Biologists are working to come up with ways to grow office complexes and homes from a type of cyanobacteria that flourishes in oceans.

Levels of air pollutants and warming gases over some cities and regions are showing significant drops as coronavirus impacts work and travel.Researchers in New York told the BBC their early results showed carbon monoxide mainly from cars had been reduced by nearly 50% compared with last year.

Life as we know it requires phosphorus. It’s one of the six main chemical elements of life, it forms the backbone of DNA and RNA molecules, acts as the main currency for energy in all cells and anchors the lipids that separate cells from their surrounding environment. But how did a lifeless environment on the early Earth supply this key ingredient?

Carbon Engineering's groundbreaking plant is one of many projects hoping to help in the fight against climate change by turning its main driver — carbon dioxide — into a useful product that can be profitably removed from the atmosphere.

Humanity has some quick approaching deadlines to meet in the coming years if we want to stave off the worst effects of climate change, and scientists say one solution, carbon capture and storage (CCS), is ready to start today — but it’s not an option many people aren’t thrilled about.

Nearly 50 years ago, three chemists named Mario Molina, Sherwood Rowland and Paul Crutzen found evidence that chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals known as CFCs and released from aerosol sprays, were weakening the ozone layer that functions as the earth’s natural sunscreen protecting humans, animals and plants from harmful radiation.

"A decline on that scale over a period of just 10 years came as a complete surprise to us," said one researcher, "but fits the picture presented in a growing number of studies."

When Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the elites assembled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, she concluded with a simple message: “I want you to act as if our house is on fire.” For those elites, it was unfamiliar language. They are accustomed to talking about climate change, but typically such talk amounts to ritual invocations of “urgency” coupled with promises about what might be achieved in 2030 or 2050.

The protection and restoration of living ecosystems such as forests, mangroves and seagrass meadows can repair the planet’s broken climate but are being overlooked, Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot have warned in a new short film. Natural climate solutions could remove huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as plants grow. But these methods receive only 2% of the funding spent on cutting emissions, say the climate activists.

Do you understand the causes and effects of climate change? Here is what you can do to help.

Philippines is one of the most deforested areas among other counties around the globe. The total forest area of the Philippines has decreased from 70 % to 20% in few years which has led to many problems such as floods and landslides. The Philippine law parliament is now concerned about its environment has decided to pass a law that states that students in order to graduate have to plant more than 10 trees while in college.

Look at anything made from trees—a ream of paper, a cardboard box, lumber—and it's probably stamped with the logo of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or an equivalent organization. These nonprofits certify that forests are managed sustainably, and one common requirement is no genetically modified (GM) trees. But that ban hinders research and should change, researchers say in today's issue of Science. The technology, they argue, has important potential to remedy many pressing problems facing forests.

Scientists caution that we probably can’t “plant our way out” of the climate crisis, but growing big trees and keeping them around is an important piece of the puzzle.

China appears on track to reach its carbon goals up to nine years earlier than planned under the Paris agreement, in a potential huge boost for efforts to tackle climate change.

The green belt of tropical rainforests that covers equatorial regions of the Americas, Africa, Indonesia and Southeast Asia is turning brown. Since 1990, Indonesia has lost 50% of its original forest, the Amazon 30% and Central Africa 14%. Fires, logging, hunting, road building and fragmentation have heavily damaged more than 30% of those that remain.

Scientists have figured out how to genetically engineer plants to grow deeper roots, potentially improving carbon storage, drought resistance, and flood protection. This research comes as part of the Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative, which seeks to use plants to capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground.

A new study suggests that human beings could save themselves from the worst ravages of climate change by planting a forest nearly double the size of the area of the United States.

Global temperatures could rise 1.5° C above industrial levels by as early as 2030 if current trends continue, but trees could help stem this climate crisis. A new analysis finds that adding nearly 1 billion additional hectares of forest could remove two-thirds of the roughly 300 gigatons of carbon humans have added to the atmosphere since the 1800s.

Chemists at the University of Illinois have successfully produced fuels using water, carbon dioxide and visible light through artificial photosynthesis. By converting carbon dioxide into more complex molecules like propane, green energy technology is now one step closer to using excess CO2 to store solar energy—in the form of chemical bonds—for use when the sun is not shining and in times of peak demand.

A researcher at the University of Calgary says she has developed a method of turning greenhouse gases into valuable carbon nanofibres. Mina Zarabian came up with the concept while completing her doctorate in chemical and petroleum engineering at the university's Schulich School of Engineering.