climate change

‘Super El Niño’ surges past records, threatening global weather upheaval

The Pacific Ocean is brewing what forecasters and climate scientists increasingly believe will be the most powerful El Niño event in modern history, with projections pointing to a peak that could far exceed any previously recorded episode and reshape weather…

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Uninsured climate losses pose growing threat to Europe’s public finances

Europe's increasingly volatile weather is creating a mounting fiscal burden that governments can no longer treat as a series of isolated emergencies, with uninsured losses from wildfires and floods threatening to become a permanent strain on already stretched public budgets.

Study finds elderly heat risks far greater than estimated

The health threat that rising temperatures pose to older people has been "dramatically underestimated," according to a modeling study published Tuesday in The Lancet Planetary Health by researchers at Stanford University.

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Europe’s heatwave summer could wipe out entire EU growth, bank estimates

Successive heatwaves are battering Europe's economy this summer, forcing nuclear power plants offline, choking river transport on the Rhine, and driving energy prices sharply higher across a continent already strained by US tariffs, Chinese competition, and the Iran war.

NOAA says 2026-27 El Niño could be strongest on record

Federal forecasters are sounding the alarm over a developing El Niño that could become the strongest on record, with far-reaching consequences for winter weather across North America and beyond.

European stocks hit records even as heat costs mount

Prolonged heatwaves and drought are exacting an unprecedented economic toll across Europe this summer, disrupting shipping, straining power systems, and devastating agriculture — yet financial markets have continued to climb to new highs.

Europe’s heatwaves cost businesses billions as insurance gap widens

Europe's intensifying heatwaves stripped an estimated €43 billion ($50 billion) from economic output last summer while triggering only about €500 million in insurance payouts, according to estimates published by Moody's, exposing a vast and growing protection gap that leaves businesses…

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Britain’s wildfires hit record levels as Europe’s fifth heatwave rages

Europe's fifth heatwave of the summer is affecting more than 300 million people across the continent, lasting longer than the deadly 2003 heat event that killed tens of thousands, while wildfires in Britain have reached record levels and severe drought…

Analysts warn French maize crop could halve, deepest EU loss in decades

A summer of relentless heat and drought across Europe is inflicting severe damage on agricultural production, with France's corn crop set to fall 35% to its lowest level since at least 1980, Britain bracing for its worst grain harvest on…

Odds of 2026 being hottest year on record jump to 69%, researchers say

An intensifying El Niño and the relentless march of climate change are raising the likelihood that 2026 will surpass 2024 as the hottest year in recorded history, according to a new analysis released Thursday by Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit climate…

Super El Nino’s worst crop damage expected to hit between September and December

A strong super El Niño is now underway, and its most damaging effects on global crop production are expected to land between September and December, raising the prospect of a new wave of food inflation across staple commodities including wheat,…

Microsoft slashes carbon removal purchases 80% amid AI spending surge

Microsoft has slashed its carbon removal credit purchases by roughly 80% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year, even as the company signed a new offtake agreement with wastewater-focused startup Crew Carbon, underscoring a…

Record El Niño threatens Latin America’s crops, trade routes

Latin America is bracing for what experts say could be the strongest El Niño on record, raising questions about how the climate phenomenon will reshape agricultural output, energy markets, and trade routes across the world's top food-exporting region. Reuters reported…

Record El Nino to fast-forward Earth’s temperature by a decade

This year's record-breaking El Niño will do more than intensify extreme weather around the globe — it will effectively fast-forward the planet's temperature to conditions scientists expect will become the norm by the late 2030s, according to an analysis published…

NOAA says record-breaking El Niño is now likely this fall

Federal forecasters said Thursday that a record-shattering El Niño event is no longer a distant possibility but the most probable outcome for the coming months, as ocean and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific continue to intensify at a historic…

2026 El Niño surpasses prior records as forecasts reach historic territory

A rapidly intensifying El Niño is accelerating toward what could become the strongest event in the modern record, with new ocean data showing the 2026 event has already surpassed the pace of the last Super El Niño in 2015-16. The…

France puts heatwave toll at up to €15B as EU losses mount

Europe's record-breaking summer of extreme heat threatens to wipe out an entire year of economic growth across the bloc, with new research estimating cumulative losses of around €180 billion — roughly 1% of EU GDP and nearly equivalent to the…

NOAA expands scale limit as Super El Niño nears record strength

The 2026–2027 El Niño is accelerating toward historic intensity, with the latest data showing sea surface temperature anomalies in the key Niño 3.4 monitoring region reaching +1.8°C — just 0.2°C below the +2°C threshold that defines a "very strong" event.…

FAO says record grain stocks blunt ‘super’ El Nino’s global food threat

The 2026 Super El Niño is tightening its grip across the tropics, prompting governments, aid agencies, and industries from East Africa to Southeast Asia to Latin America to escalate preparations for what forecasters say could be one of the strongest…

July 2026 was second warmest on record, UN says

The World Meteorological Organization declared Tuesday that July 2026 was the joint second warmest July on record globally, as extreme heat, drought, and wildfires ravaged large parts of the Northern Hemisphere and the UN agency warned that periods of dangerous…

Swiss Re warns Europe faces ‘chronic’ heat and wildfire risk

As Europe endures its fifth heat wave of 2026, Swiss Re Institute issued a warning on Tuesday about the "chronic" and potentially underestimated consequences of the continent's rising temperatures, with wildfire risk demanding particular attention from insurers and policymakers alike.

Greenhouse gases, sea level hit record highs in 2025, report finds

The American Meteorological Society on Monday published its 36th annual State of the Climate report, confirming that greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea level, and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2025. The peer-reviewed report, based on contributions from…

World’s oceans hit record July temperatures amid strengthening El Niño

The world's oceans recorded their hottest-ever July temperatures, driven in part by a strengthening El Niño in the Pacific that scientists warn could bring record sea levels to the California coast later this year.

Western Europe hit hottest June-July on record, EU monitor says

Western Europe experienced its hottest June-July period on record, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced Monday, as the continent battles devastating wildfires and braces for yet another heatwave amid a summer of escalating climate extremes.

Europe’s fifth heat wave could erase EU economic growth, Dutch bank warns

A fifth heat wave since May is bearing down on Europe this week, prompting red-level advisories across western, central, and southern portions of the continent and drawing warnings from economists that the cumulative toll of extreme heat could erase projected…

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British Columbia declares emergency as wildfire forces 20,000 to flee Okanagan

A fast-moving wildfire in British Columbia's Okanagan region forced more than 20,000 people to flee their homes and prompted the province to declare a state of emergency on Saturday, August 8, as flames destroyed homes, trapped residents, and overwhelmed communities…

Climate change made Spain’s wildfires 20 times more likely, study finds

Wildfires raging across Europe have burned more than half a million hectares this year and caused an estimated €15.6 billion to €19.1 billion ($18 billion to $22 billion) in total damage and economic loss, according to a preliminary assessment by…

‘Heatflation’ drives food prices sharply higher across South Korea and Europe

Prolonged extreme heat is sending food prices sharply higher across South Korea and Europe, reviving a phenomenon economists call "heatflation" — the fusion of heat and inflation — as record temperatures stunt crop growth, dry up rivers, and kill farmed…

Major insurers warn Europe’s wildfire protection gap is widening

As wildfires rage across two continents this summer, the insurance industry is sounding alarms about a widening gap between the cost of disaster recovery and the coverage available to protect homes and businesses. In Europe, where 75% of natural catastrophe…

Record European heat disrupts supply chains, markets

Record temperatures across Europe are compounding pressure on food prices, supply chains, and heavily indebted economies, with analysis suggesting total economic losses from extreme heat could reach €800 billion as the continent grapples with its worst summer of wildfires and…