Systems-thinking study identifies agricultural practices that threaten soil health and global food supply
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The global food system faces growing risks as modern farming practices undermine the resilience of the world’s soils, according to new research. Soil resilience is the ability of soils to withstand, adapt to, and recover from disturbances, ranging from everyday management practices to more severe shocks such as extreme weather events. A major review of […]
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IEA: Renewables have cut fossil-fuel imports for more than 100 countries
More than 100 countries have cut their dependence on fossil-fuel imports and saved hundreds of billions of dollars by continuing to invest in renewables, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). It says nations such as the UK, Germany and Chile have reduced their need for imported coal and gas by around a third since […]
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New carbon standard risks killing nature projects before they start, warns ndustry
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The Project Developer Forum (PD Forum)1 has issued a strong warning to the UN body overseeing carbon market rules under the Paris Agreement, saying a proposed standard for ensuring the permanence of emissions reductions could cripple the emerging market for nature-based climate solutions. In a formal submission to the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body (SB), the […]
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MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and MBZUAI launch international collaboration to shape the future of AI
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The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) recently celebrated the launch of the MIT–MBZUAI Collaborative Research Program, a new effort to strengthen the building blocks of artificial intelligence and accelerate its use in pressing scientific and societal challenges. Under the five-year agreement, faculty, students, and research […]
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Using generative AI to diversify virtual training grounds for robots
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Chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude have experienced a meteoric rise in usage over the past three years because they can help you with a wide range of tasks. Whether you’re writing Shakespearean sonnets, debugging code, or need an answer to an obscure trivia question, artificial intelligence systems seem to have you covered. The source of […]
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Cropped 8 October 2025: US government shutdown; EU loses green space; Migratory species extinction threat
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight. This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here. Key developments Forest fund delays and cuts TFFF BEHIND SCHEDULE: Brazil’s flagship forest fund, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility […]
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Is ChatGPT-5 Able to Provide Proofs for Advanced Mathematics?
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One of the claims made by OpenAI regarding its latest model, GPT-5 , is a breakthrough in reasoning for math and logic, with the ability to “think” more deeply when a prompt benefits from careful analysis.
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Q&A: How countries are using biofuels to meet their climate targets
From canola farmers in Canada to car owners in India, biofuels have become the subject of everyday debate across the world. Liquid biofuels feature heavily in the climate plans of many countries, as governments prioritise domestic energy security amid geopolitical challenges, while looking to meet their climate targets and bolster farm incomes. Despite a rapid […]
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Experts: The key ‘unknowns’ of overshooting the 1.5C global-warming limit
Last week, around 180 scientists, researchers and legal experts gathered in Laxenburg, Austria to attend the first-ever international conference focused on the controversial topic of climate “overshoot”. This hypothesised scenario would see global temperatures initially “overshoot” the Paris Agreement’s aspirational limit of 1.5C, before they are brought back down through techniques that would remove carbon […]
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Overshoot: Exploring the implications of meeting 1.5C climate goal ‘from above’
The first-ever international conference on the contentious topic of “overshoot” was held last week in a palace in the small town of Laxenburg in Austria. The three-day conference brought together nearly 200 researchers and legal experts to discuss future temperature pathways where the Paris Agreement’s “aspirational” target to limit global warming to 1.5C is met […]
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First UK-accredited carbon accountants training courses set to launch
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In what seems an important professionalisation milestone for carbon accounting, UK trade body the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP) has launched a new course specification for the sector, allowing training providers to develop and run accredited courses for the first time. This attempt to set professional standards is expected to help efforts to […]
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Green chemicals firm in Grangemouth offers thoughts on demand trends
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Celtic Renewables biorefinery in Grangemouth. Demand is increasing for green chemicals that do without fossil fuel-derived ingredients, says Celtic Renewables, a Scottish firm focused on the sector, which attributes the growth to regulatory pressure to reduce carbon emissions in manufacturing supply chains together with growing demand from the public for greener, sustainably made products. The […]
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Offshore wind and hydrogen: South Wales project marks milestone
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An offshore windfarm A first-of-its-kind floating hydrogen production facility is being progressed in the Celtic Sea, with the group behind it announcing the completion of critical stages on 7 October. The Milford Haven: Hydrogen Kingdom (MH:HK) project aims to produce an innovative demonstrator facility that will produce hydrogen for renewable energy using a combination of […]
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Fighting for the health of the planet with AI
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For Priya Donti, childhood trips to India were more than an opportunity to visit extended family. The biennial journeys activated in her a motivation that continues to shape her research and her teaching. Contrasting her family home in Massachusetts, Donti — now the Silverman Family Career Development Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and […]
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Yorkshire Water models sewer data availability
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The town of Whitby (image credit: Martina Jorden, Unsplash). An ongoing project with Yorkshire Water is taking a proactive approach to combined sewer overflow (CSO) management, shifting from reactive responses to preventative measures – crucial for both regulatory compliance and environmental protection. New legislation mandating near real-time data availability for CSOs, that came into force […]
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Factcheck: What the Climate Change Act does – and does not – mean for the UK
The UK’s Climate Change Act is a landmark piece of legislation that guides the nation’s response to global warming and has proved highly influential around the world. Increasingly, the law has come under attack from right-wing politicians, who want to scrap the UK’s net-zero target and the policies supporting it. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has […]
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Reparations for Specially Affected States: Genocide-Enabled Domination and the Caribbean’s Path to Redress
Contemporary debates on reparations and climate justice often remain siloed, addressing either historical injustices such as slavery and genocide or emerging crises like climate-induced displacement, food and water insecurity, and disproportionate exposure of marginalised communities to extreme weather events. Against this siloing, we advocate for a framework that enables a rethinking of reparations and climate […]
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Solar energy is now the world’s cheapest source of power, says new study
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Solar energy is now so cost-effective that, in the sunniest countries, it costs as little as £0.02 to produce one unit of power, making it cheaper than electricity generated from coal, gas or wind, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. In a study published in Energy and Environment Materials, researchers argue […]