Facing the flames: How Portugal is preparing for increased fire risk

Controlled fires and herds of goats are two of the key weapons being deployed in Portugal to adapt to the enhanced risk of forest fires in the country in light of climate change. We report from the front line to see how the challenge is being met. But first, the latest data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Warmest January on record in Europe

It has been very warm for the time of year. We’ve just had the hottest January on record in Europe, with temperatures 3.1 degrees Celsius above the 1981 to 2010 reference period…

 

Extreme weather to overload urban power grids, study shows

Extreme hot spells made increasingly likely by climate change could overload urban power grids and cause roving blackouts as an ever-greater share of humanity opt to live in cities, scientists said Monday.

In a series of studies and comment pieces in a special edition of the journal Nature Energy, researchers examined how cities can better use renewable power sources and plan for more frequent and potent temperature swings.

With more than half of mankind expected to live in cities by 2050, existing infrastructure relying on power from fossil fuels is likely to prove insufficient to meet growing demand, as well as the exploding use of air conditioning as urban heat skyrockets in summer.

While climate change is a long-term phenomenon, an international team of researchers wanted to see what effect short-term weather extremes would have on urban power grids…