE program is your chance to turn your ideas into reality – and if your project proposal is successful, you'll get a share of the €571 million available this year.

Sounds interesting? Go to LIFE Calls for Proposals to find everything you need to know for your project application. Don't forget to register for the upcoming virtual #EULife24 Info Day where experts will guide you through the process and give you detailed information on how to complete a successful application.

LIFE calls for proposals for 2024 are open from today (18 April 2024) - with indicative budgets:

Standard Action Projects (SAP)

• Nature and biodiversity – 155 million euros.
• Circular economy and quality of life - 65 million euros.
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation - €61.98 million.
• Transition to clean energy - 4 million euros.
• New European Bauhaus - 8 million euros.
• Environmental management - 10 million euros.

Coordination and Support Action Grants (CSA)

• Clean energy transition – EUR 77 million.

Strategic integrated projects (SNAP/SIP) – 150 million euros.

Technical assistance in preparation for SIP and SNAP (TA-PP) , replication , capacity building or legislative and political priorities – EUR 26 million

Specific operating grant agreements for non-governmental organizations – EUR 14 million. (More on cinea.ec.europa.eu)

Climate changes not only lose predictability, but also bring with them more and more anomalies. Some of them are hard to explain. Natural climate change has been known to researchers for some time. Evidence of it can be found deep underground in ancient sedimentary layers. The human contribution to these fluctuations cannot be denied either. Since the beginning of industrialization, it has thrown our atmosphere more and more out of balance and, especially in the recent past, has led to one extreme weather event after another.

Climate change makes predictions difficult

A number of climate models are currently in use, which are designed to predict the warming itself and the frequency of extreme weather events. A study published in March 2024 showed that these early predictions are not nearly as reliable as first thought. In fact, climate change is much more complex than we thought - and new findings clearly show what it means for us. (Philippa Ralla, more at futurezone.de)

The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) last month published its  State of the Climate Report 2023 , which not only confirms the concerns of most observers that global warming has reached alarming levels, but also offers ample evidence that climate change and its accompanying impacts are progressing much faster than originally thought.

RECORD YEAR

The WMO report shows that “2023 broke every single climate indicator.” The global average temperature in 2023 was 1.45°C ± 0.12°C above the industrial era average from 1850-1900. Readers will note that this is dangerously close to the 1.5°C temperature increase limit set in the Paris Agreement (PA) and reiterated in several subsequent scientific reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), beyond which climate change could reach dangerous and possibly irreversible levels. (D Raghunandan, more on newsclick.in)

The European Copernicus program published a study on the oceans and seas bordering the old continent this Tuesday, April 23. It turns out that their temperature has never been so high. The observation is brief: "in 2023, the average surface temperature of the seas and oceans across Europe was the warmest ever recorded", announced this Tuesday, April 23, the European Copernicus program, which is responsible for studying the consequences of global warming in the old Europe. Continent. (Maxime MAINGUET, more on ouest-france.fr)

A “staggering” number of workers, representing more than 70 percent of the global workforce, are likely to be exposed to health risks related to climate change and existing occupational safety and health (OSH) protections are struggling to keep up with the resulting risks, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

A message Ensuring occupational safety and health in a changing climate , says that climate change is already having a serious impact on the safety and health of workers in all regions of the world. The ILO estimates that, according to the latest available data (2020), more than 2.4 billion workers (out of a global workforce of 3.4 billion) will be exposed to excessive heat at some point in their work. When calculated as a share of the global workforce, this share has increased from 65.5 percent to 70.9 percent since 2000. (More on ilo.org)

As we celebrate Earth Day 2024, the world seems to be on fire. Literally, some regions are battling extreme wildfires, while others are drowning in massive floods. Sea levels are rising, temperatures are rising, and ice is melting. In all of this, it’s worth pausing to consider the internet’s relationship to climate change. On the one hand, the internet is a huge force for good, helping to reduce the greenhouse gases we can individually produce and connecting people around the world working on climate solutions. On the other hand, the internet, by its very nature, requires electricity to operate, and the devices we all use require the extraction of minerals and generate vast amounts of e-waste. And in the face of climate change, the internet infrastructure needs our help to keep running. (Dan York, more at internetsociety.org)

A recent analysis by Climate Analytics reveals that none of the G7 members are on track to meet their existing emissions reduction targets by 2030, casting a shadow over collective efforts to combat climate change.

Ahead of the G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers meeting in Venaria Reale, Italy, on April 28-30, the analysis highlights a significant gap between the current trajectory and the desired outcomes.

While the G7 aims to reduce emissions by 40-42 percent by 2030, current policies suggest that real success may fall short, reaching only 19-33 percent. (More on firstpost.com)