EurekAlert! Climate Change - Latest News Releases

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Sep-2025 16:11 ET (21-Sep-2025 20:11 GMT/UTC)

Climate interventions to save our oceans need stronger governance, experts warn

University of Melbourne
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Climate interventions are accelerating in our oceans – but without responsible governance, they could do more harm than good, according to new research.

Journal: Science

Do you want to freeze a cloud? Desert dust might help

ETH Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers discovered a clear pattern that shows how desert dust particles facilitate ice formation in clouds. This discovery highlights the importance of aerosols for understanding cloud behaviour, predicting precipitation, and assessing the role of clouds in climate change.

Journal: Science

AMS science preview: New lightning record, fewer hurricanes, fire forecasts

American Meteorological Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research published "early online" in journals of the American Meteorological Society includes breaking news of a lightning "megaflash" distance record, as well as new findings on tornado climatology, hurricane frequency, Colorado River water, reducing the urban heat island, how pay gaps impede firms' adaptation to climate risks, AI weather prediction, and successful carbon reduction efforts in China.

Journal: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Ocean oxygen decline threatens deep-sea fish populations and ocean health, new study warns

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The ongoing decline in ocean oxygen levels is intensifying due to climate change, significantly impacting marine ecosystems, including mesopelagic fish populations. This could disrupt marine food webs, fisheries, ocean health, and the ocean’s capacity to store carbon.

Journal: Communications Earth & Environment

UN Plastics Treaty: Will the negotiations in Geneva finally achieve a breakthrough?

Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Business Announcement

From 5 to 14 August, representatives from over 170 countries as well as from science, civil society and industry are meeting in Switzerland continuing the negotiations for a legally binding agreement to tackle the global plastic pollution. Dr Melanie Bergmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), has been involved in the negotiations since the beginning as part of the German delegation and the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty: "Ideally, we will achieve in Geneva that the global community, or at least large parts of it, commit to a strong agreement that is based on scientific facts and recognizes how harmful plastic are to humans and nature."

First eLTER Science Conference charts a new path for whole-system environmental research

Pensoft Publishers
Meeting Announcement

Over 350 researchers from more than 30 countries gathered in Tampere, Finland, for the first eLTER Science Conference (23–27 June 2025), organised by the European Long-Term Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (eLTER RI). Under the theme “Towards a Whole-System Approach for Ecosystem Science,” the conference launched the WAILS concept to unify in-situ environmental observation across disciplines. With an interdisciplinary programme, hands-on field visits, and a focus on sustainability, the event marked a key step toward more integrated responses to climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

Funder: European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme

Large study uncovers specific impacts of flooding on older adult health

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research examining 17 years of data from Medicare hospitalization claims and major flooding events finds increased rates of skin diseases, nervous system diseases, and injuries or poisonings among adults aged 65 and older following major floods.

Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health
Funder: Harvard Data Science Initiative, Harvard Graduate Prize Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health

How cumulative heat exposure affects students

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A holistic approach reveals the global spectrum of knowledge on the impact of cumulative heat exposure on young students, according to an article published July 30 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Konstantina Vasilakopoulou from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, and Matthaios Santamouris from the University of New South Wales, Australia. The article aims to shed light on the social and economic inequalities caused within and across countries, the potential adaptive measures to counterbalance the impact of overheating, and forecasts about the cognitive risks associated with future overheating.

Journal: PLOS Climate

Increasing solar power could lead to significant cuts in CO2 emissions

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Increasing solar power generation in the U.S. by 15% could lead to an annual reduction of 8.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The researchers found that the climate benefits of solar power differ markedly across U.S. regions, pinpointing where clean energy investments return the greatest climate dividends.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health

Weathering change: Fewer cold fatalities, more heat emergencies in California

University of California - San Diego
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Rising temperatures in California are causing fewer cold-related deaths, outweighing heat-related deaths. But hotter temperatures are increasing emergency department visits, placing a greater burden on the healthcare system, report UC San Diego and Stanford University researchers.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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