Renewables growth pushing power emissions towards ‘tipping point’, and the other climate crisis stories you need to read this week

Millions of people worldwide are at risk of catastrophic flooding from glacial lakes, the BBC reports. A new study has mapped potential flooding hotspots from the lakes, which are formed as glaciers melt due to global warming.

The European Parliament's energy committee has backed plans to renovate millions of European buildings to cut emissions and save energy, despite pushback against the new rules from some member states. Buildings account for roughly 40% of the EU’s energy use, and most are heated by fossil fuels.

Chile’s far south is experiencing its worst drought in half a century, leaving the earth so dry in some areas that grass cannot grow for grazing. The South American nation has faced a more than a decade-long drought that is posing a challenge to agriculture, biodiversity and its mining industry.

The introduction of London's ultra low emissions zone four years ago has cut pollutants from vehicles by more than a quarter, UK newspaper The Guardian reports. A study found that emissions of toxic nitrogen oxides were 26% lower within the zone compared with their estimated level if the scheme had not been introduced.

An invasive species of cacti is encroaching on mountainsides in Switzerland as global heating intensifies, authorities in the country say. It's believed that diminishing snow cover and longer vegetation periods could be creating ideal conditions for them to spread.

Greenpeace says it will take the European Commission to court over its decision to include gas and nuclear energy in the EU's list of investments that can be labelled "green". A Commission spokesperson says its green finance rules do not contravene environmental law and that it designated gas and nuclear investments as green under "strict conditions" that will be reviewed every three years.

Norwegian Arctic ice is contaminated with high levels of toxic PFAS chemicals that could threaten ecosystems, a new study has found. PFAS are a class of around 12,000 chemicals that are used to make thousands of consumer products.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF) is set to raise $5.5 billion through its second sale of green bonds in four months. The PIF expects to invest more than $10 billion in eligible green projects by 2026, including renewable energy, clean transport and sustainable water management.

The climate crisis may make growing traditional fruits in the UK no longer viable. Scientists at Kew Gardens in London say that warmer winters mean some traditional apples grown in the country since the 1500s are struggling to thrive.

A rise in wind and solar production – together with more nuclear electricity – will dominate growth in global power supply over the next three years and curb the emissions impact of greater energy use, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

"The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions," IEA Director Faith Birol says.

The IEA says the share of wind and solar in the power generation mix is expected to rise to 35% in 2025 from 29% in 2022. The largest gains in renewable power are expected in Asia-Pacific, with average yearly growth of 11.6%, followed by Europe with 9.4% growth and the Americas with 5%.

Nuclear supply is seen rising by 3.6% per year on average to 2025, with the largest growth rate in the Middle East, followed by Asia-Pacific and Europe. Production from gas-fired power plants in Europe is forecast to fall, but significant growth in gas-fired production in the Middle East is likely to limit the global decrease, the report says.

Growth in global electricity demand, meanwhile, is expected to rise by one percentage point from 2022 to an average of 3% over the next three years. The IEA links the rise in energy demand to the climate crisis, with heatwaves in India causing the highest peak power demand yet in the country, and summer droughts reducing hydropower supplies in Europe.

The automotive industry is likely to miss climate goals by 75%, according to a study backed by EV makers Polestar and Rivian. The report says the industry will dramatically overshoot the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's target to try to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C by 2050, unless vehicle makers take action.

"Electrification alone is not the solution – even if every car sold in the world tomorrow would be electric, we're still on track to overshoot," Polestar and Rivian say. The report suggests three "levers" could give the world a chance of achieving the target by 2050. These are: setting a firm end date for sales of fossil-fuel cars and investing more in EV manufacturing capabilities; creating more green charging options by investing in renewable energy supplies to global grids; and focusing on more sustainable supply chains.

Climate goals have been at the forefront of carmakers' priority for the past decade as customers become increasingly sustainability conscious. Despite automotive makers looking to invest in the green energy shift, geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions have continued to make life difficult for the industry, with higher costs, component shortages and supply chain issues continuing.

The world has entered the sixth extinction crisis, with the loss of species having a devastating impact on the biodiversity crucial to human survival. However, the process of extinction can be stopped by building technology, solutions and processes that can help us secure animal DNA and begin to reverse the damage created by humans, experts say.

More than a quarter of the world’s population live in water-stressed countries, according to the United Nations. Here are three ways sustainable tech solutions can improve access to freshwater.

A new study has found that a deadly landslide-tsunami in Greenland 70 years ago was likely caused by global warming. The finding marks the earliest known historic instance of an Arctic landslide being caused by permafrost degradation.