Climate Threat Global Challenges

Coal power is declining in both China and India for the first time in 52 years

Both China and India stepped up their green energy production last year – and for the first time in half a century, coal power decreased in both countries at the same time.

This is reported by the climate analysis site Carbon Brief, which notes that the two countries together accounted for 93 percent of the global increase in carbon dioxide emissions between 2015 and 2024.

India reduced its coal power production by 3 percent and China by 1.6 percent last year. The decrease is expected to continue, as is the expansion of green energy.

China is striving for a cleaner energy system without wanting to risk its energy security, writes Bloomberg – although coal power decreased, a record amount of coal was produced last year, 1.2 percent more than the year before.

Algal Blooms Create “Regime Shift” in the World’s Oceans – Accelerating Climate Collapse

Global warming has caused algal blooms to increase by more than 13 percent per year over the past two decades, according to researchers at the University of South Florida. This in turn is darkening the deep oceans, changing their chemical composition and accelerating climate collapse, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.

“We are witnessing a global regime shift from a seaweed-poor ocean to a seaweed-rich ocean,” the study’s lead author, oceanography professor Chuanmin Hu, told The Guardian.

The researchers used AI technology to read 1.2 million satellite images of the world’s oceans taken between 2003 and 2022. The increase has accelerated since 2010.

The largest seaweed belt stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Congo River and is visible from space.

Threats to Species Diversity
Penguin breeding season is shifting rapidly

Penguins in Antarctica have dramatically changed their breeding season, new research published in the Journal of Animal Ecology shows. Some penguins have started breeding by as much as three weeks earlier, which appears to be a consequence of climate change.

The new pattern threatens to affect the penguins' access to food – and ultimately their survival.

“The changes are happening so quickly that penguins are at risk of breeding at times when their food is not yet available. This could lead to a lack of food for the penguin chicks during their first weeks of life, which could be fatal,” researcher Ignacio Juarez Martínez told The Guardian.