What happened in climate news in 2024? Take our quiz
CBC
Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Thursday.
This week:
It was a year of bad climate news, but some good news too. Even though the year hasn't wrapped up, 2024 will be the hottest year on record, and scientists are warning it could end up more than 1.5 C above the pre-industrial average. There were some damaging weather disasters. But we also shared some good news about decreasing emissions and climate solutions. Were you paying attention?
Here are 10 questions to test your knowledge of this year's climate stories. Keep track of your answers and check them at the bottom of the page.
1. In September and October, Florida was hit hard by two hurricanes made worse by climate change. What were the names?
a) Francine and Helene. b) Helene and Milton. c) Isaac and Oscar. d) Beryl and Ernesto.
2. A company in California is sending balloons full of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere in an effort to reflect sunlight and cool the Earth to fend off global warming. What is this process called?
a) Marine cloud brightening. b) Cloud thinning. c) Space sunshades. d) Aerosol injection.
3. Nations have been meeting this year to hammer out a treaty on plastic pollution. How heavy was the plastic thrown away globally between 1950 and 2015? As heavy as:
a) More than 13 million 747 jumbo jets. b) More than two million Saturn V rockets. c) More than 54,000 CN towers. d) Almost 25,000 Icon of the Seas cruise ships (the current largest one).
4. The big deal at this year's UN Climate Summit, COP29, was climate financing for developing countries. In an agreement called the NCQG, countries agree to deliver $300 billion annually by 2035. What does NCQG stand for?
a) National Climate Quotas for Governance. b) New Collective Quantified Goal. c) Near Crisis Quarterly Grants. d) Needs-based Climate Quotient Goal.
5. The Insurance Board of Canada said this summer shattered records for insured losses from weather disasters. Of these four summertime catastrophic events, which cost the most?
A new supergroup of musicians from Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation have collaborated on a Robbie Robertson-inspired song they will perform at the Junos Honouring Ceremony later this month in Hamilton.
People as young as 45 should be invited to provincial and territorial programs to screen for colorectal cancer, the Canadian Cancer Society urged on Wednesday.
The Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) has opened an office and retail space in Ottawa to create a stronger presence in the capital since removing itself from the Métis National Council in 2024.
Toronto resident Winhan Wong's lung cancer journey began in 2016, with a nagging cough that just wouldn't go away.
Last month, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak pointed out on social media that history was made this year because there are a record 164 female chiefs serving across the country.
Most of humanity has a great propensity to think in the short-term, but generally, long-term considerations — air pollution, deforestation and emissions, for example — just aren't our thing.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold in early April 2020, Kolter Bouchard was just weeks into fatherhood when he noticed a lump on his neck.
Advocates and health care providers say they remain concerned about First Nations kids seeking services under Jordan's Principle even after the Canadian government’s recent promise of $1.55 billion in funding.
Contrary to science fiction, black holes are not portals to other dimensions or cosmic vacuum cleaners that swallow up everything around them.
An attempt to preserve files documenting some of the worst harms caused by Indian Residential Schools could soon head to Parliament.
A new survey suggests about three million Canadian adults are currently taking GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic or Mounjaro and that many more would like to, but cost is a barrier.
For years, people living in Canada’s north have reported an increasing numbers of polar bears on shore, venturing into communities and encountering humans.
When Maureen Hayes first tested her Ottawa home for radon a little over a year ago, the initial reading was far below Canada's current threshold to take action.