View in Browser

Sign up for Reuters newsletters

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

As envoys gathered in Bonn, Germany, in early June to prepare for this year’s annual climate talks in November, average global surface air temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels for several days, the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said.

Though mean temperatures had temporarily breached the 1.5C threshold before, this was the first time they had done so in the northern hemisphere summer that starts on June 1. Sea temperatures also broke April and May records.

Temperatures broke June records in the Chinese capital Beijing, and extreme heat waves have hit the United States. Parts of North America were some 10C above the seasonal average this month, and smoke from forest fires blanketed Canada and the U.S. East Coast in hazardous haze, with carbon emissions estimated at a record 160 million metric tons.

This comes as a three-week-long heat wave in Mexico killed at least 100 people due to heat-related causes. Around 64% of the deaths occurred in the northern state of Nuevo Leon bordering Texas. Most of the rest were in neighboring Tamaulipas and Veracruz on the Gulf coast.

1. Climate nears point of no return as land, sea temperatures break records -experts

The target of keeping long-term global warming within 1.5C is moving out of reach, climate experts say, with nations failing to set more ambitious goals despite months of record-breaking heat on land and sea.

People walk across a street as temperatures rise during an unusual heat wave, in Monterrey, Mexico June 14, 2023. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

2. Heat wave in Mexico leaves at least 100 dead, authorities say

At least 100 people have died over the past two weeks in Mexico due to heat-related causes as temperatures climbed close to 50C (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country, the health ministry said.

3. EU to propose exit from Energy Charter Treaty over climate concerns

The European Commission is readying a proposal for EU countries to jointly quit an international energy treaty, after some governments already pledged to leave over climate concerns.

4. EU-Mercosur trade deal threatens Indigenous lands, activist says

A planned free trade deal between the European Union and South American bloc Mercosur risks increasing demand for farm produce from Brazil at the expense of Indigenous people’s land and rights, a leading activist said.

5. Canadian wildfire smoke spreads, 100 million Americans under air-quality alerts

Murky, dull skies loomed over tens of millions of Americans as smoke from prolonged Canadian wildfires drifted across the Midwest and East, causing unhealthy and, in some spots, dangerous conditions.

The Iraqi government, working alongside a U.N. agency, plans to grow up to four million mangrove trees in the Khor al-Zubair mudflats region, to undo years of ecological damage. Click on the image for the video.

A pandemic push and a subsidy surge have transformed the Netherlands from renewable energy laggard to Europe’s leading per capita user of solar panels, putting it on course to meet green goals after years of struggling.

While it faces growing infrastructure challenges to maintain the momentum, in May more than half of Dutch electricity and 20% of national energy was supplied by renewable sources. Both were firsts.

$1.5 billion

The World Bank said it had approved $1.5 billion in financing to accelerate the development of India’s low carbon energy sector. The financing will help India promote low-carbon energy by scaling up renewable energy, developing green hydrogen and stimulating climate finance for low-carbon energy investments, the bank said in a statement.

Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content.

Sustainable Switch is sent three times a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.

Want to stop receiving this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.
To manage which newsletters you’re signed up for, click here.

Reuters Terms & Conditions and Privacy Statement