Here’s all the latest local and international news concerning climate change for the week of March 23 to March 29, 2026.
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Here’s the latest news concerning climate change and biodiversity loss in B.C. and around the world, from the steps leaders are taking to address the problems, to all the up-to-date science.
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• With gas prices still soaring, can EVs bounce back in B.C.?
• Glacier retreat visible, says B.C. scientist on research expedition to Antarctica
• Future heat danger differs starkly for rich and poor countries
• Heat pumps required for all new homes in U.K., BBC reports
Human activities like burning fossil fuels and farming livestock are the main drivers of climate change, according to the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change. This causes heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, increasing the planet’s surface temperature.
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The panel, which is made up of scientists from around the world, including researchers from B.C., has warned for decades that wildfires and severe weather, such as the province’s deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and intense because of the climate emergency. It has issued a code red for humanity and warns the window to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial times is closing.
According to NASA climate scientists, human activities have raised the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide content by 50 per cent in less than 200 years, and “there is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.”
As of March 5, 2026, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 429.35 parts per million, up from 428.62 ppm the previous month, according to the latest available data from the NOAA measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory, a global atmosphere monitoring lab in Hawaii. The NOAA notes there has been a steady rise in CO2 from under 320 ppm in 1960.
• The global average temperature in 2023 reached 1.48 C higher than the pre-industrial average, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2024, it breached the 1.5 C threshold at 1.55 C.
• 2025 was the third warmest on record after 2024 and 2023, capping the 11th consecutive warmest years.
• Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850.
• The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change including sea level rise, and more intense drought, heat waves and wildfires.
• UNEP’s 2025 Emissions Gap Report, released in early December, shows that even if countries meet emissions targets, global temperatures could still rise by 2.3 C to 2.5 C this century.
• In June 2025, global concentrations of carbon dioxide exceeded 430 parts per million, a record high.
• There is global scientific consensus that the climate is warming and that humans are the cause.
(Sources: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization, UNEP’s 2025 emissions gap report, NASA, Copernicus Climate Change Service, climatedata.ca)
A striking yellow version of Chevrolet’s Corvette CX electric concept hypercar makes an eye-catching centrepiece of GM’s exhibit at the Vancouver International Auto Show, and with gas still averaging over $2 a litre in Metro Vancouver, the company’s top executive in Canada reckons their EV options will attract some attention this year.
GM Canada president Jack Uppal touched down at the Vancouver Convention Centre on Wednesday for the auto show’s opening, highlighting a lot of the electric vehicle options on prominent display.
“I think it is still a bit premature, given the global events that are transpiring, the higher prices at the gas pumps,” Uppal said. “But if they’re to stick over the longer period, I think we will start to seen even a further increase in EVs.”
Uppal said that should be good news for GM’s bet on EVs, including Chevrolet’s relaunched Bolt, which he noted is “the most affordable EV with 400 km range.”
“I can’t really comment on where gas prices will go, but it does truly give the consumer the opportunity and a choice now to make a decision on where they want to be,” he added.
Read the full story here.
—Derrick Penner
For more than a decade scientists have documented how Antarctic sea ice has been retreating because of human-caused climate change.
Now a team of Canadian and Chilean scientists is returning to Punta Arenas, Chile from a 14-day expedition on an icebreaker with data that will contribute to understanding how the continent’s ice, oceans and ecosystems are changing and how much glacier melt is accelerating.
Understanding climate change in Antarctica is important because it holds about 90 per cent of the world’s glacier ice, so what happens here will have major effects on the rest of the world, said James, a Victoria resident. James spoke to Postmedia News this week onboard the icebreaker Almirante Viel, which was designed in Canada and built in Chile.
The team, which includes 10 Canadian scientists from Natural Resources Canada, the Fisheries Department, and four Canadian universities, and two Chilean scientists, is en route back to port in Punta Arenas, Chile from the South Shetland Islands and Bransfield Strait.
Read the full story here.
—Tiffany Crawford
Poor countries may lose 10 times more people to deaths from high temperatures than rich ones, according to an analysis by Climate Impact Lab.
The research, published Wednesday, is designed to help cities and communities understand and respond to the dangers they face from rising temperatures. It comes as a record-breaking heat wave grips much of the U.S. and as more evidence emerges that global warming is accelerating. While the rising heat is global, its consequences for health vary dramatically depending on affluence.
“I continue to be shaken by the inequality of climate change,” said Michael Greenstone, a University of Chicago economist who co-authored the report and who co-directs Climate Impact Lab, a collaboration among researchers focused on emerging risks. “The extra deaths are all going to occur in places that contributed very little” to greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the atmosphere.
The new report projects that by 2050, vulnerable countries will see an increase in heat-related deaths equivalent to current fatalities from common diseases. Niger, Burkina Faso and other countries in Africa’s Sahel region could see 60 or more deaths a year per 100,000 people — a rate higher than the current one for malaria in Africa. About 55 people per 100,000 die of HIV/AIDS in Djibouti; it might experience a commensurate rise in heat-related mortality. In southeastern Bolivia, the death rate could rise by 30 people per 100,000, or about the current rate from diabetes.
Read the full story here.
—Bloomberg News
Developers will be required to install solar panels and heat pumps in all new homes in England as part of updated planning requirements published by the government, the BBC reports.
The report said plug-in panels that homeowners can self-install on balconies would be available in supermarkets in the coming months.
These small versions of the green tech are already deployed across Europe but are not currently sold in the UK due to safety regulations, the BBC reports.
Announcing the raft of measures to ramp up solar, the energy secretary said the Iran war had shown clean power was essential, according to the report. The BBC says the move has been welcomed by some energy companies but developers have raised concerns about the scale of solar required.
—BBC
Given the recent spike in gas prices, Vancouver Community College has launched a new pilot course — TRDE 3004: EV Vehicle Conversion — in which you can learn how to convert your car’s internal combustion engine into a green, electric version.
The three‑week program, which begins April 13, is being offered for just $1 in exchange for feedback to help the government and VCC evaluate the future course outline.
“Obviously we have no control over (the Iran war starting and the rise in prices),” chuckled VCC’s Brett Griffiths, dean of school of trades, technology and design. “But yeah, the timing was very good. … Everybody’s looking at, ‘Well, how can I save money?’ And this might be a potential way for people to save money in the future.”
The course is open to anyone, though those with mechanical aptitude will likely find more success than others. It covers tool usage, basic electrical theory, 3D scanning and computer-aided design (CAD), and starts with a 45-hour online portion for the first week, followed by 80 hours over two weeks of in-person practical training.
Read the full story here.
—J.J. Adams
Dr. Amin Kanani, head of the division of allergy and clinical immunology in the UBC department of medicine, says climate change is leading to longer, more intense pollen seasons in B.C.
In a UBC news post this week, Kanani says warmer temperatures and higher CO2 levels are leading to longer growing seasons and more plant growth, because plants use CO2 as their fuel to grow. He told UBC that with more plants there’s more pollen being produced and that people should expect to experience earlier and longer pollen seasons.
He said there are two main pollen seasons in B.C.: From February to June, there’s tree pollen from alder, birch, willow, cottonwood, oak and cedar and from May to August, there’s grass pollen.
He warns that people with asthma can experience a worsening of symptoms, with wheezing, shortness of breath and coughing.
Kanani spoke to Postmedia about this last year, saying the number of people developing seasonal allergies is climbing.
Quebecers want their province to be a North American leader in the fight against climate change, but they don’t seem to see the impact their own actions are having on greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new poll.
Most Quebecers have already noticed changes brought about by climate change, including less snow in the winter, more flooding and higher temperatures, the Léger Marketing poll found.
But they’re not as aware of what is actually causing climate change.
While transportation is the largest cause of climate-change causing pollution in Quebec, people believe industrial activity is the biggest contributor, with car use second, the poll found.
In fact, industrial emissions have decreased since 1990, while emissions from the transportation sector continue to grow, said Philippe Bourke of the Regroupement national des conseils régionaux de l’environnement, a coalition of environmental groups that commissioned the study.
Nearly half the greenhouse gases produced in Quebec come from transportation – cars, SUVs, minivans, vans, buses and trucks – while industry accounts for 28 per cent, Bourke said.
Read the full story here.
—Montreal Gazette
I’m a breaking news reporter but I’m also interested in writing stories about health, the environment, climate change and sustainable living, including zero-waste goals. If you have a story idea related to any of these topics please send an email to ticrawford@postmedia.com
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B.C. climate news: Future heat danger differs starkly for rich and poor countries | Canadian scientists studying climate impacts return from Antarctic | Heat pumps now required in all new builds in U.K. – Vancouver Sun
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