The world experienced its hottest day ever recorded on Monday, surpassing a record set just the day before, according to data from the European climate change service. This unprecedented heat comes as countries worldwide, from Japan to Bolivia to the United States, grapple with soaring temperatures.

According to The Associated Press, Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring service, released provisional satellite data on Wednesday showing that Monday's global average temperature exceeded Sunday's record by 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

Sunday's reign as the hottest day ever recorded on planet earth lasted until...Monday. pic.twitter.com/0IbDYmkG67

— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) July 24, 2024

Climate scientists assert that the world is now as warm as it was 125,000 years ago, attributing this to human-caused climate change. While they cannot definitively state that Monday was the hottest day throughout that period, they note that average temperatures have not reached these levels since long before the development of agriculture.

"We are in an age where weather and climate records are frequently stretched beyond our tolerance levels, resulting in insurmountable loss of lives and livelihoods," said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

The temperature rise observed in recent decades aligns with projections made by climate scientists regarding the consequences of continued and increased fossil fuel burning by humans.

While 2024 has been exceptionally warm overall, Copernicus reported that this week's record-breaking temperatures were partly driven by an unusually warm Antarctic winter. A similar phenomenon occurred on the southern continent last year when the previous record was set in early July.

Although Copernicus' records only date back to 1940, other global measurements by US and UK government agencies extend to 1880. Considering these data and evidence from tree rings and ice cores, many scientists suggest that last year's record highs were the hottest the planet has experienced in approximately 120,000 years. The first six months of 2024 have now surpassed even those temperatures.

Christiana Figueres, former head of UN climate negotiations, warned of dire consequences if immediate action is not taken. "We all scorch and fry if the world doesn't immediately change course. One-third of global electricity can be produced by solar and wind alone, but targeted national policies have to enable that transformation," she said.

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Climate change and higher temperatures could lead to a significant reduction in strawberry yields, potentially up to 40 percent for every 3°F (1.7°C) increase in temperature, according to a study by researchers from the University of Waterloo published in the journal Sustainability.

The study used a model correlating air temperature anomalies with crop size to predict losses, emphasizing the need for sustainable farming practices like shade structures and optimized irrigation to cope with global warming and maintain a stable food supply.

As a crop, strawberries' market value exceeds US$3 billion in the U.S. Canada imported strawberries from California worth US$322.8 million in 2022. Reduced yields could lead to reduced availability and higher prices for consumers.

The UC Eclipse strawberry variety is resistant to Fusarium Wilt, a fungal disease that can affect strawberry yields.

Sources: NBC Right Now, Knowridge, Study Finds, AZoCleantech, New Food Magazine, CityNews Kitchener, Scienmag, Mirage News

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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In a bold initiative aimed at combating global warming, Professor Yoram Rozen, head of the Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI) at the Technion and a professor in the Faculty of Physics and a team of academics and industry experts has formulated a daring plan to launch a massive foil sheet into space to act as a sunshade, deflecting a portion of the sun's rays and lowering the Earth's average temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius within a relatively short span of 18 months.

Q: From the outside, your idea sounds a bit presumptuous, Prof. Yoav Rosen: to send a shade into space that will cover part of the Earth to help deal with global warming and even lower the temperature here by a degree and a half. Tell me about your plan at the Technion.

"The idea is to send an enormous sunshade, covering an area of 2.5 million square kilometers (965,255 square miles) – roughly the size of Argentina – to a unique point between the Earth and the sun. It will unfurl between the sun and the Earth, blocking a portion of the sun's radiation and lowering the average temperature here on Earth by 1.5 degrees Celsius within a relatively short period of about a year and a half. Since we will not be able to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions entirely – and even if we do, we will still be left with the current high temperatures – we need to address the problem from the outside."

Q: It is commonly thought that since the beginning of the Industrial Age, the temperature on Earth has risen by about a degree and a half. So you're closing a gap of about 250 years in a year and a half.

Rozen acknowledges that lowering the Earth's temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius in just 18 months is an ambitious goal, given that global temperatures have risen by approximately the same amount over the course of 250 years since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. However, he asserts, "According to all our analyses, this will work. The current average temperature on Earth is around 15 degrees Celsius, and it would be preferable to be around 13.5 degrees."

The sunshade itself would be constructed from a material already used in space missions and turns out to be relatively accessible. "It's not all that different from the survival or shock blankets used by pilots, hikers, and marathon runners to keep warm after physical exertion. It's the same material as the survival blankets you can find at Decathlon for 34 shekels (around $10)," Rozen explains. "The material is the same material – but it's clear that when sending it into space, some changes are required, and everything becomes more expensive."

Q: You're talking about a shade the size of Argentina, Algeria, or Kazakhstan. How will the production work?

While acknowledging the enormity of the task, Rozen emphasizes that the production process would be modular, with the sunshade constructed in separate components that need not be connected in space but could operate adjacently to create the desired shade. "The production will be done in parts," he clarifies. "Even in space, the components don't have to be connected; they can be side by side to create the shade."

Q: Will the shade be noticeable on Earth in any way? Will we have a shadow in the middle of the day?

"We won't feel it, and there won't be a noticeable shadow. It's a bit like a fly casting a shadow on Earth from a kilometer up. But in practice, it will lower the temperature for us, and also block 2% of the radiation that reaches us, which is the goal. The shade will mainly affect the area within 1,600 km (994 miles) from the equator, which is the critical area that affects the entire planet."

Q: How did you come up with the idea in the first place?

"The idea for the sunshade project germinated a few years ago when an Israeli group of academics and industry experts convened to explore potential solutions to global warming. While initial suggestions included launching 250 million massive (2.5 acre) balloons to shade the Earth, the group quickly recognized the impracticality of such a vast number of balloons, which could potentially fall into the atmosphere."

"A few months later, while traveling back from a conference, the idea clicked – how to send the sunshade, to what point, and what materials to use," Rozen recounts. "The next day, I discovered that someone had proposed a similar concept 16 years earlier, which gave me confidence that I was on the right track. The difference is that all the previous papers on this were theoretical, while we're coming up with a structured implementation plan."

While acknowledging the project's astronomical cost – an estimated $30 trillion – Rozen and his team have decided to start small by sending a prototype sunshade the size of a classroom into space. "After we succeed with the small one, we can enlist the world's support for the larger project," he states.

Q: When will you be able to send the prototype into space?

"Within three to four years from the moment we have the money. Sending the prototype into space will cost about $15 million. Right now, our progress is slow because we don't have money to invest, and the expectation is that in the future, we'll be able to rely on outside companies to prepare the sail, computer, and other parts."

Solar storms, pressure, and darkness

Q: You emphasize that shading the Earth must be done from outside it, i.e., from space, and that shading from the Earth's surface won't work. Could you explain that a bit more?

"On a hot sunny day in Israel, you go into an air-conditioned building. Maybe it's more comfortable for you, but you haven't changed the temperature of the Earth. If a bus stop has a roof, it's a bit more comfortable underneath it, but it doesn't change the temperature of the Earth because the roof absorbs the heat. So the shading has to be done outside the atmosphere. You need to block the radiation from reaching in the first place."

Q: The point for positioning the shade is 1.5 million kilometers (932,057 miles) from here. Why exactly?

"It's a fantastic point because it's one of five fixed points in space that rotate with the entire system. It's the only one that interests us because positioning the shade at other points would likely cast a shadow on other stars, not just us. So we have to be at the first Lagrange point, which is the distance where the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Sun are in equilibrium."

Q: What will you do about the radiation pressure?

"The radiation pressure is not negligible and knocks the system out of balance, so we'll position the shade a bit farther 'to the right,' about 50,000 km (31,069 miles) towards the Sun, to restore the system to equilibrium. By the way, the new point is also unstable, meaning the shade could still lose balance and fall. So we'll need to make corrections, just like a person standing on one leg adjusts their stance to stay upright."

Q: is the significance of such corrections in space?

"In principle, you can put an engine and make minor corrections all the time, but an engine adds weight and complexity, both of which we want to avoid. So we will deploy a sail and move to one side, or close the sail and move to the other side. The movement and reorientation won't happen every few seconds or minutes, but every 100-200 days. This is a solution that isn't problematic for us. It seems that between these two points, we can move within a certain range and stay within the area without falling. The shade will be modular and made up of many such blankets, as mentioned, and more units will be regularly launched to join the larger system."

Q: How many such launches will you need?

"We're talking about 2.5 million tons. We can currently launch 100 tons, and each time we'll launch the maximum possible. We'll likely need thousands of launches. The travel time will also be relatively short. The James Webb Space Telescope was launched about two and a half years ago to the relevant point for us, and the travel time was a few weeks."

Q: Will there be annual routine maintenance for such a project?

"There's not really an option for maintenance. Any part that fails, meaning it's in the wrong orientation, will be replaced with another. The cost of replacement is marginal compared to the entire project."

Q: What about the Sun's heating affecting the shade negatively? Just a month ago, satellites detected strong solar storms.

"It's true that the Sun has its cycles, but broadly speaking –the Sun is cooling over the course of billions of years. In a few billion years, it's also expected to go out, and then we'll need to talk again and see what we're doing."

International interest

Q: I'm trying to think about what's more presumptuous: thinking it's possible to send such a shade into space, or raising the amount of money we're talking about – $30 trillion.

"Fortunately, I'm not dealing with raising the global amount. That depends on a lot of politics."

Q: The annual US budget is about $5 trillion. I assume this is a global interest, and every country will have to contribute its share.

"To be honest, I was sure that for such a project, with keywords like sustainability, global warming, and saving planet Earth, it would be very easy to raise money – but it turns out that's not exactly the case."

Q: What kind of reactions are you getting in academia and beyond about this idea?

"Everyone is excited about it," he affirms, "but some professional bodies are skeptical about the costs. Nevertheless, technology companies, countries, and prominent environmental activists have reached out to us and expressed great interest."

However, Rozen expresses surprise at the opposition from certain environmental circles, who fear that a solution to global warming might lead to complacency about pollution. "It's important for me to note that our solution, effective as it may be, needs to coexist with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," he emphasizes.

Q: On the subject of opposition – how did October 7 affect your project?

"We had a major partner that left us on October 7. I'm talking about an academic institution from the United Arab Emirates, the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC). They want to continue working on this project, but it's possible they were instructed to stop working with us. We visited them several times, they were our research partners and they also have a larger budget."

Q: Are you in any contact with them?

"No, they're not responding to us right now."

Q: Is there a chance they'll come back to the table?

"Yes, I'm optimistic. It's an academic institution supported by the government, and we had a great relationship that included weekly meetings that led to progress. We were supposed to visit them and present the project at the UN Climate Conference. But they told us not to come and that this project won't be in our pavilion. If the collaboration had continued, we could already be counting down to sending the prototype into space."

Q: What will happen if your plan to send this shade doesn't go through? Are there other solutions for lowering the Earth's temperature?

"Let's start from the premise that we agree the Earth's temperature is rising. As I see it, there are three branches to the solution: The first is to absorb carbon dioxide, CO2, back from the atmosphere or the oceans, thereby reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. This is possible, but we're talking about insane amounts of CO2 that we'd need to liquefy and store, and anything stored can always leak out. It's an option, but it's not without problems."

"The second solution, believe it or not – is painting everything white. The brighter an object is, the more light it reflects and doesn't absorb as heat. When you wear a black shirt you absorb more heat, while a white shirt will lower your temperature."

Q: That doesn't sound very realistic.

"Right. A sub-branch of that is to do it in space. That is, to create more clouds that reflect light and lower the temperature, but there's an extreme game with the weather here."

Q: What are the long-term risks if we don't send this shade? What could happen to the Earth over a few decades?

"I'm a physicist, not a climate scientist, but we're already witnessing more and more disasters and extreme events. If we don't address the problem, we'll see even more of them, with greater damage and a threat to our lives, within two or three decades. If we continue to allow the Earth's temperature to rise over a longer period, we could reach a point where no functioning humanity can solve its problems. It's hard to predict the future, but very negative changes could occur for humans, perhaps even irreversible ones."

Q: There are those talking about relocating humanity to another planet. Your shade solution sounds more realistic.

"If we can't live on Earth, we'll need to find another place. And relocating humanity to another planet – Mars, for example – is much more expensive than the $30 trillion we're talking about. Moreover, think about the extreme conditions on Mars: We'd have to live there in a biosphere because the radiation there is lethal and the temperature is extreme. We'd need spacesuits and a constant oxygen supply. But here, on Earth, we have great conditions, we just need to invest in solutions."

Q: It's sad, but we need a "climate October 7" for people to wake up.

"I have news for you – we're already in a 'climate October 7,' and we're not aware of it because the disaster is ongoing, not happening all at once. Fortunately, we're not annihilating 100 million people in one event, but it's happening gradually. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on a solution that will advance and improve our lives, humanity is invested in another global project that costs us much more – wars. It's so easy for us to spend money on wars, but when it comes to our future here, the expense becomes harder and more complicated. I'll never be able to understand that. We need to take action now, so we don't pay compound interest on our inaction."

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A raging wildfire that swept through a picturesque town on the Hawaiian island of Maui this week has killed at least 89 people, authorities said Saturday, making it the deadliest US wildfire of the past century.

The new death toll Saturday came as federal emergency workers with axes and cadaver dogs picked through the aftermath of the blaze, marking the ruins of homes with a bright orange X for an initial search and HR when they found human remains.

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Dogs worked the rubble, and their occasional bark – used to alert their handlers to a possible corpse – echoed over the hot and colorless landscape.

Video: Aerial footage from the fire in Hawaii 2023 / Credit: Reuters

The inferno that swept through the centuries-old town of Lahaina on Maui's west coast four days earlier torched hundreds of homes and turned a lush, tropical area into a moonscape of ash. The state's governor predicted more bodies will be found.

"It's going to rise," Gov. Josh Green remarked Saturday as he toured the devastation on historic Front Street. "It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced. ... We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding."

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said two of the 89 victims have been identified so far, adding that identifying the dead is extremely challenging because "we pick up the remains and they fall apart."

"When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we're finding is through a fire that melted metal. We have to do rapid DNA to identify them. Every one of these 89 are John and Jane Does," he said. "We know we've got to go quick, but we've got to do it right."

At least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, Green said, of which 86% were residential. Across the island, he added, damage was estimated at close to $6 billion. He said it would take "an incredible amount of time" to recover."

At least two other fires have been burning in Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui's Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry. A fourth broke out Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community in West Maui north of Lahaina, but crews were able to extinguish it, authorities said.

Green said the Upcountry fire had affected 544 structures, of which 96% were residential. Emergency managers in Maui were searching for places to house people displaced from their homes. As many as 4,500 people are in need of shelter, county officials said on Facebook early Saturday, citing figures from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pacific Disaster Center.

Those who escaped counted their blessings, thankful to be alive as they mourned those who didn't make it.
Retired fire captain Geoff Bogar and his friend of 35 years, Franklin Trejos, initially stayed behind to help others in Lahaina and save Bogar's house. But as the flames moved closer and closer Tuesday afternoon, they knew they had to get out. Each escaped to his own car. When Bogar's wouldn't start, he broke through a window to get out, then crawled on the ground until a police patrol found him and brought him to a hospital.

Trejos wasn't as lucky. When Bogar returned the next day, he found the bones of his 68-year-old friend in the back seat of his car, lying on top of the remains of the Bogars' beloved 3-year-old golden retriever Sam, whom he had tried to protect.

Trejos, a native of Costa Rica, had lived for years with Bogar and his wife, Shannon Weber-Bogar, helping her with her seizures when her husband couldn't. He filled their lives with love and laughter.
"God took a really good man," Weber-Bogar said.

Bill Wyland, who lives on the island of Oahu but owns an art gallery on Lahaina's historic Front Street, fled on his Harley Davidson, whipping the motorcycle onto empty sidewalks Tuesday to avoid traffic-jammed roads as embers burned the hair off the back of his neck.

Riding in winds he estimated to be at least 70 miles per hour (112 kilometers per hour), he passed a man on a bicycle who was pedaling for his life.

"It's something you'd see in a Twilight Zone, horror movie or something," Wyland said.

The newly released death toll surpassed the toll of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise. A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota and raced through a number of rural communities, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds.

The wildfires are the state's deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly.

Hawaii emergency management records do not indicate the warning sirens sounded before fire hit the town. Officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach.

Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the wildfires on Maui raced through parched brush covering the island.

The most serious blaze swept into Lahaina on Tuesday and destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000, leaving a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes.

Front Street, the heart of the historic downtown and Maui's economic hub, was nearly empty of life Saturday morning. An Associated Press journalist encountered one barefoot resident carrying a laptop and a passport, who asked where the nearest shelter was. Another, riding a bicycle, took stock of the damage at the harbor, where he said his boat caught fire and sank.

Maui water officials warned Lahaina and Kula residents not to drink running water, which may be contaminated even after boiling, and to only take short, lukewarm showers in well-ventilated rooms to avoid possible chemical vapor exposure.

The danger on Maui was well known. Maui County's hazard mitigation plan updated in 2020 identified Lahaina and other West Maui communities as having frequent wildfires and several buildings at risk. The report also noted West Maui had the island's second-highest rate of households without a vehicle and the highest rate of non-English speakers.

"This may limit the population's ability to receive, understand and take expedient action during hazard events," the plan stated.

Maui's firefighting efforts may have been hampered by limited staff and equipment. Bobby Lee, president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association, said there are a maximum of 65 county firefighters working at any given time, who are responsible for three islands: Maui, Molokai and Lanai. Green said officials will review policies and procedures to improve safety.

"People have asked why we are reviewing what's going on and it's because the world has changed. A storm now can be a hurricane-fire or a fire-hurricane," he said. "That's what we experienced, that's why we're looking into these policies, to find out how we can best protect our people."

Riley Curran said he fled his Front Street home after climbing up a neighboring building to get a better look. He doubts county officials could have done more, given the speed of the onrushing flames.

"It's not that people didn't try to do anything," Curran said. "The fire went from zero to 100."
Curran said he had seen horrendous wildfires growing up in California. But, he added, "I've never seen one eat an entire town in four hours."

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With so much going wrong in the world – much of it related to climate change – the climate at least appears right for startups working in the sector, the nonprofit innovation company PLANETech reports.

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Climate-tech is already the focus of receiving worldwide attention from senior tech and investment figures. Bill Gates recently said he estimates that climate-tech would build about 10 companies the size of Google and Amazon, and BlackRock CE, Larry Fink predicted that the next 1,000 unicorns would be climate-tech ventures.

According to PLANETech – a joint venture of Israel Innovation Institute, led by Dr. Jonathan Menuhin, and Consensus Business Group, led by Vincent Tchenguiz – 2021 saw a total $2.2 billion invested in Israeli climate tech startups, 57% higher than previous 2020 record.

At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in October, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared that Israel would become a leader in climate innovation.

Two months ago, PLANETech and the Israel Innovation Authority published the first report to map 1,200 climate companies, 637 of which are startups developing climate technologies, whose findings seemed to back up Bennett's prediction.

"By the end of the 2021, the annual investments in Israeli climate tech companies reached $2.2 billion, exceeding last year's fundraising record of $1.4 billion by 57%," said Uriel Klar, Director of PLANETech.

The biggest fundraising rounds for climate startups were secured by the following four companies:

Future Meat, which has raised $347 million for the development of sustainable cultivated meat technology.

Wiliot, which has raised $200 million to improve supply chain footprint via battery-free sensors.

UBQ Materials, which has has raised $170 million to convert waste to climate positive thermoplastic, including an investment from U2 lead singer Bono.

VIA, which has raised $130 million to promote an advanced digital platform for shared transportation.

"In addition to the two investments in Future Meat and UBQ Materials last month, SolarEdge has become the first Israeli company to enter the S&P 500 index and Tomorrow.io is going public on Nasdaq with $1.2B valuation," Klar noted.

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The war for the planet amid the global warming and climate crisis, which has propelled environmental stories to the front pages of newspapers and the top of news programs, has also reached the art world.

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Israeli artist Oren Fischer recently finished a 320-square-meter (3,444 square-foot) mural titled "It's in Our Hands" in Kiryat Hamelacha in Tel Aviv as part of an international art project called "Hope through action" to mark 50 years of activity for the Greenpeace environmental organization.

Within the framework of the project, gigantic murals will appear in 12 countries around the world as a call to environmental action.

Video: Yair Zimmerman

At the center of Fischer's mural is a huge, humanized earth, with paintings depicting the complexity of its existential state through the use of humorous images and texts addressing pollution, wars, forcible takeover of resources by politicians, corrupt tycoons and more.

At the bottom of the piece are a line of people holding the world in their hands, a tribute to Atlas kneeling under the load of the universe.

Fischer himself, a resident of Tel Aviv's Shapira neighborhood, explained his work: "Painting is about taking responsibility, and understanding that people have the power to change reality with their own hands and shape the change they want to take place in the world."

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In international terms, it is the most important summit in the world – more than the United Nations General Assembly, and more important than a meeting between leaders of superpowers. The decisions made at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, even if they only partially materialize, will ultimately affect all of humanity and how we live.

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There is, for example, a direct connection between plastic utensils doubling in price in Israel and the issue on behalf of which 190 world leaders are currently gathered in Glasgow, Scotland. Due to global warming, reducing the use of plastic is critical. Israel must fall in line with the global norms, and – similar to every other country – also must cope with the rising costs of crude oil, from which many plastic products are made. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Israel, which is considered the second-best developer of green energy solutions in the world, will have a lot to offer the 30,000 summit attendees. From this perspective, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's mission is to step into the giant shoes of Benjamin Netanyahu and market what the Jewish state has to offer. Without a successful marketing campaign, Israel's green patents will remain on the drawing table.

Even if the official excuse for Bennett's attendance at the summit is global warming, it's clear that the central issue he will be discussing with the leaders he meets behind closed doors is Israel's "cold war" with Iran, as he referred to it on Sunday.

This time around, it is the American-Israeli side, not the Iranian side, doing the most muscle-flexing. The cyberattack that paralyzed Iranian gas stations (attributed to Israel); the multinational military exercise in Israel (which included the Jordanian and UAE air forces); escorting the American B-1 bomber flying over Israeli territory on its way to the Persian Gulf; and the interview by Maj. Gen. Tal Kelman (who holds the IDF's Iran file) to a Bahraini newspaper, in which he said that if a diplomatic resolution isn't reached, Israel and its allies will have to use force.

This succession of signals is not coincidental. It's safe to assume its purpose, at least in part, is to pressure the US no less so than Iran. With the renewal of nuclear negotiations seemingly around the corner, Israel is sending a message that it would be wise to take its interests into account. Unlike a decade ago under Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak, there is no independent plan to attack Iran in the works, rather far-more moderate threats. And yet, in light of the current state of affairs vis-a-vis Iran – which the US also agrees is at a critical point – Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Bennett, and Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid are playing the game.

The world came to chilly Glasgow to stop global warming; Israel went to Glasgow to stop the cold war with Iran from heating up. Either way, Alok Sharma, the British energy minister chairing climate talks, called rising temperatures a "wake up call for all of us" that is "unequivocally" caused by human action.

Negotiators will push nations to ratchet up their efforts to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius this century compared with pre-industrial times.

The climate summit remains "our last, best hope to keep 1.5 in reach," said Sharma.

Scientists say the chances of meeting that goal are slowly slipping away. The world has already warmed by more than 1.1C and current projections based on planned emissions cuts over the next decade are for it to hit 2.7C by the year 2100.

The amount of energy unleashed by such planetary warming would melt much of the planet's ice, raise global sea levels and greatly increase the likelihood and intensity of extreme weather, experts say.

Sharma noted that China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, had just raised its climate targets somewhat.

"But of course we expected more," Sharma told the BBC earlier Sunday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck a grim tone, saying G-20 leaders "inched forward" on curbing global warming, but the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) – struck in a landmark deal at the end of the 2015 Paris climate accord – was in danger of slipping out of reach.

"If Glasgow fails then the whole thing fails," Johnson told reporters in Rome.

US climate envoy John Kerry warned last week of the dramatic impacts that exceeding the 2015 Paris accord's goal will have on nature and people, but expressed optimism that the world is heading in the right direction.

"I believe we can move negotiations forward and launch a decade of ever-increasing ambition and action... but we need to hit the ground running," Sharma said, in his opening speech on Sunday.

"Six years ago, in Paris, we agreed our shared goals," he said, referring to the 2015 agreement in the French capital to keep global warming to below 2C Celsius and endeavor to reach 1.5C.

"COP26 is our last best hope to keep 1.5C in reach… If we act now and we act together we can protect our precious promise and ensure where Paris promised, Glasgow delivers," he said.

At the Vatican Sunday, Pope Francis urged the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square: "Let us pray so that the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor" is heard by summit participants.

The G-20 countries represent more than three-quarters of the world's climate-damaging emissions and G-20 host Italy and Britain, which is hosting the Glasgow conference, had looked for more ambitious targets coming out of Rome.

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But major polluters including China and Russia had already made clear they had no immediate intention of following US and European pledges to zero out all fossil-fuel pollution by 2050. Russia said on Sunday that it was sticking to its target of 2060.

Speaking to reporters before leaving Rome, US President Joe Biden called it "disappointing' that G-20 members Russia and China 'basically didn't show up" with commitments to address the scourge of climate change ahead of the UN climate summit.

India, the world's third-biggest emitter, has yet to follow China, the US and the European Union in setting a target for reaching 'net zero' emissions. Negotiators are hoping India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce such a goal in Glasgow.

Some of the issues being discussed during the talks have been on the agenda for decades, including how rich countries can help poor nations tackle emissions and adapt to a hotter world. The slow pace of action has angered many environmental campaigners, who are expected to stage loud and creative protests during the summit.

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Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reached record levels last year, the United Nations said Monday in a stark warning ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) about worsening global warming.

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The UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that continued rising greenhouse gas emissions would result in more extreme weather and wide-ranging impacts on the environment, the economy, and humanity.

Economic slowdown caused by Covid triggered a temporary decline in new emissions but had no discernible impact on the atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases and their growth rates, the WMO said.

The organization's Greenhouse Gas Bulletin said the annual rate of increase last year was above the yearly average between 2011 and 2020 - and the trend continued in 2021.

As long as emissions continue, the WMO added, global temperatures will continue to rise. Given the long life of carbon dioxide, the temperature level already observed will also persist for several decades even if emissions are rapidly reduced to net-zero.

The COP26 is being held in the Scottish city of Glasgow from October 31 to November 12. "The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin contains a stark, scientific message for climate change negotiators at COP26," said WMO chief Petteri Taalas. "At the current rate of increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, we will see a temperature increase by the end of this century far in excess of the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels."

"We are way off track," the chief added. Taalas said that if the world kept using fossil fuels in an unlimited way, the planet could be about 4 C warmer by 2100 – but limiting warming to 1.5 C was still possible through mitigation effects.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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A coalition of more than 20 environmental and climate groups launched a campaign Monday calling for a ban on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship across the European Union, similar to bans on tobacco advertising.

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More than 80 Greenpeace activists blocked the entrance to Shell's oil refinery in the Dutch port of Rotterdam to draw attention to the launch of the European Citizens' Initiative calling for the advertising ban.

The action comes less than a month before the start of the United Nations climate summit, COP26, in Glasgow. The 12-day summit aims to secure more ambitious commitments to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with a goal of keeping it to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

Activists used floating cubes emblazoned with fossil fuel-linked advertisements to block the entrance, along with the protest ship Beluga II, with the words "Ban Fossil Fuel Advertising" strung between its two masts. Activists also climbed a 15-meter (yard) oil tank and attached advertisement posters next to Shell's logo.

"I grew up reading signs about how cigarettes kill you, but never saw similar warnings in petrol stations or fuel tanks. It's frightening that my favorite sports and museums are sponsored by airlines and car companies," Chaja Merk, an activist on board the Greenpeace ship, said in a statement released by the group. "Fossil fuel adverts belong in a museum – not sponsoring them."

Shell said the company is investing billions of dollars in "lower-carbon energy. To help alter the mix of energy Shell sells, we need to grow these new businesses rapidly. That means letting our customers know through advertising or social media what lower-carbon solutions we offer now or are developing, so they can switch when the time is right for them."

Police moved in to break up the demonstration, boarding the Beluga II and detaining activists. More were detained at the oil tank. In total, 22 activists were arrested and a further 32 issued with fines, police said.

Shell said it respects the right to peaceful protest, "if it is done safely. That is not the case now. The demonstrators are illegally on our property, where strict safety protocols apply," the company said.

Calls for fossil fuel advertising bans are gaining traction. Earlier this year, Amsterdam imposed a ban in the city's metro network on ads linked to what it called "fossil products" such as gas-powered cars and cheap airline tickets. The municipality called the move a first step in a wider move to remove such ads from the Dutch capital's streets.

The campaign for a law banning ads linked to fossil fuels across the EU needs to gather 1 million verified signatures in a year. If it succeeds, the EU's executive Commission has to look at the request, but is not obliged to take action.

"This legislation would increase public awareness of products and technologies that are responsible for climate change and other environmental and health harms," the environmental coalition said on its website.

Coinciding with the launch, Greenpeace's Dutch branch published a report accusing major energy companies of large scale "greenwashing" in their advertising campaigns – defining  the term as "as a combination of both fossil fuel companies' advertisements promoting genuinely climate friendly initiatives, as well as their advertisements that promote false climate solutions as 'green.'"

The study analyzed more than 3,000 ads on social media by six energy companies and concluded that 63% amounted to greenwashing.

"We can confidently say that all the companies in the dataset are greenwashing, as their advertisements do not accurately reflect their business activities – either through an over-emphasis on their 'green' activities, or an under-emphasis on their fossil fuel activities," the report said.

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The Jewish National Fund of Canada has announced the launch of an annual $1 million contest in an effort to foster innovative solutions to the threat of global climate change and position Israel as a world hub for climate solutions.

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JNF Canada calls the initiative is especially urgent in light of the United Nations report published last week that stated that Earth was dangerously close to runaway warning.

"If there is any hope of reversing, or even reducing, the disastrous effects of global warming, it surely rests in human ingenuity," JNF Canada said in a statement.

"As a global solution hub for technological innovation, Israel is a natural gateway in the search."

Every year, the prize committee will select one to four Israeli recipients with the most promising solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or increasing carbon capture. The winners will receive an award from the $1 million fund co-sponsored by the Jewish National Fund of Israel (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) in collaboration with Start-Up Nation Central and the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. The finalists' solutions will be showcased in a permanent exhibit at the Peres Center's Israeli Innovation Center in Jaffa.

"It has become clear that climate change is the biggest challenge of our time," Executive Chair of the Climate Solutions Prize Jeff Hart said. "If temperatures continue to rise, all we have worked so hard to build may be at risk due to increased flooding, forest fires, and drought. As Jewish people committed to Tikkun Olam – repairing the world – we created the Climate Solutions Prize to galvanize Israel, known as the startup nation, to develop breakthrough solutions to help solve the climate crisis, and even turn it into an opportunity."

Chairman of the Jewish National Fund of Israel Avraham Duvdevani said that he considered enlisting Israeli innovation to the battle against global warming as a matter of national importance.

"Throughout its 120 years of existence, KKL has been a leader in environmental action, and we are proud to be taking part in writing the next chapter in the history of sustainability in Israel," he said, pledging that the "KKL will aid the project by offering up its rich experience in the field and its finest professionals."

Applications will be accepted starting fall 2021 with the winners announced at a June 2022 ceremony in conjunction with a planned week-long Climate Innovation Festival in Israel, showcasing Israeli and global sustainability innovation. A separate track for Israeli startups offering technological solutions to battle climate change is also being run by Start-Up Nation Central.

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