The UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, told a meeting of world leaders that scientific evidence of the damaging global impact of climate change was sound and that the moment to act decisively was now.

The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level this week since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago, opening up the Northwest Passage – a long-sought short cut between Europe and Asia that has been historically impassable.

The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level this week since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago, opening up the Northwest Passage – a long-sought short cut between Europe and Asia that has been historically impassable.

Arctic sea ice reached its lowest extent on record Friday, and the melting is continuing, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported."Today is a historic day," said Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the center. "This is the least sea ice we've ever seen in the satellite record, and we have another month left to go in the melt season this year."

Coal consumption by China's power companies soared nearly 18 percent in the first half of this year from a year ago, a state news agency said Wednesday, despite rising concern about pollution and efforts to promote cleaner energy sources.

As the world warms, water -- either too little or too much of it -- is going to be the major problem for the United States, scientists and military experts said Monday. It will be a domestic problem, with states clashing over controls of rivers, and a national security problem as water shortages and floods worsen conflicts and terrorism elsewhere in the world, they said.

World Conservation Union calls for a greater appreciation of the role of forests in combating climate change. Countries that do not destroy their forests should be rewarded with financial incentives.

Warmer- and drier-than-average conditions dominated much of the United States during the first half of 2007, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The lack of precipitation led to widespread drought, which triggered an early start to the wildfire season, mounting crop losses and local drought emergencies.

Less water flows down China's two biggest rivers now than 40 years ago because global warming is drying up the wetlands that feed them, a state news agency reported Monday, citing Chinese scientists.

HOW much carbon dioxide do you emit when you fly? The simple answer is that there is no simple answer. Various airlines and organisations have carbon calculators, but they often give different results.