The climate threat • Global challenges

Coral Reefs Can Recover – If Warming Is Kept Below Two Degrees

The Great Barrier Reef is expected to suffer a rapid coral decline by 2050, but could recover if global warming is kept below two degrees compared to pre-industrial levels. This is shown by the most detailed model yet of the reef's future, according to The Guardian.

The results contradict the widely held belief that the decline for the reef will be irreversible if warming exceeds 1.5 degrees. But the scientists warn that the reef's natural ability to recover will be overwhelmed if warming passes two degrees. A UN report from earlier this week shows that current climate policies will lead to a warming of around 2.8 by the end of the century.

– If we continue on the path we have set, a very bad and bleak future awaits corals, says one of the study's lead authors, Peter Mumby at the University of Queensland. 

Mosquito infection spreads in Europe – cases in 14 countries

The mosquito-borne West Nile virus is moving north due to climate change. In Europe, 14 countries have reported cases of locally acquired cases in humans this year, writes TT.

In total, there are 989 cases up to October 3. Over 700 of them were reported from Italy. Other affected countries are Greece, Serbia, France, Croatia and Turkey, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Later, two cases were also noted in Germany, one of which was in Berlin.

Klara Sondén, an infectious disease physician and deputy state epidemiologist, says that the public should stay updated. Although the risk of infection in Europe is small, it is no longer zero.

– If you go on a week-long holiday in Europe, for example, you would be very unlucky to get infected during that short period of time.

The virus can cause flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache and muscle aches, nausea and vomiting.

China may have reached a turning point – emissions appear to be decreasing

China's greenhouse gas emissions appear to be on the decline, reports Ekot. If the trend continues, 2025 could be the first year when the country's emissions are lower than the year before. In that case, it would happen five years earlier than the country promised.

- The peak of China's emissions may be reached right now, says Kate Logan, an expert on China's climate policy at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington.

According to her, the main reason for the decrease is China's investments in green technology, such as solar energy and batteries. Green technology currently accounts for ten percent of China's GDP.