2. Ocean temperatures hit record high in February 2024, EU scientists say
Ocean temperatures hit a record high in February, with the average global sea surface temperature at 21.06 degrees Celsius (69.91 degrees Fahrenheit), the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. Marine scientists warned this week that a fourth global mass coral bleaching event is likely unfolding in the Southern Hemisphere, driven by warming waters, and could be the worst in the planet’s history.
Additionally, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been hit by a major coral bleaching event, with the results consistent with patterns of heat stress that have built up over summer at the biologically diverse site, a government agency said.
3. Water watch: Droughts across Asia, Africa and Europe
Asia: Bengaluru’s acute water shortage is slowing production at its garment factories, doubling restaurant water bills and forcing managers at some global firms in “India’s Silicon Valley” to accommodate unusual employee demands. Click here for the full Reuters article.
Africa: Zambia has drawn up plans to import and ration electricity as a devastating drought looks set to affect hydropower generation, the country’s main source of power, President Hakainde Hichilema said. Over in North Africa, Tunisia raised its drinking water prices by up to 16%, the official gazette said, in response to a drought that has lasted five years.
Europe: The Italian island of Sicily is grappling with severe drought as a lack of winter rainfall has strained reservoirs and inhabitants are having to stock up on drinking water. Some parts of the Iberian peninsula are at their driest in 1,200 years, a 2022 study showed, forcing officials to consider bringing in water by ship to Barcelona, as in 2008, for essential services such as hospitals.
4. EU underprepared as climate change risks mount, draft report says
Europe is in urgent need of stronger measures to prepare healthcare systems, farming and critical infrastructure for increasingly severe climate change, a draft report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) said.
Despite the rising temperatures and droughts in Europe, skepticism towards climate change and the green transition is greater in many European Union members than in neighboring countries, the European Bank for Reconstruction and (EBRD) has found.
Meanwhile, European Union countries agreed to jointly quit an international energy treaty over concerns that it undermines efforts to fight climate change, officials said.
5. Three Western states propose more water cuts to save Colorado River
California, Arizona and Nevada offered what they described as significant concessions on how much Colorado River water they claim, as their counterparts nearer the river’s source proposed more modest changes that would protect their rights. Click here for the full Reuters report.
6. EU provisionally agrees on law to cut packaging waste
The European Union has reached a provisional deal on a new law to cut packaging waste and ban single-use plastics, such as supermarket bags for fruit and mini hotel shampoo bottles in hotels, albeit with exemptions for certain sectors.
