As #COP26 continues, @ftmag meets those working on the ground where climate change has reached an emergency point.
@simonmundy recalls the stories he learnt on his two-year, 26-country journey across the frontlines of the climate crisis ft.com/content/e3bfb9…
During Copenhagen’s COP15 in 2009, the Maldives' then-president Mohamed Nasheed chaired an underwater cabinet meeting. He wanted to show the world the effects rising sea levels would have on his 1,000-plus island country if we fail to cut carbon emissions ft.com/content/e3bfb9…
When Mundy met Nasheed in 2019, the president was pessimistic. After COP15 talks collapsed, he started doubting the impact of the UN’s climate summit. The COP approach of nearly 200 countries reaching unanimous consensus is a recipe for failure, he said ft.com/content/e3bfb9…
In the fishing village of Ilulissat Mundy met Konrad ‘Koni’ Steffen, who spent 30 years monitoring Greenland’s shifting ice sheet. He told him about how Swiss Camp, his outpost on ice which attracted visits from world leaders collapsed as temperatures rose ft.com/content/e3bfb9…
Around the Solomon Islands waters are rising by nearly 1cm per year. In the island of Taro communities have begun to relocate. Mundy spoke to some residents, and they told him they no longer felt safe but the cost of rebuilding was far above their budget ft.com/content/e3bfb9…
In Dhaka, saltwater intrusion is shattering rice farming communities. Increased flooding and cyclones has turned the soil salty; the crop is suffering. Farmers from the villages are pouring into the overcrowded slums of Bangladesh’s capital ft.com/content/e3bfb9…
These are just a few of the human stories behind the ‘greatest challenge of our history’. @simonmundy's 2-year journey – charted in his new book ‘Race for Tomorrow’ – has uncovered many more. Read on here 👉 ft.com/content/e3bfb9…
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In case you missed it, these were our most-read opinion pieces over the past year:
‘What caused a boat to get stuck in the Suez Canal? Perhaps it was the wind. But in hydrodynamics, size matters,’ wrote Brendan Greeley (Free to read) on.ft.com/2ZTArK2
‘If there’s a lesson to be learnt from Israel today, it is this: corona, in fact, is not over. This summer was just an intermission. Next comes winter,’ Mehul Srivastava wrote in one of our most-read opinion pieces this year (free to read) ft.com/content/c21e20…
Free to read: London's Sky Pool experiment is obscene, rubbing luxury in the faces of hard-working people in a deprived neighbourhood, opines the FT's Edwin Heathcote in one of our most-read opinion pieces of the year ft.com/content/02b0a9…
Up to a third of the projected global population of 9bn could be exposed to temperatures on a par with the hottest parts of the Sahara, according to research by scientists from China, US and Europe on.ft.com/3BEyaiC
Under the most extreme scenario, the southern US states would become much hotter, particularly those that border the Gulf of Mexico.
Central America would bear the brunt of the increase, with up to 20m people living in mean annual temperatures of 29C on.ft.com/3BEyaiC
Big regions of Canada and Alaska would experience warmer conditions by 2070.
These areas are now largely uninhabited and projected to remain that way without factoring in migration on.ft.com/3BEyaiC
COP26, the climate summit in Glasgow, is rapidly approaching.
We looked at the top 5 countries, emitting the most emissions and the pledges they’re bringing to the world stage: on.ft.com/3Bpsf0T
🇨🇳 China
🇺🇸 US
🇮🇳 India
🇷🇺 Russia
🇮🇩 Indonesia
China is the world’s biggest annual emitter, responsible for 23.9% (11.7bn tonnes) of annual CO2 equivalent.
In September 2020 it announced an intention ‘to achieve the peaking of carbon-dioxide emissions around 2030’ and to be carbon neutral by 2060 on.ft.com/3Bpsf0T
The US is the second-biggest emitter, and is responsible for 11.8% (5.8bn tonnes) of the world’s annual CO2e.
Under President Joe Biden, America has ambitiously committed to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 50-53% below 2005 levels by 2030 on.ft.com/3Bpsf0T
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his Budget at about 12.30pm. Here is what we know so far:
👉 The UK living wage will rise by 6.6% to £9.50 per hour
👉 There was a big increase in corporation tax in March so few big tax changes are expected ft.com/content/22c1bb…
Chancellor Rishi Sunak attributed the inflation rate to the pressures on energy prices and global supply chains ft.com/content/22c1bb…
Why are fully vaccinated people still testing positive and dying from coronavirus?
Right now you may be seeing a lot of misinformation about vaccines, so here's a reminder of what you need to know about 'breakthrough infections' and how vaccines work on.ft.com/3vlq24Y
Despite seriously reducing the number of symptomatic infections, vaccines do not completely erase the possibility of catching and getting sick from Covid on.ft.com/3vlq24Y
Fully vaccinated people can still get Covid but the cases are very rare. Estimates put protection against symptomatic infection, depending on the vaccine, at between 60% and 90% on.ft.com/3vlq24Y
How has the pandemic impacted climate change and what are world leaders and private companies doing to mitigate its effects? Watch the conversation between our reporters @lesliehook and @CamillaHodgson as they answer these questions and more instagram.com/p/CTm5OIrKa3v/
How do we process the changes brought about due to the pandemic? Watch the conversation between @ftweekendpod host @lilahrap and psychotherapist @EstherPerel in which Esther gives practical tips for how to adjust to new dynamics, and how to maintain hope instagram.com/p/CULKKCcJXdq/