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"In Spring 2013, we conducted our latest national survey on Americans' climate change and energy beliefs, attitudes, policy support, and behavior. The first report focuses on Americans' beliefs about extreme weather and climate change. We found that about six in ten Americans (58%) say "global warming is affecting weather in the United States." Many Americans believe global warming made recent extreme weather and climatic events "more severe," specifically: 2012 as the warmest year on record in the United States (50%); the ongoing drought in the Midwest and the Great Plains (49%); Superstorm Sandy (46%); and Superstorm Nemo (42%). We also found that about two out of three Americans say weather in the U.S. has been worse over the past several years, up 12 percentage points since Spring 2012. The report can be downloaded here: Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind, April 2013."

"The food the world wastes accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any country except for China and the United States, according to a United Nations report."

"What's happening in Australia is vastly different than what's happened in the United States. Sure, we've had climate skeptics, contrarians, and deniers in positions of power or in control of parties. Or news networks. But here in the United States, climate change has never taken center stage in national politics. During last year's Presidential campaign, it scarcely escaped the lips of either Obama or Romney, and the campaign press corps did little to end the silence."

"United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change"

"The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report, The Global Climate 2001-2010, A Decade of Climate Extremes, analysed global and regional temperatures and precipitation, as well as extreme events such as the heat waves in Europe and Russia, Hurricane Katrina in the United States of America, Tropical Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, droughts in the Amazon Basin, Australia and East Africa and floods in Pakistan."

"A new report released by the United Nations calls on world governments to change the way they do business, end fossil fuel subsidies and factor in social and environmental costs into the measurement of economic activity. It notes that the standard method of calculating economic growth through measures such as GDP ignores the impacts on the planet and food and water resources."

Planet Under Pressure 2012 was the largest gathering of global change scientists leading up to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) with a total of 3,018 delegates at the conference venue and over 3,500 that attended virtually via live webstreaming. The Plenary sessions and the Daily Planet news show continue to draw audiences world wide as they are available On Demand.

"United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the battle for global sustainability will be won or lost in the world's cities. Cities and urban areas are estimated to account for 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and more than half of the world's population live in them, so what we do in our urban centres will, to a large extent, define the future of our world. Governments are struggling to agree on action against climate change, but thankfully many city authorities are just getting on with tackling the problem as best they can. Element takes a look at what authorities in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are expecting, how they are trying to minimise the damage and preparing for the worst, and how their plans shape up against those elsewhere."

"By the end of this century, Earth may be home to 11 billion people, the United Nations has estimated, earlier than previously expected. As part of a week-long series, LiveScience is exploring what reaching this population milestone might mean for our planet, from our ability to feed that many people to our impact on the other species that call Earth home to our efforts to land on other planets. Check back here each day for the next installment."

Climate Commons is a map-based interactive platform that contains layers of news and information on climate change in the US. It is designed to provide academics, policymakers, journalists, and the general public with the latest data and stories on the causes and impacts of, and responses to climate change across the country. The map combines the most recently available data on climate change indicators, such as temperature, precipitation, and emissions, with the latest, geo-tagged stories on climate change in the United States. By providing users with the ability to compare recent data and media coverage on a local, regional, and national level, Climate Commons aims to inform Americans about the impacts of and responses to climate change in their own towns, regions and states. It also serves as a tool for better analyzing the perception and realities of climate change across the US.

UNEP's mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

"THE United Nation's latest investigation into climate change reportedly admits the world has been warming at only just over half the rate it had claimed in 2007. According to the UK's Daily Mail newspaper, a leaked draft of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) latest assessment of the state of the climate and global warming - AR5 - says the earth has been warming at a rate of 0.12C each decade since 1951. But it says the last major IPCC report, released in 2007 and called AR4, claimed the planet was warming at a rate of 0.2C every decade." See also http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/sep/16/climate-change-contrarians-5-stages-denial

"I would like to see our renovated Headquarters complex eventually become a globally acclaimed model of efficient use of energy and resources. Beyond New York, the initiative should include the other United Nations headquarters and offices around the globe."

"The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012. "