Analysis: What are the causes of recent record-high global temperatures?
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The past three years have been exceptionally warm globally. In 2023, global temperatures reached a new high, after they significantly exceeded expectations. This record was surpassed in 2024 – the first year where average global temperatures were 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Now, 2025 is on track to be the second- or third-warmest year on record. […]
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First ship-to-ship bio-LNG refuelling completed in Italy
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Italy’s first ship-to-ship bio-LNG bunkering operation has been carried out at the Port of Genoa by Swiss energy solutions firm Axpo and Italian ferry operator GNV (MSC Group), supported by the Maritime Authority of Genoa. The ship-to-ship bunkering operation involved the refuelling of new ferry GNV Virgo (pictured, above), the first Italian long-distance ro-pax vessel […]
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Interview: How ‘mid-level bureaucrats’ are helping to shape Chinese climate policy
Local officials are often viewed as relatively weak actors in China’s governance structure, largely implementing policies issued from the central level. However, a new book – “Implementing a low-carbon future: climate leadership in Chinese cities” – argues that these officials play an important role in designing innovative and enduring climate policy. The book follows how […]
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How Technology Reduces Environmental Impact
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A decade ago, when I was touring a paper mill in Finland, the plant manager showed me a wall of clipboards holding last month’s energy readings. Each clipboard represented one part of the process: pulping, drying, and rolling. If a machine ran hotter or longer than planned, someone might notice it weeks later, long after […]
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MIT affiliates named 2025 Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Fellows
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Two current MIT affiliates and seven additional alumni are among those named to the 2025 cohort of AI2050 Fellows. Zongyi Li, a postdoc in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, and Tess Smidt ’12, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science (EECS), were both named as AI2050 Early Career Fellows. Seven […]
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US highway trial demonstrates wireless charging of electric HGVs moving at speed
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An electric Cummins heavy-duty truck charges as it drives along a test segment on US Highway 52 in West Lafayette, Indiana (image credit: Purdue University photo/Kelsey Lefever). A US research team has successfully wirelessly charged a heavy-duty electric truck while it was travelling at full motorway speeds, in a seemingly important milestone for global efforts […]
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Scotland’s newest offshore wind farm wins at Scottish Green Energy Awards
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Comedienne Rachel Parris presented the awards in Edinburgh on 4 December. Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) Offshore Wind Farm, located 15.5km off the coast of Fife, which became fully operational earlier this year, has been handed a top award by Scotland’s renewable energy industry. The 450MW wind farm has scooped the ‘Outstanding Project Award’ at this […]
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Rainwater-only irrigation system launches at premiership club, with accompanying awareness campaign
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In what seems an important advance, and a relatively rare one with UK sports infrastructure, Manchester City has announced that its City Football Academy, home to the club’s 16 training pitches, now irrigates exclusively with rainwater. The facility therefore has zero reliance on external water sources, conserving local water supplies, and reducing the club’s environmental […]
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MIT researchers “speak objects into existence” using AI and robotics
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Generative AI and robotics are moving us ever closer to the day when we can ask for an object and have it created within a few minutes. In fact, MIT researchers have developed a speech-to-reality system, an AI-driven workflow that allows them to provide input to a robotic arm and “speak objects into existence,” creating […]
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DeBriefed 5 December: Deadly Asia floods; Adaptation finance target examined; Global south IPCC scientists speak out
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Deadly floods in Asia MOUNTING DEVASTATION: The Associated Press reported that the death toll from catastrophic floods in south-east Asia had reached 1,500, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand most affected and hundreds still missing. The newswire […]
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Robots that spare warehouse workers the heavy lifting
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There are some jobs human bodies just weren’t meant to do. Unloading trucks and shipping containers is a repetitive, grueling task — and a big reason warehouse injury rates are more than twice the national average. The Pickle Robot Company wants its machines to do the heavy lifting. The company’s one-armed robots autonomously unload trailers, […]
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A roadmap to tackle marine litter: Experts consider key ingredients
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Parts of the sea floor are veritable rubbish dumps, say the authors. Strict technical and environmental criteria are needed to guide any direct efforts at clean-up, to avoid causing even greater harm (image credit: JAMSTEC). A recent study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin itemises the practical steps required to create a roadmap for combating marine […]
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Glass sector launches a unified sustainability framework
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Bottle manufacturing: Responsible Glass will be working with the entire glass sector including the container glass sector (pictured). Some of the world’s largest glass developers, producers and packaging companies have come together for the launch of Responsible Glass — a global certification programme intended to bring new sustainability standards to glass production and sourcing. The […]
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Air defence technology demonstrated at Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm
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Air defence radar technology on wind turbines has been successfully demonstrated at Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm, marking a seemingly significant milestone in the UK’s efforts to balance clean energy expansion with national defence priorities. The work was completed by LiveLink Aerospace, in collaboration with Vattenfall and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult. When wind turbines […]
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Project uses heavy-lift drones to seed trees in upland areas in the Scottish Borders
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Tree seeding: a drone-level view A groundbreaking woodland creation project in the Scottish Borders has seen advanced drone technology deployed to seed over two million native trees across inaccessible upland areas. For the first time in the UK, heavy lift drones have been licensed to operate to beyond the line of sight while dispersing pelleted […]
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UK Government ‘must grow demand for green hydrogen’, says industry body
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Aberdeen: The report recommends coordinated action to grow demand for green hydrogen in difficult-to-decarbonise sectors such as maritime operations. Scotland has the potential to be a major global producer of green hydrogen but the UK Government must rapidly step up its support for the sector, says a report published today (4 December) by industry body […]
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A smarter way for large language models to think about hard problems
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To make large language models (LLMs) more accurate when answering harder questions, researchers can let the model spend more time thinking about potential solutions. But common approaches that give LLMs this capability set a fixed computational budget for every problem, regardless of how complex it is. This means the LLM might waste computational resources on simpler […]
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MIT engineers design an aerial microrobot that can fly as fast as a bumblebee
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In the future, tiny flying robots could be deployed to aid in the search for survivors trapped beneath the rubble after a devastating earthquake. Like real insects, these robots could flit through tight spaces larger robots can’t reach, while simultaneously dodging stationary obstacles and pieces of falling rubble. So far, aerial microrobots have only been […]