In The News

The wildfires burning across Europe and North America highlight the urgent need for action now – as climate change, land-use pressures and human activity make severe fires more likely in the future.

Climate-driven disasters are reaching “nightmare proportions” due to humanity’s “addiction” to fossil fuels, a top UN official warned on Tuesday.

With fewer than five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new UN report says sustained investment and international cooperation have improved billions of lives, but warns that governments must urgently accelerate action if the goals are to be met by their 2030 deadline.

The tropics are among the planet’s most vital regions. They are home to around 80% of global biodiversity, nearly half of the world’s forests, and a rapidly growing young population.

What’s on your plate may not always be what it seems. As seafood travels through increasingly complex global supply chains, opportunities for fraud grow - from mislabeled species and diluted products to counterfeit brands and illegally sourced catches.

A new UN report argues that cutting emissions from buildings and construction is not only essential for tackling climate change, but could also reduce energy costs, improve living conditions, and make housing more affordable worldwide

As the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu battles rising sea levels that threaten to put large parts of the island entirely underwater by the end of this century, its citizens are making efforts to safeguard their future while preparing for the worst impacts of climate change

All-time high greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere continue to drive heat records on land and sea, with long-lasting consequences for humanity, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Monday.

In Georgia’s Kakheti region, winemaker Sophio Khutitdze is cutting pesticides through FAO-backed sustainable vineyard practices, boosting safer, higher-quality wine production.

Almost two decades in the making, an international agreement to protect and sustainably use marine life in international waters and the international seabed is due to come into force on Saturday, marking a major step forward in efforts to ensure the health of ocean ecosystems for decades to come.

Some two decades after a shaky political transition, Iraq today is a country “at peace, with increased security and a clear determination to win the battle of development,” says the UN resident coordinator for Iraq on Wednesday.

Across southeast Asia, record-breaking rains and flooding caused by back-to-back tropical storms have claimed hundreds of lives and brought devastation and displacement upon entire communities, UN agencies said on Tuesday.

In a pivotal outcome at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, countries agreed on a sweeping package to scale up climate finance and accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement – but without a clear commitment to move away from fossil fuels.

In Belém, Brazil, as the world turns its eyes to the Amazon where COP30 has been underway for the past week, one question looms large: can climate finance move from pledge to lifeline?

The second edition of UNEP’s Global Cooling Watch Report takes a deep dive into one of the decade’s most urgent challenges: surging heat, soaring cooling demand, and stark inequalities in access.

From Gaza to Ukraine and beyond, conflict has caused widespread death and destruction, but it has also devastated natural resources such as water systems, farmland and forests.

Available new climate pledges by governments have only slightly lowered global temperature rise over the course of this century, leaving the world on the path to a serious escalation of climate risks and damages.

As Hurricane Melissa moved north of Jamaica on Wednesday, the head of the UN team there said that preliminary damage assessments from the category 5 storm showed a level of devastation “never seen before” on the Caribbean island.

Amid deepening global divides and economic uncertainty, the United Nations called for stronger multilateral cooperation and sweeping reforms to global financial and governance systems, emphasising the need for a “networked, multipolar world” where equity and inclusion guide decision-making

By COP30 (10-21 November, Belem, Brazil), all countries that have signed the Paris Agreement must submit new climate action plans to help create a just, resilient, low-carbon future. To build momentum, the UN Secretary-General holds a Climate Summit (24 September), where leaders present these plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)