{"id":8405,"date":"2026-04-11T17:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T17:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/11\/roundup-of-climate-and-environmental-news-to-april-12-2026-vancouver-sun\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T17:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T17:19:26","slug":"roundup-of-climate-and-environmental-news-to-april-12-2026-vancouver-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/11\/roundup-of-climate-and-environmental-news-to-april-12-2026-vancouver-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Roundup of climate and environmental news to April 12, 2026. – Vancouver Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s all the latest local and international news concerning climate change for the week of April 6 to April 12, 2026.
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Here\u2019s 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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Check back every Saturday for more climate and environmental news or sign up for our\u00a0Sunrise\u00a0newsletter\u00a0HERE.<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\u2022 Emperor penguins now listed as endangered because of climate change
\u2022 Vancouver\u2019s Science World goes green, and not just the dome\u2019s changing light colours
\u2022 Bottom sea trawlers snaring many endangered species: UBC study
\u2022 March the fourth warmest on record
Human activities like burning fossil fuels and farming livestock are the main drivers of climate change, according to the UN\u2019s intergovernmental panel on climate change. This causes heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth\u2019s atmosphere, increasing the planet\u2019s surface temperature.
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The emperor penguin and the Antarctic fur seal are now both endangered, according to International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.<\/a>
The IUCN said in a statement this week that climate change in Antarctica is leading to changes in sea ice that are projected to cause the emperor penguin population to halve by the 2080s, while reduced food availability has already driven a 50 per cent reduction in the Antarctic fur seal population since 2000.
The southern elephant seal is also now at risk of extinction, due to disease, the IUCN added.
\u201cPenguins are already among the most threatened birds on Earth. The emperor penguin\u2019s move to endangered is a stark warning: climate change is accelerating the extinction crisis before our eyes,\u201d said Martin Harper, CEO of BirdLife International, which co-ordinated the emperor penguin assessment as the authority for birds on the IUCN Red List.
Harper said governments must act now to urgently decarbonize the economy.
The primary driver threatening the birds is the loss of sea ice, which the IUCN said has reached record lows since 2016. Emperor penguins require sea ice that is \u201cfastened\u201d to the coastline, ocean floor or grounded icebergs as habitat for their chicks and during their moulting season, when they are not waterproof. If the ice breaks up too early, the result can be deadly, according to the IUCN.
\u2014Tiffany Crawford<\/em>
\u00a0<\/em>
Vancouver\u2019s geodesic dome is going green, but not just the dazzling lights that change colour for special occasions.
Science World has unveiled B.C.\u2019s first vertical solar array as part of a major energy efficiency overhaul in the battle against human-caused climate change.
The $39\u2011million retrofit is designed to reduce the building\u2019s energy use by more than 40 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by about 75 per cent, according to B.C. Hydro. The project is funded by $20 million from the province and $19 million from the federal government.
Science World\u2019s retrofit includes three solar arrays, which the Crown corporation said is the first of its kind in B.C.
The 76 panels, installed late March will begin generating energy before summer, B.C. Hydro said.
\u2014Tiffany Crawford<\/em>
Snowpack in parts of southern and coastal B.C. are at some of the lowest levels in decades, even as other parts of the province recorded near record highs, according to the latest snow survey.
The April 1 survey from the River Forecast Centre showed a stark regional divide, ranging from a low of 26 per cent of normal in the Skagit area to a high of 146 per cent in the Nechako and Peace regions.
\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0really quite unusual\u00a0to have so many so high and so many so low,\u201d said Jonathan Boyd, a hydrologist with the River Forecast Centre.
Vancouver Island is 44 per cent of normal, one of the lowest levels in the province, according to the survey. The South Coast basin, which includes the North Shore mountains and is the source of much of Metro Vancouver\u2019s drinking water, is 57 per cent of normal. The Okanagan, at 58 per cent, broke a previous low set in 1981.
Less water increases the\u00a0potential for drought conditions\u00a0through the summer, Boyd said. \u201cAnd oftentimes drought is associated with wildfire, as well,\u201d he added.
Read the full story here.<\/a>
\u2014Nathan Griffiths<\/em>
Thousands of ocean species are being caught in bottom trawls, including many that are listed as threatened, such as the critically endangered giant guitarfish, the zebra shark and at least three sea horse species, according to a new UBC study.
The peer-reviewed\u00a0study,\u00a0which is the first global inventory of fish species caught in trawlers, was published in the journal Reviews in Fish Biologies and Fisheries.
Researchers compiled the inventory from 236 sources from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization\u2019s document repository. They documented nearly 3,000 different fish species from more than 9,000 records of fish caught in bottom trawlers from 1895 to 2021.
Among those, one in seven fish species were listed as threatened or near threatened with extinction, based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature\u2019s Red List.
Sarah Foster, senior researcher and program leader at UBC\u2019s Project Seahorse, said bottom trawling \u2014 which drags heavy nets across the ocean floor \u2014 is one of the most destructive fishing practices that must be overhauled to conserve species for commercial use and to preserve the ocean ecosystem.
\u2014Tiffany Crawford<\/em>
A proposed passenger-only electric-ferry service connecting downtown Vancouver with Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast is picking up speed, with a report going before the Vancouver park board next week.
Park board staff has identified a \u201cpreferred concept\u201d for the proposed project, which would use the public dock at Harbour Green Park at the north end of Bute Street. It would include a \u201ccharge barge,\u201d a publicly accessible viewing platform, and a dock for short-term recreational use.
The park board is expected to vote on the proposal Monday. If approved, it would allow Vancouver staff to negotiate an agreement with Victoria-based Cirql Ferries.
\u201cVancouver is defined by its waterfront, the seawall, that lifestyle piece, but there\u2019s such huge opportunity to also be moving people in transportation beyond the bridges and B.C. Ferries,\u201d said Cirql founder Callum Campbell. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about re-engaging that part of the waterfront.\u201d
\u2014Cheryl Chan<\/em>
The construction sustainability organization Light House has spent the past 14 months creating a business case for collecting the plastic waste from construction sites that is normally thrown out and turning it into new products.
Light House received $400,000 from the provincial and federal governments to fund a pilot project to collect 38 tonnes of plastic trash from eight Lower Mainland construction sites and turn it into egg-carton shaped forms that can be used to reduce the amount of concrete in slab construction.
In a full-circle moment on Tuesday at a small plastics manufacturing plant on Annacis Island in Delta, Light House, the product\u2019s inventor, Infina, and Plascon Plastics invited the public to see a test run of its production.
\u201cAt its core, (the pilot) is about understanding, in real working conditions, what it would actually take to recover these materials and reuse them,\u201d said Gil Yaron, a managing director at Light House and head of the pilot.
Yaron said he believes the initiative has proven their point: That plastic from construction waste, which is typically either landfilled or incinerated in waste-to-energy facilities, can be recycled.
Read the full story here.<\/a>
\u2014Derrick Penner<\/em>
A blast of hot weather will sweep into the eastern U.S., toppling records, sparking energy demand and bringing sultry conditions to New York City and Washington by the middle of next week.
Washington will likely reach a high of 34 C on the National Mall on Wednesday, while New York\u2019s Central Park is set to go over 30 C, the National Weather Service said.
The heat will extend across much of the mid-Atlantic and southeast with at least 165 daily records expected to be threatened or broken next week.
The looming warmth in the eastern U.S. comes just weeks after an unusual heat wave set records across California and the Southwest, melting the region\u2019s much-needed snow pack and raising concern for drought and wildfires later this year.
\u2014Bloomberg News<\/em>
March was the fourth warmest March globally, with an average surface air temperature of 13.94 C, or 0.53 C above the 1991-2020 average for March, according to Europe\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service.<\/a>
The warmest March on record was in 2024.
The agency also said the average sea surface temperature for March 2026 was the second highest on record following March 2024 during the last El Ni\u00f1o event.
The Weather Network<\/a> is reporting a quick flip from La Ni\u00f1a ocean conditions to a potentially strong El Ni\u00f1o over the next couple of months.
The agency says this may be influenced by a series of\u00a0powerful tropical cyclones\u00a0over the western Pacific Ocean, which may enhance warming in a critical region of that ocean basin.
\u2014Tiffany Crawford<\/em>
I\u2019m a breaking news reporter but I\u2019m 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\u00a0ticrawford@postmedia.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
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