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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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Stark news to end on this week as an international team of 29 experts found that the Earth is now "well outside of the safe operating space for humanity" due to human activity.

The study, expanding on a 2015 report, said the world had now crossed six of nine "planetary boundaries" – the safe limits for human life in areas such as the integrity of the biosphere, climate change and the use and availability of fresh water.

"We don't know that we can thrive under major, dramatic alterations of our conditions," lead author Katherine Richardson from the University of Copenhagen told a news conference.

The authors said crossing the boundaries did not represent a tipping point where human civilization would just crash but could bring irreversible shifts in the Earth's support systems.

The warning comes as environmental group Greenpeace said there’s no time to lose to implement a new global ocean treaty to protect the high seas as threats from human activities intensify. Sea temperatures hit a record 21.1 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) in April and are driving ocean acidification and deoxygenation.

The problems of plastic, oil and noise pollution have still not been brought under control, according to the environmental group. It also warned that "new industries wait in the wings", including the mining of minerals in the seabed.

Speaking of which, Norway’s government is considering deep sea mining on a commercial scale if the country's parliament approves the project. See more in today’s Climate Lens.

1. Human activity jeopardizing Earth's life-support systems - study

The Earth's life-support systems are facing greater risks and uncertainties than ever before, with most major safety limits already crossed as a result of planet-wide human interventions, according to a "health check" for the entire planet published in the Science Advances journal. 

This comes a week after the Global Stocktake report, the latest warning from the United Nations about environmental perils. Climate protesters are set to take to the streets in more than 50 countries from Friday to Sunday in a weekend of demonstrations to demand that governments phase out the burning of fossil fuels heating the planet amid a year of mounting deaths and economic destruction from record-breaking floods, wildfires and drought.

Activist Luisa Neubauer speaks during the Global Climate Strike Fridays for Future under the slogan "#EndFossilFuels" in Berlin, Germany, Sept 15, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

2. No time to lose on ocean treaty as threats to high seas rise, Greenpeace report says

Governments have no time to lose when it comes to implementing a new global ocean treaty to protect the high seas as threats from human activities intensify, a report by environmental group Greenpeace said. The group said fishing hours on the high seas increased by 8.5% from 2018 to 2022, and were up 22.5% in areas that need special protection.

Unsustainable practices have also risen, including longlines that ensnare marine mammals or seabirds. Greenpeace warned that "new industries wait in the wings", including the mining of minerals in the seabed as well as ocean carbon removal technology, which are not yet properly regulated. See more on mineral mining in today’s Climate Lens.

3. Mediterranean's devastating Storm Daniel may be harbinger of storms to come

Storm Daniel, which wrought devastation across the Mediterranean in the past week, killed 15 people in central Greece where it dumped record quantities of rain before sweeping across to Libya where thousands died in a huge flood.

As the storm moved along the North African coast, Egypt's authorities sought to calm its worried citizens by telling them Daniel had finally lost its strength. But global warming means the region may have to brace in future for increasingly powerful storms of this kind, the Mediterranean's equivalent of a hurricane known as a "medicane".

4. Isolated Morocco earthquake survivors feel forgotten by state as they await help

Villagers in some of the most isolated areas hit by Morocco's earthquake were still living in makeshift tents and relying on donkeys to bring vital supplies as they waited for state aid to reach them nearly a week after the disaster. While orderly camps of large, government-issued tents and military field hospitals have sprung up in some of the larger towns, parts of the rugged region are still surviving on donations left on roadsides by citizens.

5.  Unrelenting rain causes more than 100 landslides, traps residents in floodwaters in southern China

Days of relentless rain from the remnants of former Typhoon Haikui have caused more than 100 landslides, trapped about 1,360 residents in floodwaters and killed at least seven people in China's south, said state media.

As the US hits a new record of billion dollar weather disasters this year, the Red Cross disaster relief agency is launching a $1 billion response effort to tackle climate crisis work in the years to come. Click here or on the image for the video.

Norway could become the first nation to make deep sea mining happen on a commercial scale if the country's parliament approves a plan to open an ocean area larger than the United Kingdom to the new industry. 

Norway's minority Labour-led government, which also includes the Centre Party, relies on a smaller leftwing party, the Socialist Left (SV), to pass legislation. The SV said the government should withdraw its proposal to open a vast Arctic offshore area to deep sea mining and call at least a ten-year moratorium on the activity.

Click here for an explainer on the reasons behind Norway’s deep sea mining project and what other countries think about it.

$2.7 trillion

Global investment of $2.7 trillion a year is needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and avoid temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius this century, a report by consultancy Wood Mackenzie said.

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