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Emmanuel Macron’s tech envoy warns attenders current trajectory of artificial intelligence is unsustainable

The impact of artificial intelligence on the environment and inequality have featured in the opening exchanges of a global summit in Paris attended by political leaders, tech executives and experts.

Emmanuel Macron’s AI envoy, Anne Bouverot, opened the two-day gathering at the Grand Palais in the heart of the French capital with a speech referring to the environmental impact of AI, which requires vast amounts of energy and resource to develop and operate.

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Insurers blame ‘significant and consistent bad weather’ after year of 12 named storms

Insurers paid out a record £585m for weather-related damage to homes and possessions in Britain last year, after record-breaking rain and storms hit the country.

The data, from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), revealed that claims for damage to homes from windstorms, flooding and frozen pipes in 2024 surpassed the previous record in 2022, for the same types of claim, by £77m. The figure is £127m higher than the weather-related claims payouts for 2023.

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Sea levels are rising, and science shows they will continue to rise for generations due to heat-trapping emissions that have already been released. This highlights a profound and enduring climate injustice: future generations will face the consequences of today’s decisions. The effects of these emissions are already unfolding, but the full extent of their impact—on coastlines, communities, and ecosystems—will play out over lifetimes to come.  

Understanding sea level rise as a long-term, multi-generational problem is essential to comprehending the scale of climate change and the need for bold action now. While this knowledge may be sobering, it underscores the importance of reducing emissions, holding major polluters accountable, and adapting to a changing world. Let’s explore what is driving this persistent rise and what it means for our collective future. 

What do we know about future sea level rise? 

Sea level rise is one of the most well-documented and predictable consequences of climate change, with models showing that average sea levels will increase over time, even in optimistic versions of the future. Scientists use computer models, such as climate models, ice sheet models, and sea level models, to make projections of future climate change. Projections of sea level rise, such as those contained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, give us an idea of what might happen in the future.  

These projections are usually based on a combination of two things: the heat-trapping emissions that have already occurred in the past and those that could occur in the future.  

The future trajectories are based on different scenarios, such as versions of the future where the world comes together to take action and phase out fossil fuels, or versions where fossil fuel production continues throughout this century. These different future scenarios, combined with what we already know happened in the past, give us a range of possible future sea levels.  

Most simulations focus on the near-term impacts by 2100, but some look forward multiple centuries to 2300, and occasionally some look even farther into the future, looking ahead 2,000 or even 10,000 years. 

Even in the most optimistic scenarios, where global average temperatures are kept below 1.5°C, model projections show that sea levels could still rise by approximately 11-22 inches higher than present by 2100. This would cause dramatic changes in island and coastal communities. Looking further into the future, the impact is even larger. Over the next 2,000 years we could see sea levels rising as much as 7.5-10 feet. Over the next 10,000 years, as much as 20-23 feet. If the world surpasses 1.5°C of warming and instead warms by 2°C the world could endure even worse outcomes with sea levels rising 7-20 feet over 2,000 years and 26-43 feet over 10,000 years. 

Looking at future sea level rise in this way gives us a combined look at the impact of both past and possible future emissions. But what if we want to know the impact of past emissions separated from the impact of future emissions? For that, we need to separate the impact of emissions that occurred over different time periods, and we need to understand the processes that make sea level rise such an enduring challenge. 

What causes sea level rise to persist for centuries?  

Because of the way the climate and ocean systems respond to heat-trapping emissions, sea levels will continue to rise even after air temperatures stabilize. This has been noted as a source of climate injustice, due to the profound impacts on future generations and low-lying coastal communities. 

The way air temperature responds after emissions cease is called the zero emissions commitment, or ZEC. Research with climate models in recent years shows that when carbon dioxide emissions stop, the rise in atmospheric temperatures will likely also stop. This means that there would be no additional warming of the atmosphere from carbon dioxide itself, but the many complex systems on Earth will continue to respond to the heat already trapped.  

So, even in a future scenario where the world achieves the stabilization of air temperatures, the Earth’s oceans and cryosphere (frozen regions like Antarctica) will continue to adjust. The oceans absorb much of the carbon dioxide lingering in the atmosphere, which contributes to ocean acidification. Meanwhile, increased atmospheric and ocean temperatures cause glaciers and ice sheets to melt and oceans to expand. 

The two dominant contributing factors to rising sea levels are: 

• Thermal Expansion: As the oceans absorb heat, the water expands, accounting for a significant portion of current sea level rise. 

• Melting Land Ice: When global mountain glaciers and the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica melt, they add mass to the ocean. The combined melt of all land ice is currently the dominant driver of sea level rise, and this trend is expected to continue into the future.  

Given that air temperatures stabilize when heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions stop, yet sea levels continue to rise, we might then ask, what is the zero emissions commitment for sea level rise? How much would sea levels rise in the future just due to the impact of heat-trapping emissions that have already occurred in the past? 

Delaying emissions reductions leads to higher long-term sea level rise 

Scientific answers to these questions are just beginning to emerge. A few studies give us insight into the committed sea level rise that can result just from emissions that have already occurred in the past. One team found that emissions just up until 2016 could lead to approximately 2.3–3.6 feet of sea level rise by 2300—even if no other emissions happened after 2016. For reference, averaged across the Earth, sea levels have risen about 8 inches since 1901, meaning the full impact of past emissions has yet to materialize in our oceans and that future sea level rise in the coming centuries just from emissions that occurred before 2016 will exceed what we’ve experienced to date.  

Another study looks at how delays in reducing heat-trapping emissions impact sea level rise across centuries. ​​They find that for every five years that the world delays the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, we commit the future to a median level of an additional 8 inches of sea level rise at 2300.   

Ice sheet tipping points: A critical threat 

Ice sheets have the potential to become the dominant factor in long-term sea level response. 

One of the biggest challenges with ice sheets is that they are considered tipping elements—meaning that they can pass a threshold beyond which large scale mass loss becomes effectively irreversible on human-relevant time scales. This is especially true for the marine-based ice sheets in Antarctica, which are undergoing ice loss due to warm temperatures in both the air and the ocean. While the precise warming threshold for ice sheet tipping points is still unclear, research on times in Earth’s history where the ice sheets underwent enormous changes tells us that it could happen even at a temperature rise of around 1.5-2°C above the preindustrial average.  

That’s why climate scientists are sounding the alarm—because global efforts under the Paris Agreement to keep warming below those levels are far off track. Current pledges countries have made under the Paris Agreement are projected to lead to around 3°C of atmospheric warming by the end of the century, which means we are at risk of triggering irreversible ice sheet tipping points.  

Understanding these processes underscores the critical need for immediate and sustained global action to reduce emissions. Strong action to reduce heat-trapping emissions now can protect the ice sheets and limit long-term sea level rise. But the longer we delay, the greater the risk of crossing irreversible tipping points and exacerbating the impacts of sea level rise for centuries to come. 

Act now to reduce impacts later 

The multi-century impacts of sea level rise underscore the urgency of phasing out fossil fuels and holding major polluters accountable for their role in driving climate change. While we cannot undo the impacts of past emissions, we can limit additional damage by taking bold action now. Understanding the science behind long-term sea level rise empowers policymakers, advocates, and communities to demand accountability and push for equitable solutions to this intergenerational crisis. 

This concept of long-term sea level response serves as the foundation for ongoing research that quantifies the multi-century impacts of emissions from specific industries, paving the way for informed decision-making and climate accountability. 

We already see coastal communities around the world struggling to cope with flooding, storm surges, and salty ocean water contaminating freshwater reservoirs. But as enormous as the burden to adapt to present problems is, these changes are small compared to the extent of adaptation that will be needed as sea levels continue to rise.  

People around the world are speaking up and calling for action. World’s Youth for Climate Justice has spoken out about the intergenerational issue of rising sea levels. The Alliance of Small Island States has been working diligently for 30 years to get the world to address the climate injustices of sea level rise.  

Court cases are being filed to demand action. This past summer, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) issued an Advisory Opinion stating that heat-trapping emissions constitute pollution of the marine environment which drives sea level rise. The court noted that nations have obligations under international law to reduce this pollution. Taking action to phase out fossil fuels is not only the right thing to do, it is a requirement under international law.  

We know that sea levels will continue to rise for hundreds to thousands of years, but to what degree is not yet set in stone. We know that heat-trapping emissions must decline and reach zero as soon as possible. And what we need now is for world leaders to fulfill their legal obligations and act now for the sake of future generations. 

The first full draft of the assessment, on the state of America’s land, water and wildlife, was weeks from completion. The project leader called the study “too important to die.”

About 80 percent of manufacturing investments spurred by a Biden-era climate law have flowed to Republican districts. Efforts to stop federal payments are already causing pain.

On Qikiqtaruk, off Canada’s Yukon coast, scientists are wielding virtual-reality cameras, 3D models and digital archives to protect the island’s history and culture before it disappears

It was early July when the waters of the Beaufort Sea crept, then rushed, over the gravel spit of a remote Arctic island. For hours, the narrow strip of land, extending like the tail of a comma into the waters, gradually disappeared into the ocean.

When Canadian scientists on Qikiqtaruk (also known as Herschel Island), off the coast of Canada’s Yukon territory, surveyed the deluge, they saw a grimly comical scene unfold.

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Jesse Noakes, 36, and Matilda Lane-Rose, 20, and Emil Davey, 23, fined a total of $6,500 after pleading guilty to unlawful damage and trespass

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A group of climate activists have been fined over a foiled protest at the Woodside Energy boss’s family home.

About 10 counter-terrorism police were waiting for Jesse Noakes, 36, and Matilda Lane-Rose, 20, when they arrived at the Perth home of Woodside chief executive, Meg O’Neill, in August 2023 with paint, water balloons and a bicycle lock.

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On this day in 2020 the worst of the massive bushfires finally went out – but Australia had little time to grieve as the Covid pandemic took hold. Five years on, we examine the wounds of that summer

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In the hospital, I learned the first lesson of parenting: You are not in control of what is going to happen, nor can you predict it.

There’s no point trying to make plans around the whims of Trump. The PM instead needs to turn to Europe

To Elon Musk, I say this! To perform one Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration, while simultaneously offering full support to European neo-Nazis, might be considered a misfortune. To perform two Nazi salutes at Donald Trump’s inauguration, while simultaneously offering full support to European neo-Nazis, begins to look like carelessness.

I didn’t write that joke. I have cannibalised it from one by the gay Irish Victorian Oscar Wilde, a typical diversity hire who would have achieved nothing had his work not been promoted by the famously woke 19th-century British establishment. Luckily, Wilde was dead long before he had the opportunity to emigrate to the US and take an air traffic controller job from a more deserving straight white male, where his gayness would have caused planes to crash.

Stewart Lee tours Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf this year, with a Royal Festival Hall run in July

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Heading off the environmental crisis and growing the economy are not at odds. They are two sides of a coin – as our politicians should realise

If you care about the world we are handing on to future generations, the news on Thursday morning was dramatic. This January was the warmest on record; temperatures in 18 of the past 19 months have exceeded pre-industrial averages by 1.5C. There can be no comfort that the epoch-changing climate crisis is 20 or even 10 years away. It is already upon us.

Temperatures should have been moderated this winter by cooler air over the Pacific; it did not happen. Scientists are bewildered and scared. James Hansen, doyen of climate crisis research, believes that, unless this pace of deterioration is reversed, warm ocean waters flowing from the southern to the northern hemisphere will be trapped as vast sea currents cease. Sea levels will rise to impose a civilisational threat. It is a global imperative to dial down the rate of carbon emissions.

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Resilience is wearing thin in the town, with business owners facing mass booking cancellations and insurers turning their backs

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The tourist road from Dunkeld to Halls Gap is eerily quiet. Blackened trees stretch spidery branches towards a sky still smudged with smoke. The road is open but few cars take it save for a wildlife rescue vehicle inching slowly along, its occupants scanning the burnt-out forest for limping wallabies reported in the area. A lone currawong shrieks, invisible.

Fire ripped through this part of the Grampians/Gariwerd national park six weeks ago, and still burns on the other side of the mountain range – an immense rocky ridge jutting out through the smoke haze. But already new growth is starting to sprout. Green spikes burst from the charcoal stumps of grass-trees. Near a dry creek bed, tiny fern fronds unfurl out of the ash.

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The party’s agenda is about energy security, lower bills, economic growth and good jobs

• Ed Miliband is the Labour MP for Doncaster North and secretary of state for energy security and net zero

During four years in opposition and in the seven months since this government came to office, we have been clear: smart climate policy means not only protecting future generations from the biggest existential threat we face, but fighting to make working people better off today, growing our economy and confronting the economic injustices we face.

In a world where climate policy is being questioned, this government’s message to those in the Tory and Reform parties who say that we should go backwards on climate is simple: you are wrong, and this government is going to speed up, not slow down, the clean energy transition, because that is how to grow our economy and fight for working people through our Plan for Change.

Ed Miliband is the Labour MP for Doncaster North and secretary of state for energy security and net zero

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Scotland’s botanic gardens suffer ‘unimaginable’ loss of rare specimens

For more than a century, whenever winter came to Scotland, they stood tall against the wind and rain and snow. But last month, battered by Storm Éowyn, hundreds of rare and historic trees in the living collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh were lost.

The charity has four sites in Scotland. Its tallest tree in Edinburgh, a 166-year-old Himalayan cedar, fell during Éowyn’s gusts of up to 80mph, while Benmore Botanic Garden on the west coast has suffered “unimaginable” devastation.

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Aid projects were designed to help Central Americans withstand extreme weather at home. Their end could undercut Trump’s goal of reducing migration.

President Trump tangled with its forecasters during his first term. As he slashes government spending, many wonder what that means for weather data.

Developing countries urge biggest polluters to act as Trump’s return to the White House heightens geopolitical turmoil

The vast majority of governments are likely to miss a looming deadline to file vital plans that will determine whether or not the world has a chance of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown.

Despite the urgency of the crisis, the UN is relatively relaxed at the prospect of the missed date. Officials are urging countries instead to take time to work harder on their targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and divest from fossil fuels.

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Exclusive: Analysis suggests development in flood regions result of Labour push for 1.5m new homes in five years

More than 100,000 new homes will be built on the highest-risk flood zones in England in the next five years as part of the government’s push for 1.5m extra properties by the end of this parliament, Guardian analysis suggests.

Building on areas with the highest risk of serious flooding is supposed to be discouraged. Experts say development should be avoided unless absolutely necessary because there is a significant chance of regular deluges, which will flood the properties, cause hundreds of millions of pounds of economic damage and make homes uninsurable.

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Some have halted work on the Biden-era $5 billion program to build E.V. charging stations. Others plan to keep building. Most are confused.