19 h. ago A Harvard scholar’s ouster exposes a crisis of institutional integrity | Eric Reinhart

The dismissal of a a renowned health leader who refused to ignore Palestine highlights false claims of universality in human rights, global health and academiaLast Tuesday afternoon, Dean Andrea Baccarelli at the Harvard School of Public Health sent out a brief message announcing that one of the country’s most experienced and accomplished public health leaders, Dr Mary T Bassett, would “step down” as director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. The email struck a polite, bureaucratic tone, thanking her for her service and offering an upbeat rationale for a new “focus on children’s health”.It omitted the fact that, according to a Harvard Crimson source, Bassett had been asked to resign just two hours earlier and instructed to vacate her office by the end of the year. The decision was not a routine administrative transition. It was the culmination of a year of escalating pressure on the Center for Health and Human Rights for its work on the health and hu...

Events

46 h. ago This is another ‘ozone layer’ moment. Now, we must urgently target methane | Mia Mottley

The oil and gas industry must be legally bound to cut methane emissions. With climate tipping points approaching, time is running out • Mia Mottley is the prime minister of BarbadosThe timing is brutal. Just as the world celebrates the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris climate agreement this month, new evidence shows that the world is crashing through the main defence that was constructed against climate catastrophe.The three-year temperature average is – for the first time – set to exceed the Paris guardrail of 1.5C above preindustrial levels. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2025 will join 2023 and 2024 as the three warmest since the Industrial Revolution, reflecting the accelerating pace of the climate crisis.Mia Mottley is the prime minister of Barbados Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago ‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement

The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurableTen years on from the historic Paris climate summit, which ended with the world’s first and only global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it is easy to dwell on its failures. But the successes go less remarked.Renewable energy smashed records last year, growing by 15% and accounting for more than 90% of all new power generation capacity. Investment in clean energy topped $2tn, outstripping that into fossil fuels by two to one. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago The Paris climate treaty changed the world. Here’s how | Rebecca Solnit

There’s much more to do, but we should be encouraged by the progress we have madeToday marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris climate treaty, one of the landmark days in climate-action history. Attending the conference as a journalist, I watched and listened and wondered whether 194 countries could ever agree on anything at all, and the night before they did, people who I thought were more sophisticated than me assured me they couldn’t. Then they did. There are a lot of ways to tell the story of what it means and where we are now, but any version of it needs respect for the complexities, because there are a lot of latitudes between the poles of total victory and total defeat.I had been dreading the treaty anniversary as an occasion to note that we have not done nearly enough, but in July I thought we might be able celebrate it. Because, on 23 July, the international court of justice handed down an epochal ruling that gives that treaty enforceable consequences it never had before. I...

Politics

6 d. ago Economic growth no longer linked to carbon emissions in most of the world, study finds

Analysis marking 10 years since Paris climate agreement underscores effectiveness of strong government policiesThe once-rigid link between economic growth and carbon emissions is breaking across the vast majority of the world, according to a study released ahead of Friday’s 10th anniversary of the Paris climate agreement.The analysis, which underscores the effectiveness of strong government climate policies, shows this “decoupling” trend has accelerated since 2015 and is becoming particularly pronounced among major emitters in the global south. Continue reading...

Economics

1 week ago Inside the climate group working everywhere but DC: ‘You can still have huge wins’

Climate Cabinet supports candidates in state and city races as the federal government ignores the climate crisisWith a president who has called climate change a “hoax”, refused to send a delegation to international climate talks, and packed the federal government with former fossil fuel industry employees, this can feel like a dark moment for climate action in the US. But shifting one’s focus to local and state law makes for a very different outlook.Analysts have estimated that 75% of the commitments that the US made at the Paris climate agreement – which Donald Trump pulled the nation out of as soon as he took office – can be reached entirely without federal support. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Cop30 delegates ‘far apart’ on phasing out fossil fuels and cutting carbon

President of talks urges ministers and high-ranking officials to find common ground as conference nears its endCop30 live – latest updatesClimate crisis talks look likely to stretch well into the weekend in Brazil, with countries still far apart on the crucial issues of phasing out fossil fuels and cutting carbon.The Cop30 president, André Corrêa do Lago, urged ministers and high-ranking officials from more than 190 countries to find common ground: “We need to preserve this regime [of the Paris climate agreement] with the spirit of cooperation, not in the spirit of who is going to win or is willing to lose’” he said. “Because we know if we don’t strengthen this, everyone will lose.” Continue reading...

Politics