Jul 30, 2019

Greta Thunberg to sail across Atlantic for U.S. and Chile climate summits

Rebecca Falconer

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted Monday that she can attend United Nations climate summits in the U.S. and Chile — after accepting a ride across the Atlantic in a high-speed racing yacht from the U.K.

The big picture: The 16-year-old previously told AP that she wanted to attend the summits in New York in September and Santiago in December, but she was struggling to figure out an environmentally friendly method of travel, as both planes and cruise ships have high emissions.

  • Thunberg intends to travel by train and bus to the annual UN climate conference in Chile with stops in countries including Canada and Mexic, per the Guardian. The BBC reports that Thunberg plans to stay in the Americas for 9 months and it's not known how she will return to Europe.

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Anna Mikulska

Investor pressure is driving climate action at fossil fuel companies

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

As the political urgency around climate change has grown, activist shareholders are increasingly pressuring fossil fuel companies to change how they operate.

The big picture: Climate-related reforms have received especially strong support from large institutional investors, yielding changes in disclosure, governance, compensation and more.

Go deeperArrowJul 31, 2019
Amy Harder

Why climate change is so hard to tackle: The global problem

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Democratic presidential hopefuls are calling for aggressive action to reduce heat-trapping emissions, while nations are facing pressure to ramp up commitments ahead of a major United Nations summit next month.

The big picture: Despite that fervor, progress on climate change remains elusive. We have cultivated a deep dependence on fossil fuels that have been driving Earth’s temperature up for more than a century, creating a problem whose mostly negative impacts are unfolding over more centuries.

Go deeperArrowAug 19, 2019
Ursula Perano

Democratic National Committee votes down climate-focused debate

Photo: Photo: Chris Conway/Getty

Democratic National Committee officials voted 17-8 on Thursday against a proposal to host a primary debate focused exclusively on climate change, according to HuffPost.

The big picture: Environmental activists, including the youth-led Sunrise Movement, have been pressuring the DNC for months to host a first-of-its-kind debate on the climate crisis. Top officials say it would open the floodgates to other single-issue debates on topics like health care and abortion rights, and also worry that it could harm the eventual nominee in the general election by alienating voters in states that rely on the fossil fuel industry, per HuffPost.

Go deeperArrowAug 22, 2019