Which European capitals have the most green space? 5 climate change stories to read this week

August 24, 2022 by World Economic Forum 1 Comment

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Tom Crowfoot, Senior Digital Marketing Apprentice, Formative Content

This weekly roundup brings you some key climate change stories from the past seven days.
Top stories this week: Green spaces in cities; Climate-aggravated diseases; Climate denialism; Drought-watch; Climate action tracker.

1. Which European capitals have the most green space?

From providing habitats for wildlife to lowering the temperature, urban green spaces have a range of benefits.

Green spaces in urban areas are vital for tackling the impacts of climate change. Image: Statista

Trees cover on average 30% of land in 38 of Europe’s capitals when viewed from above, according to data from the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Read more about the European capitals with the most green spaces.

2. Here’s why climate change makes 58% of human infectious diseases worse

From common waterborne viruses to deadly diseases like plague, new research shows that the effects of climate change exacerbate their spread. Scientists created this map of the findings, showing that atmospheric warming aggravates 160 diseases, while heavy precipitation worsens 122 and flooding aggravates 121.

The largest number of diseases aggravated by climate change involved vector-borne transmission. Image: Camilo Mora

There are four key ways that climatic hazards interact with pathogens and humans. One such way is that climate-related hazards are altering the ranges of animals and organisms that act as vectors for pathogens, such as rainfall patterns shifting mosquitoes closer to humans.

Discover the other three ways climate change is making infectious diseases worse.

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing about fighting pandemics?

The first human trial of a COVID-19 vaccine was administered this week.

CEPI, launched at the World Economic Forum, provided funding support for the Phase 1 study. The organization this week announced their seventh COVID-19 vaccine project in the fight against the pandemic.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched in 2017 at the Forum’s Annual Meeting – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and to enable access to these vaccines during outbreaks.

Coalitions like CEPI are made possible through public-private partnerships. The World Economic Forum is the trusted global platform for stakeholder engagement, bringing together a range of multistakeholders from business, government and civil society to improve the state of the world.

Organizations can partner with the Forum to contribute to global health solutions. Contact us to find out how.

3. Is climate denialism dead?

People around the world are experiencing unprecedented heatwaves, wildfires, and deadly floods linked to climate change. As these deadly hazards increase with frequency and intensity each year, the number of ‘climate deniers’ is decreasing.

One such sign is the US Congress recently passing landmark climate legislation, with 7% fewer deniers than the previous session and 23% fewer than the Congress convened less than six years ago, according to a running tally.

More US citizens feel Congress needs to increase action on tackling climate change. Image: World Economic Forum

These sentiments are increasingly being echoed around the world. Explore why opinions on climate change are evolving.

4. Droughts are getting worse around the world, here’s why and what needs to be done

According to the UN, drought frequency and duration has increased by nearly a third globally since 2000. More than 2.3 billion people around the world currently face water stress and over 10 million people have died due to major drought events over the past 100 years.

“We need to steer toward the solutions rather than continuing with destructive actions, believing that marginal change can heal systemic failure, ” says Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

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Learn more about where drought is hitting hardest around the world and what needs to be done.

Have you read?

5. This climate action tracker can help guide us on the road to net-zero emissions

The Speed & Scale Tracker shows achievements and setbacks on global goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. While electric vehicles are pulling their weight, our global food consumption of beef and dairy is lagging behind.

The world needs to eat a quarter less beef by 2030 to combat climate change. Image: Speed & Scale Tracker

The World Economic Forum has also launched a tracking initiative to help industrial sectors – some of the heaviest emitters – reach net-zero emissions.

Explore where progress is being made or not on reaching net-zero emissions.

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