Clean energy, carbon capture, green hydrogen, and the tech racing to cool the planet.
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A World Weather Attribution analysis published August 20 found that human-caused climate change added roughly 2°C of warming to the Mediterranean and 1.4°C to the seas around western Europe this summer. The findings are the clearest attribution signal yet that coastal ecosystems and extreme weather are now structurally reshaped.
Adam Scaife says he has 'never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts' — the Met Office expects 2027 to replace 2024 as the hottest year on record, while Indonesia is already burning through 200,000+ hectares and Sri Lanka is trucking water to 72,000 people.
NOAA's August 13 update puts the probability of the developing Super El Niño becoming the strongest on record at nearly 70 percent, with global sea-surface temperatures already at a new preliminary high as of August 5. The same week, Iran reported more than 30 deaths from August 12–13 flash floods that swept across multiple provinces.
A Stanford-led modeling study published August 18 in The Lancet Planetary Health finds that elderly people face far more dangerous heat than existing models predict. At 1.5°C of warming, 22 percent of people over 60 — a billion people — would be exposed to unsafe heat for at least a month every year; at 3°C, the worst-hit regions would face dangerous heat day and night for three straight months.
Antarctic sea ice extent collapsed to its lowest level on record in August 2026, with a peer-reviewed study this week attributing the drop to a triple combination of surface warming, intensified circumpolar winds, and ocean heat content in the Southern Ocean. The decline coincides with a reported Greenland Sea cooling trend.
Greenland's government said August 12 that approvals cannot be completed in time for the 2026/27 season, forcing Greenland Energy Co. and partner 80 Mile to postpone drilling in the Jameson Land Basin until winter 2027.
More than 135 million people across Europe face temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius on August 13 as the UK and France endure their fifth heatwave of the summer, with forecasters warning of the UK's hottest day of the year.
Romania disconnected its last operating reactor at the Cernavodă plant on August 13 after record-low Danube water levels, cutting a fifth of the country's power supply with no restart expected within 10 days.
Bloomberg's running tally confirms that more than 25,000 people have died across Europe in 2026's record heat, with the United Kingdom hitting 38.1C on August 12 and France logging its third-longest heatwave on record at 17 days.
The UN's weather agency warned on August 11 that extreme heat periods are becoming more frequent, intense and longer-lasting, as data compiled by Bloomberg showed heat has killed more than 25,000 people across Europe this year, Reuters reported.
The planet ran 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average last month, matching July 2024 — with Copernicus ranking it second-hottest and a 61 percent chance 2026 finishes second or third overall, NOAA calculated.
Western Europe's average June-July temperature hit 21.62 degrees Celsius, breaking the 2022 record, while July posted the highest average sea surface temperature ever recorded for the extra-polar oceans, the EU's Copernicus agency said.
The EU's climate monitor confirmed Western Europe endured its hottest June-July on record, and Bloomberg-compiled data puts this year's heat-related death toll across Europe above 25,000 as record daily global temperatures continue to fall.
New solar and wind generation continues to outpace grid capacity in the state, with first-half curtailments up sharply year over year even as battery storage capacity grows around 70% annually, underscoring the transmission crunch.
The 36th annual State of the Climate report puts CO2 at 425.6 ppm — up 53 percent from preindustrial levels — with sea level at a 14th consecutive record year and 87 percent of the ocean surface touched by marine heatwaves.
Firefighters used helicopters to battle a blaze in a protected reserve 65 kilometers from Belgrade on August 7, as a European heat wave pushed temperatures past 40°C, dried the Danube to record lows and forced Hungary to idle its only nuclear plant.
World Weather Attribution found climate change made July's severe fire weather in Ontario and the Northwest Territories about twice as likely — and the worst NWT week 27 times more likely — with similar events now expected every 2-6 years instead of every 40.
Authorities arrested a man on suspicion of arson linked to the largest of three wildfires around Spokane, Washington, where about 67,000 people have been displaced and up to 1,110 structures destroyed, officials said August 4.
Italy has placed every major city on its highest heat alert, Austria has recorded its hottest day on record at about 41°C, and Hungary is cutting power use as a heat wave grips the continent, Reuters and CBS News report.
Water levels at key Rhine gauging stations hit their lowest since records began, matching the 2018 crisis at the Kaub chokepoint. The Danube and Po are at multi-decade lows, threatening shipping, power plants, and car factories.
Mitti Labs raised $9.5 million in Series A funding led by Aramco Ventures to expand its GeoAI platform, which helps smallholder rice farmers reduce water use by 40% and methane emissions by more than 50%.