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We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

Key developments

Mass coral bleaching event

GLOBAL EVENT: The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last week that the “world is currently experiencing a global coral bleaching event” – the fourth ever and the second this decade. “Mass bleaching” of reefs in every major ocean basin has been documented since early 2023, according to NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch. Dr Derek Manzello, the Coral Reef Watch coordinator, said: “When these events are sufficiently severe or prolonged, they can cause coral mortality, which hurts the people who depend on the coral reefs for their livelihoods.” However, death is not a foregone conclusion for bleached reefs – corals can recover if the heat stress diminishes. According to the New York Times, “scientists say it’s too soon to estimate what the extent of global mortality will be”.

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‘MAKE YOU WEEP’: In order to declare a global bleaching event, the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans must all have experienced bleaching in the past year and at least 12% of each basin’s reefs must be at temperatures that can cause bleaching, the New York Times reported. It added: “Currently, more than 54% of the world’s coral area has experienced bleaching-level heat stress in the past year.” Prof Terry Hughes, a coral-reef scientist at James Cook University in Australia, tweeted: “The extent AND severity of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2024 is by far the worst ever recorded.” Hughes added that the results of the surveys “would make you weep”. Australia’s ABC News reported that “the devastation couldn’t be more clear”.

BROADER IMPACTS: ABC News noted that the widespread bleaching “is a clear reflection of the extraordinary ocean temperatures in 2023, which have been rising for decades due to the burning of fossil fuels”. The onset of El Niño also “deserve[s] the blame”, according to Prof Matt England, a physical oceanographer from the University of New South Wales, who was quoted in the article. In the Conversation, four researchers from the University of Sydney wrote that “the damage done by heat underwater goes much further” than the reefs alone. They have already noted changes in algae and water chemistry at their research station, while “mobile macroinvertebrates”, such as starfish and sea urchins, “are in widespread decline”. They added: “Much of the damage done this summer [to reef ecosystems] will take months or even years to manifest.”

Oceans in focus

PIVOTAL PROTECTION: The Dominican Republic has become the first Caribbean nation to designate 30% of its marine areas as protected, El País reported – expanding its protected area coverage from 10.8% to 30.8% of its territorial waters. That includes a new protected area that spans the border between the Dominican Republic and Colombia, fulfilling an agreement that the two countries signed in 2022, the Spanish-language newspaper added. This part of the ocean “functions as a pivotal region for species connectivity”, Oceanographic wrote. The magazine added that it is “both a feeding ground and travel route” for seabirds, whales and other diverse marine species.

BOTTOM-TRAWLING BAN: Greece will ban bottom trawling – a destructive form of fishing – in its national marine parks by 2026 and in all of its marine protected areas by 2030, making it “the first country to pledge to this”, Euractiv reported. Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also announced two new marine national parks, increasing the country’s protected waters by 80%. Mitsotakis said: “The ocean has paid a heavy price for its service to humankind. It has been a vital source of life and livelihood. We have not been kind to it in return.” The announcement was made at the “Our Ocean” world conference in Athens.

RATIFICATION RACE: The Our Ocean conference also saw “more than 400 new commitments” of finance for ocean protection, totalling $10bn, according to Reuters. This included 40 commitments from the EU for many activities, “rang[ing] from fighting marine pollution to supporting sustainable fisheries and investments in the so-called blue economy”, the newswire added. At the conference, the EU and 13 other countries’ governments “urged nations…to prioritise the ratification” of the High Seas Treaty, Reuters said. According to the ratification tracker maintained by the High Seas Alliance, the total number of ratifications increased in April to four, with Belize and Seychelles joining early-adopters Palau and Chile. Sixty countries must ratify the agreement before it can take effect.

Spotlight

Latin America and the Caribbean have a new action plan for protecting environmental defenders

In this spotlight, Carbon Brief reports on the main outcomes of the ongoing Conference of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement, established by Latin America and the Caribbean to protect environmental defenders.

The third Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the Escazú Agreement is taking place in Santiago, Chile, from 22 to 24 April.

The Escazú Agreement is a legally binding regional treaty established by Latin American and Caribbean countries in order to protect environmental defenders and promote public participation and access to information on environmental issues. It has the support of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and came into force on 22 April 2021.

Since then, 15 countries have ratified the agreement, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and Ecuador, as well as several Caribbean countries, such as Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for 88% of the world’s environmental and land defenders killings over the previous decade, according to a 2023 report from campaign group Global Witness. The region saw 1,910 killings of defenders between 2012 and 2022, the report noted.

On Tuesday, COP3 saw the approval of the regional action plan on human rights defenders in environmental matters. The document sets out priority areas and strategies to enact article 9 of the Escazú Agreement, which establishes that each party should take action to recognise and protect the rights of environmental defenders and prevent and punish attacks against them.

Graciela Martínez, regional campaigner for the Americas at Amnesty International, told Carbon Brief that the action plan “may be an important step towards the implementation of the Escazú Agreement”. She added that the plan “provides more specific routes for the parties to meet” the agreement – for example, establishing cooperation between parties and recognition of defenders.

Teresita Antazú López, an Indigenous environmental defender of the Yanesha people of the central Peruvian rainforest, told Carbon Brief that Indigenous peoples have a number of demands at this COP. According to López, who was attending the COP as a member of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle, the highest priority is to ensure their effective participation within the negotiations going forward. This includes having an Indigenous caucus to represent them and an Indigenous peoples rapporteur to report on violations in their territories.

As well as public participation and the protection of environmental and land defenders, COP3 has also addressed transparency and access to environmental information.

During a side event hosted by Article 19 Mexico and Central America – an organisation that promotes freedom of expression and access to information – Lourdes Medina, a lawyer specialising in environmental and Indigenous rights, said that if the right to access environmental information is not protected and guaranteed, then other rights are at risk. Medina said:

“The participation of citizens in resistance cannot be guaranteed. There is no adequate mechanism for access to justice and this produces danger and different forms of violence against defenders of human rights in environmental matters.”

News and views

FEELING THE HEAT: Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill preventing local governments in the state from requiring heat-exposure protections for outdoor workers, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The bill was introduced in response to a proposal in Miami-Dade county that would have required employers to provide water and shade breaks to agricultural and construction workers when the heat index is above 95F (35C). More than 90 organisations signed an open letter to the governor saying that removing “local governments’ ability to protect workers from climate-caused extreme heat is inhumane”, according to the newspaper. USA Today wrote that the new law has “frustrated and angered some experts and advocates for construction workers and farmworkers”. It added that “extreme heat kills more people in the US each year than all forms of extreme weather combined”.

ATTRIBUTION IN AFRICA: BBC News covered two new rapid attribution studies from the World Weather Attribution group that focused on Africa. The first found that the ongoing drought in southern Africa that has resulted in crop failures, disease outbreaks and emergency declarations in several countries was influenced by El Niño and not climate change. The second study found that last month’s “deadly heatwave” in west Africa and the Sahel region would have been “impossible” in the absence of human-driven climate change. Meanwhile, “erratic” rain and rising temperatures are putting winegrowers in South Africa’s Western Cape province at risk, according to Agence-France Presse. One winemaker told the website: “If people don’t believe in global warming, they should come to South Africa.”

FOOD CONTROVERSY: Academics from Leiden University and New York University sent a letter to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) “urgently requesting a retraction” of its report on pathways towards lower emissions from livestock, which cites their work. They said the report “seriously distorts” their findings regarding the greenhouse gas mitigation potential of dietary changes and pointed out errors in framing, methodology and data. According to the Guardian, although FAO reports are consulted by international bodies, the organisation “is also mandated to increase livestock productivity so as to bolster nutrition and food security”. A FAO spokesperson told the outlet the institution “will look into the issues raised by the academics and undertake a technical exchange of views with them”.

RE-PEAT: A bill introduced in the UK’s House of Commons last week was the government’s “last chance” to fulfil its promise to ban the sale of peat for gardening uses by the end of the current Parliament, according to the Wildlife Trusts. The legislation was introduced by former environment secretary Theresa Villiers, who noted that “peatlands are the UK’s largest carbon store”, according to the ENDS Report. One conservative politician “asked that it be put on the record that the bill ‘will not go unopposed’”, the outlet added. In the Yorkshire Post, Villiers noted that 95% of respondents to the government’s consultation in 2021 supported such a ban. The bill will be presented in the House of Commons again on Friday, 26 April.

‘SOUND’ EVIDENCE: Energy Monitor covered a recent Nature study revealing that forest-based solutions, including forest carbon credits, are supported by more “sound” scientific evidence than other types of nature-based solutions. The outlet noted that forest carbon credits have come under scrutiny for their accounting methods and their impacts on forest communities. The study examined the mitigation potential of 43 nature-based solutions and found that four of them – all related to the conservation and restoration of tropical and temperate forests – “offer the greatest certainty in carbon mitigation potential”.

‘BETTER’ MEAT: The World Resources Institute thinktank published a new report aimed at helping food companies achieve climate, sustainability and ethical goals by sourcing “better” meat – where “better” refers to “environmental, social, ethical and/or economic attributes”. The report recommended six steps companies can take, including calculating the emissions baselines of their food purchases, assessing the potential environmental impacts of their new strategies and engaging with suppliers. The report noted that “better” meat is often associated with higher environmental impacts alongside possible improvements in animal welfare. It also laid out strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from meat production.

Watch, read, listen

WILDLIFE CROSSINGS: A feature in CBS news explored how wildlife crossings throughout the US are reducing roadkill and helping preserve the genetic diversity of species.

GULLIES EXPANSION: BBC News explained how soil degradation has swallowed entire neighbourhoods in Latin America and Africa.

PROTECTING THE AMAZON: A documentary by Al Jazeera showed how the Indigenous Yanomami tribe fight to protect Brazil’s Amazon rainforest from illegal gold mining.

HIMALAYAN DISPUTE: A CNN World multimedia article addressed how herders in a northern Indian community are losing their lands to climate change and border tensions with China.

New science

Frugivores enhance potential carbon recovery in fragmented landscapes
Nature Climate Change

New research found that fruit-eating animals – “frugivores” – play an important role in dispersing the seeds of carbon-dense trees, but this is being put at risk by forest fragmentation. Using ground-based data gathered in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, scientists showed that large fruit-eating birds are responsible for dispersing the seeds of trees with the highest carbon-storing potential, but that the animals are restricted from doing this when tree cover falls below 40%. The restricted movement of large fruit-eating birds has the potential to reduce forest “biomass” – the total weight of plants in a given area – by up to 38%, the researchers estimated. They concluded: “Active restoration (for example, planting trees) is required in more fragmented landscapes to achieve carbon and biodiversity targets.”

Impacts of fire and prospects for recovery in a tropical peat forest ecosystem
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Fires in tropical peatland forests lead to the proliferation of non-forest vegetation and the erosion of biodiversity – although some affected forests may show “some signs of recovery” after a 12-year period, according to a new study. The researchers tracked ecosystem properties and biodiversity variables in a tropical peatland in Indonesia over 16 years. The analysis showed that most ecosystems and biodiversity are “sensitive to recurrent high-intensity fire”. The paper concluded: “If left uncontrolled, fire may be a pervasive threat to the ecological functioning of tropical forests, underscoring the importance of fire prevention and long-term restoration efforts.”

Emergency policies are not enough to resolve Amazonia’s fire crises
Communications Earth & Environment

Emergency “fire bans” in Brazil – such as those implemented in 2019 – have been “largely ineffective” and must be combined with longer-term strategies to reduce the risks of fire, new research said. Scientists compared the number of observed “fire counts” in the Brazilian Amazon over 2019-21 to the number of expected fires based on climatic conditions. They found that while the 2019 ban did significantly reduce the number of fires, the same intervention was “much less effective” in 2020 and 2021. The authors argued that solving the “fire crisis” will require “target[ing] the underlying causes of fire”, engaging with local communities and building long-term management strategies and education campaigns.

In the diary

Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz. Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org

The post Cropped 24 April 2024: Mass coral bleaching; FAO report retraction request; Escazú Agreement appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Cropped 24 April 2024: Mass coral bleaching; FAO report retraction request; Escazú Agreement

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Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate

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We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter.
Subscribe for free here.

Key developments

Food inflation on the rise

DELUGE STRIKES FOOD: Extreme rainfall and flooding across the Mediterranean and north Africa has “battered the winter growing regions that feed Europe…threatening food price rises”, reported the Financial Times. Western France has “endured more than 36 days of continuous rain”, while farmers’ associations in Spain’s Andalusia estimate that “20% of all production has been lost”, it added. Policy expert David Barmes told the paper that the “latest storms were part of a wider pattern of climate shocks feeding into food price inflation”.

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NO BEEF: The UK’s beef farmers, meanwhile, “face a double blow” from climate change as “relentless rain forces them to keep cows indoors”, while last summer’s drought hit hay supplies, said another Financial Times article. At the same time, indoor growers in south England described a 60% increase in electricity standing charges as a “ticking timebomb” that could “force them to raise their prices or stop production, which will further fuel food price inflation”, wrote the Guardian.

TINDERBOX’ AND TARIFFS: A study, covered by the Guardian, warned that major extreme weather and other “shocks” could “spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK”. Experts cited “chronic” vulnerabilities, including climate change, low incomes, poor farming policy and “fragile” supply chains that have made the UK’s food system a “tinderbox”. A New York Times explainer noted that while trade could once guard against food supply shocks, barriers such as tariffs and export controls – which are being “increasingly” used by politicians – “can shut off that safety valve”.

El Niño looms

NEW ENSO INDEX: Researchers have developed a new index for calculating El Niño, the large-scale climate pattern that influences global weather and causes “billions in damages by bringing floods to some regions and drought to others”, reported CNN. It added that climate change is making it more difficult for scientists to observe El Niño patterns by warming up the entire ocean. The outlet said that with the new metric, “scientists can now see it earlier and our long-range weather forecasts will be improved for it.”

WARMING WARNING: Meanwhile, the US Climate Prediction Center announced that there is a 60% chance of the current La Niña conditions shifting towards a neutral state over the next few months, with an El Niño likely to follow in late spring, according to Reuters. The Vibes, a Malaysian news outlet, quoted a climate scientist saying: “If the El Niño does materialise, it could possibly push 2026 or 2027 as the warmest year on record, replacing 2024.”

CROP IMPACTS: Reuters noted that neutral conditions lead to “more stable weather and potentially better crop yields”. However, the newswire added, an El Niño state would mean “worsening drought conditions and issues for the next growing season” to Australia. El Niño also “typically brings a poor south-west monsoon to India, including droughts”, reported the Hindu’s Business Line. A 2024 guest post for Carbon Brief explained that El Niño is linked to crop failure in south-eastern Africa and south-east Asia.

News and views

  • DAM-AG-ES: Several South Korean farmers filed a lawsuit against the country’s state-owned utility company, “seek[ing] financial compensation for climate-related agricultural damages”, reported United Press International. Meanwhile, a national climate change assessment for the Philippines found that the country “lost up to $219bn in agricultural damages from typhoons, floods and droughts” over 2000-10, according to Eco-Business.
  • SCORCHED GRASS: South Africa’s Western Cape province is experiencing “one of the worst droughts in living memory”, which is “scorching grass and killing livestock”, said Reuters. The newswire wrote: “In 2015, a drought almost dried up the taps in the city; farmers say this one has been even more brutal than a decade ago.”
  • NOUVELLE VEG: New guidelines published under France’s national food, nutrition and climate strategy “urged” citizens to “limit” their meat consumption, reported Euronews. The delayed strategy comes a month after the US government “upended decades of recommendations by touting consumption of red meat and full-fat dairy”, it noted. 
  • COURTING DISASTER: India’s top green court accepted the findings of a committee that “found no flaws” in greenlighting the Great Nicobar project that “will lead to the felling of a million trees” and translocating corals, reported Mongabay. The court found “no good ground to interfere”, despite “threats to a globally unique biodiversity hotspot” and Indigenous tribes at risk of displacement by the project, wrote Frontline.
  • FISH FALLING: A new study found that fish biomass is “falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade”, noted the Guardian. While experts also pointed to the role of overfishing in marine life loss, marine ecologist and study lead author Dr Shahar Chaikin told the outlet: “Our research proves exactly what that biological cost [of warming] looks like underwater.” 
  • TOO HOT FOR COFFEE: According to new analysis by Climate Central, countries where coffee beans are grown “are becoming too hot to cultivate them”, reported the Guardian. The world’s top five coffee-growing countries faced “57 additional days of coffee-harming heat” annually because of climate change, it added.

Spotlight

Nature talks inch forward

This week, Carbon Brief covers the latest round of negotiations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which occurred in Rome over 16-19 February.

The penultimate set of biodiversity negotiations before October’s Conference of the Parties ended in Rome last week, leaving plenty of unfinished business.

The CBD’s subsidiary body on implementation (SBI) met in the Italian capital for four days to discuss a range of issues, including biodiversity finance and reviewing progress towards the nature targets agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

However, many of the major sticking points – particularly around finance – will have to wait until later this summer, leaving some observers worried about the capacity for delegates to get through a packed agenda at COP17.

The SBI, along with the subsidiary body on scientific, technical and technological advice (SBSTTA) will both meet in Nairobi, Kenya, later this summer for a final round of talks before COP17 kicks off in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19 October.

Money talks

Finance for nature has long been a sticking point at negotiations under the CBD.

Discussions on a new fund for biodiversity derailed biodiversity talks in Cali, Colombia, in autumn 2024, requiring resumed talks a few months later.

Despite this, finance was barely on the agenda at the SBI meetings in Rome. Delegates discussed three studies on the relationship between debt sustainability and implementation of nature plans, but the more substantive talks are set to take place at the next SBI meeting in Nairobi.

Several parties “highlighted concerns with the imbalance of work” on finance between these SBI talks and the next ones, reported Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).

Lim Li Ching, senior researcher at Third World Network, noted that tensions around finance permeated every aspect of the talks. She told Carbon Brief:

“If you’re talking about the gender plan of action – if there’s little or no financial resources provided to actually put it into practice and implement it, then it’s [just] paper, right? Same with the reporting requirements and obligations.”

Monitoring and reporting

Closely linked to the issue of finance is the obligations of parties to report on their progress towards the goals and targets of the GBF.

Parties do so through the submission of national reports.

Several parties at the talks pointed to a lack of timely funding for driving delays in their reporting, according to ENB.

A note released by the CBD Secretariat in December said that no parties had submitted their national reports yet; by the time of the SBI meetings, only the EU had. It further noted that just 58 parties had submitted their national biodiversity plans, which were initially meant to be published by COP16, in October 2024.

Linda Krueger, director of biodiversity and infrastructure policy at the environmental not-for-profit Nature Conservancy, told Carbon Brief that despite the sparse submissions, parties are “very focused on the national report preparation”. She added:

“Everybody wants to be able to show that we’re on the path and that there still is a pathway to getting to 2030 that’s positive and largely in the right direction.”

Watch, read, listen

NET LOSS: Nigeria’s marine life is being “threatened” by “ghost gear” – nets and other fishing equipment discarded in the ocean – said Dialogue Earth.

COMEBACK CAUSALITY: A Vox long-read looked at whether Costa Rica’s “payments for ecosystem services” programme helped the country turn a corner on deforestation.

HOMEGROWN GOALS: A Straits Times podcast discussed whether import-dependent Singapore can afford to shelve its goal to produce 30% of its food locally by 2030.

‘RUSTING’ RIVERS: The Financial Times took a closer look at a “strange new force blighting the [Arctic] landscape”: rivers turning rust-orange due to global warming.

New science

  • Lakes in the Congo Basin’s peatlands are releasing carbon that is thousands of years old | Nature Geoscience
  • Natural non-forest ecosystems – such as grasslands and marshlands – were converted for agriculture at four times the rate of land with tree cover between 2005 and 2020 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Around one-quarter of global tree-cover loss over 2001-22 was driven by cropland expansion, pastures and forest plantations for commodity production | Nature Food

In the diary

Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz.
Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org

The post Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate

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Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’

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Rising temperatures across France since the mid-1970s is putting Tour de France competitors at “high risk”, according to new research.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, uses 50 years of climate data to calculate the potential heat stress that athletes have been exposed to across a dozen different locations during the world-famous cycling race.

The researchers find that both the severity and frequency of high-heat-stress events have increased across France over recent decades.

But, despite record-setting heatwaves in France, the heat-stress threshold for safe competition has rarely been breached in any particular city on the day the Tour passed through.

(This threshold was set out by cycling’s international governing body in 2024.)

However, the researchers add it is “only a question of time” until this occurs as average temperatures in France continue to rise.

The lead author of the study tells Carbon Brief that, while the race organisers have been fortunate to avoid major heat stress on race days so far, it will be “harder and harder to be lucky” as extreme heat becomes more common.

‘Iconic’

The Tour de France is one of the world’s most storied cycling races and the oldest of Europe’s three major multi-week cycling competitions, or Grand Tours.

Riders cover around 3,500 kilometres (km) of distance and gain up to nearly 55km of altitude over 21 stages, with only two or three rest days throughout the gruelling race.

The researchers selected the Tour de France because it is the “iconic bike race. It is the bike race of bike races,” says Dr Ivana Cvijanovic, a climate scientist at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, who led the new work.

Heat has become a growing problem for the competition in recent years.

In 2022, Alexis Vuillermoz, a French competitor, collapsed at the finish line of the Tour’s ninth stage, leaving in an ambulance and subsequently pulling out of the race entirely.

Two years later, British cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish vomited on his bike during the first stage of the race after struggling with the 36C heat.

The Tour also makes a good case study because it is almost entirely held during the month of July and, while the route itself changes, there are many cities and stages that are repeated from year to year, Cvijanovic adds.

‘Have to be lucky’

The study focuses on the 50-year span between 1974 and 2023.

The researchers select six locations across the country that have commonly hosted the Tour, from the mountain pass of Col du Tourmalet, in the French Pyrenees, to the city of Paris – where the race finishes, along the Champs-Élysées.

These sites represent a broad range of climatic zones: Alpe d’ Huez, Bourdeaux, Col du Tourmalet, Nîmes, Paris and Toulouse.

For each location, they use meteorological reanalysis data from ERA5 and radiant temperature data from ERA5-HEAT to calculate the “wet-bulb globe temperature” (WBGT) for multiple times of day across the month of July each year.

WBGT is a heat-stress index that takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed and direct sunlight.

Although there is “no exact scientific consensus” on the best heat-stress index to use, WBGT is “one of the rare indicators that has been originally developed based on the actual human response to heat”, Cvijanovic explains.

It is also the one that the International Cycling Union (UCI) – the world governing body for sport cycling – uses to assess risk. A WBGT of 28C or higher is classified as “high risk” by the group.

WBGT is the “gold standard” for assessing heat stress, says Dr Jessica Murfree, director of the ACCESS Research Laboratory and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Murfree, who was not involved in the new study, adds that the researchers are “doing the right things by conducting their science in alignment with the business practices that are already happening”.

The researchers find that across the 50-year time period, WBGT has been increasing across the entire country – albeit, at different rates. In the north-west of the country, WBGT has increased at an average rate of 0.1C per decade, while in the southern and eastern parts of the country, it has increased by more than 0.5C per decade.

The maps below show the maximum July WBGT for each decade of the analysis (rows) and for hourly increments of the late afternoon (columns). Lower temperatures are shown in lighter greens and yellows, while higher temperatures are shown in darker reds and purples.

Six Tour de France locations analysed in the study are shown as triangles on the maps (clockwise from top): Paris, Alpe d’ Huez, Nîmes, Toulouse, Col du Tourmalet and Bordeaux.

The maps show that the maximum WBGT temperature in the afternoon has surpassed 28C over almost the entire country in the last decade. The notable exceptions to this are the mountainous regions of the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Maximum WBGT across France for the month of July from 1974-2023. Rows show the values for each decade and columns show the hourly values for 3:00pm, 4:00pm, 5:00pm and 6:00pm. Lower temperatures are shown in lighter greens and yellows, while higher temperatures are shown in darker reds and purples. Triangles indicate the six Tour de France locations analysed in the study. Source: Cvijanovic et al. (2026)

The researchers also find that most of the country has crossed the 28C WBGT threshold – which they describe as “dangerous heat levels” – on at least one July day over the past decade. However, by looking at the WBGT on the day the Tour passed through any of these six locations, they find that the threshold has rarely been breached during the race itself.

For example, the research notes that, since 1974, Paris has seen a WBGT of 28C five times at 3pm in July – but that these events have “so far” not coincided with the cycling race.

The study states that it is “fortunate” that the Tour has so far avoided the worst of the heat-stress.

Cvijanovic says the organisers and competitors have been “lucky” to date. She adds:

“It has worked really well for them so far. But as the frequency of these [extreme heat] events is increasing, it will be harder and harder to be lucky.”

Dr Madeleine Orr, an assistant professor of sport ecology at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the study, tells Carbon Brief that the paper was “really well done”, noting that its “methods are good [and its] approach was sound”. She adds:

“[The Tour has] had athletes complain about [the heat]. They’ve had athletes collapse – and still those aren’t the worst conditions. I think that that says a lot about what we consider safe. They’ve still been lucky to not see what unsafe looks like, despite [the heat] having already had impacts.”

Heat safety protocols

In 2024, the UCI set out its first-ever high temperature protocol – a set of guidelines for race organisers to assess athletes’ risk of heat stress.

The assessment places the potential risk into one of five categories based on the WBGT, ranging from very low to high risk.

The protocol then sets out suggested actions to take in the event of extreme heat, ranging from having athletes complete their warm-ups using ice vests and cold towels to increasing the number of support vehicles providing water and ice.

If the WBGT climbs above the 28C mark, the protocol suggests that organisers modify the start time of the stage, adapt the course to remove particularly hazardous sections – or even cancel the race entirely.

However, Orr notes that many other parts of the race, such as spectator comfort and equipment functioning, may have lower temperatures thresholds that are not accounted for in the protocol, but should also be considered.

Murfree points out that the study’s findings – and the heat protocol itself – are “really focused on adaptation, rather than mitigation”. While this is “to be expected”, she tells Carbon Brief:

“Moving to earlier start times or adjusting the route specifically to avoid these locations that score higher in heat stress doesn’t stop the heat stress. These aren’t climate preventative measures. That, I think, would be a much more difficult conversation to have in the research because of the Tour de France’s intimate relationship with fossil-fuel companies.”

The post Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’

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DeBriefed 20 February 2026: EU’s ‘3C’ warning | Endangerment repeal’s impact on US emissions | ‘Tree invasion’ fuelled South America’s fires

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Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. 
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.

This week

Preparing for 3C

NEW ALERT: The EU’s climate advisory board urged countries to prepare for 3C of global warming, reported the Guardian. The outlet quoted Maarten van Aalst, a member of the advisory board, saying that adapting to this future is a “daunting task, but, at the same time, quite a doable task”. The board recommended the creation of “climate risk assessments and investments in protective measures”.

‘INSUFFICIENT’ ACTION: EFE Verde added that the advisory board said that the EU’s adaptation efforts were so far “insufficient, fragmented and reactive” and “belated”. Climate impacts are expected to weaken the bloc’s productivity, put pressure on public budgets and increase security risks, it added.

UNDERWATER: Meanwhile, France faced “unprecedented” flooding this week, reported Le Monde. The flooding has inundated houses, streets and fields and forced the evacuation of around 2,000 people, according to the outlet. The Guardian quoted Monique Barbut, minister for the ecological transition, saying: “People who follow climate issues have been warning us for a long time that events like this will happen more often…In fact, tomorrow has arrived.”

IEA ‘erases’ climate

MISSING PRIORITY: The US has “succeeded” in removing climate change from the main priorities of the International Energy Agency (IEA) during a “tense ministerial meeting” in Paris, reported Politico. It noted that climate change is not listed among the agency’s priorities in the “chair’s summary” released at the end of the two-day summit.

US INTERVENTION: Bloomberg said the meeting marked the first time in nine years the IEA failed to release a communique setting out a unified position on issues – opting instead for the chair’s summary. This came after US energy secretary Chris Wright gave the organisation a one-year deadline to “scrap its support of goals to reduce energy emissions to net-zero” – or risk losing the US as a member, according to Reuters.

Around the world

  • ISLAND OBJECTION: The US is pressuring Vanuatu to withdraw a draft resolution supporting an International Court of Justice ruling on climate change, according to Al Jazeera.
  • GREENLAND HEAT: The Associated Press reported that Greenland’s capital Nuuk had its hottest January since records began 109 years ago.
  • CHINA PRIORITIES: China’s Energy Administration set out its five energy priorities for 2026-2030, including developing a renewable energy plan, said International Energy Net.
  • AMAZON REPRIEVE: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has continued to fall into early 2026, extending a downward trend, according to the latest satellite data covered by Mongabay.
  • GEZANI DESTRUCTION: Reuters reported the aftermath of the Gezani cyclone, which ripped through Madagascar last week, leaving 59 dead and more than 16,000 displaced people.

20cm

The average rise in global sea levels since 1901, according to a Carbon Brief guest post on the challenges in projecting future rises.


Latest climate research

  • Wildfire smoke poses negative impacts on organisms and ecosystems, such as health impacts on air-breathing animals, changes in forests’ carbon storage and coral mortality | Global Ecology and Conservation
  • As climate change warms Antarctica throughout the century, the Weddell Sea could see the growth of species such as krill and fish and remain habitable for Emperor penguins | Nature Climate Change
  • About 97% of South American lakes have recorded “significant warming” over the past four decades and are expected to experience rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves | Climatic Change

(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)

Captured

US emissions, MtCO2e, under a “current policy” scenario in which the EPA removes key federal climate regulations

Repealing the US’s landmark “endangerment finding”, along with actions that rely on that finding, will slow the pace of US emissions cuts, according to Rhodium Group visualised by Carbon Brief. US president Donald Trump last week formally repealed the scientific finding that underpins federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, although the move is likely to face legal challenges. Data from the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm, shows that US emissions will drop more slowly without climate regulations. However, even with climate regulations, emissions are expected to drop much slower under Trump than under the previous Joe Biden administration, according to the analysis.

Spotlight

How a ‘tree invasion’ helped to fuel South America’s fires

This week, Carbon Brief explores how the “invasion” of non-native tree species helped to fan the flames of forest fires in Argentina and Chile earlier this year.

Since early January, Chile and Argentina have faced large-scale and deadly wildfires, including in Patagonia, which spans both countries.

These fires have been described as “some of the most significant and damaging in the region”, according to a World Weather Attribution (WWA) analysis covered by Carbon Brief.

In both countries, the fires destroyed vast areas of native forests and grasslands, displacing thousands of people. In Chile, the fires resulted in 23 deaths.

Firefighters spray water on homes in Vina del Mar, Chile.
Firefighters spray water on homes in Vina del Mar, Chile. Credit: Esteban Felix / Alamy Stock Photo

Multiple drivers contributed to the spread of the fires, including extended periods of high temperatures, low rainfall and abundant dry vegetation.

The WWA analysis concluded that human-caused climate change made these weather conditions at least three times more likely.

According to the researchers, another contributing factor was the invasion of non-native trees in the regions where the fires occurred.

The risk of non-native forests

In Argentina, the wildfires began on 6 January and persisted until the first week of February. They hit the city of Puerto Patriada and the Los Alerces and Lago Puelo national parks, in the Chubut province, as well as nearby regions.

In these areas, more than 45,000 hectares of native forests – such as Patagonian alerce tree, myrtle, coigüe and ñire – along with scrubland and grasslands, were consumed by the flames, according to the WWA study.

In Chile, forest fires occurred from 17 to 19 January in the Biobío, Ñuble and Araucanía regions.

The fires destroyed more than 40,000 hectares of forest and more than 20,000 hectares of non-native forest plantations, including eucalyptus and Monterey pine.

Dr Javier Grosfeld, a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in northern Patagonia, told Carbon Brief that these species, introduced to Patagonia for production purposes in the late 20th century, grow quickly and are highly flammable.

Because of this, their presence played a role in helping the fires to spread more quickly and grow larger.

However, that is no reason to “demonise” them, he stressed.

Forest management

For Grosfeld, the problem in northern Patagonia, Argentina, is a significant deficit in the management of forests and forest plantations.

This management should include pruning branches from their base and controlling the spread of non-native species, he added.

A similar situation is happening in Chile, where management of pine and eucalyptus plantations is not regulated. This means there are no “firebreaks” – gaps in vegetation – in place to prevent fire spread, Dr Gabriela Azócar, a researcher at the University of Chile’s Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2), told Carbon Brief.

She noted that, although Mapuche Indigenous communities in central-south Chile are knowledgeable about native species and manage their forests, their insight and participation are not recognised in the country’s fire management and prevention policies.

Grosfeld stated:

“We are seeing the transformation of the Patagonian landscape from forest to scrubland in recent years. There is a lack of preventive forestry measures, as well as prevention and evacuation plans.”

Watch, read, listen

FUTURE FURNACE: A Guardian video explored the “unbearable experience of walking in a heatwave in the future”.

THE FUN SIDE: A Channel 4 News video covered a new wave of climate comedians who are using digital platforms such as TikTok to entertain and raise awareness.

ICE SECRETS: The BBC’s Climate Question podcast explored how scientists study ice cores to understand what the climate was like in ancient times and how to use them to inform climate projections.

Coming up

Pick of the jobs

DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.

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The post DeBriefed 20 February 2026: EU’s ‘3C’ warning | Endangerment repeal’s impact on US emissions | ‘Tree invasion’ fuelled South America’s fires appeared first on Carbon Brief.

DeBriefed 20 February 2026: EU’s ‘3C’ warning | Endangerment repeal’s impact on US emissions | ‘Tree invasion’ fuelled South America’s fires

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