The News Journal

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif fears that all hell will break loose if a debt deal is not reached to aid the flood-stricken country as the threat of epidemics looms large. More than 1,400 people have been killed and 33 million affected by record flooding and monsoon rains which battered the country in recent months, and also caused devastation in neighbouring Afghanistan. Recovery is estimated to cost at least $30 billion. In an interview with Bloomberg in New York, where he was scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Friday, Mr Sharif said he had spoken to European leaders and creditor nations to secure a moratorium on debt, some of which is due in the next two months. “Unless we get substantial relief, how can the world expect from us to stand on our own feet?" he said. "It is simply impossible." Thousands of doctors have been sent to Pakistan's worst-hit province of Sindh to battle against the spread of waterborne diseases. More than 134,000 ...

The world isn’t cutting greenhouse gas emissions with anything like the speed required to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change, as the latest UN climate report published this month affirmed. Despite this, it’s become a trope of sorts to warn that we’re in danger of going too fast. The overlapping drivers and effects of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, Covid-related supply chain disruptions and rising inflation have all fuelled a set of haphazard narratives that the clean energy transition will be highly inflationary — or, alternatively, that it will stall. The worries usually centre on the implications of soaring demand for commodities such as cobalt, lithium, nickel and copper that are used for electric vehicles, solar PV cells, wind turbines and electrical grids. Isabel Schnabel of Germany’s Bundesbank spoke in January about the inflationary effects of green energy; although she later acknowledged that this had to be seen alongside inflationary effects of foss...

 The British government is set to launch a new exam to tackle the issue of climate change. The move comes amid sustained calls from environmental campaigners to teach children the importance of protecting the planet from an early age. The new natural history GCSE qualification is set to be announced by the UK's Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi on Thursday and is expected to be launched in September 2025. The announcement will come as part of the Department for Education's sustainability and climate change strategy. “Sustainability and climate change are the biggest challenges facing mankind," Mr Zahawi said. “None of us can be in any doubt just how critical they have become. The new natural history GCSE will offer young people a chance to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of this amazing planet, its environment and how to conserve it.” The DfE said the course would teach pupils about environmental and sustainability issues “to gain a deeper knowledge of the nat...

UN scientists have said the international community is standing at a crossroads in determining what type of future it wants, as they issued a clarion call for policies which would help ensure “a liveable future” for all. In a highly anticipated report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change a panel of experts warned the commitment reaffirmed at Cop26 to keep the 1.5°C pledge alive appears to be “beyond reach” if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced immediately. The group suggested the widespread use of carbon removal technology would be a key component in the climate fight in the years ahead if the world was to avoid dangerous warming. Penguins atop an ice float in Antarctica.  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the report revealed “a litany of broken climate promises” by governments and corporations, accusing them of stoking global warming by clinging to harmful fossil fuels while making “empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unliveable worl...