Floods, droughts and violence forced millions of people in the Horn of Africa to flee their homes in 2020. (Credit: ICRC)

📜 Humanitarians shift towards radical transformation on climate and environment. With the survival of humanity at risk, the IFRC and ICRC invite all humanitarians to join the new Charter they adopted, step up the response, maximise sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions - rapidly.

🦇 😷 The pandemic-nature link. As the world struggles with the ongoing pandemic and leaders start to fret over the next one to come, some are highlighting the importance of tackling the environmental causes of infectious outbreaks to avoid future crises.

♻️ Powerful backing for plastic treaty. Food giants and activist groups have jointly called on G7 nations to back a global agreement on plastic at their next meeting in June. The letter, which was signed by Nestlé - one of the world’s biggest producers of plastic waste - and other UK supermarkets, states that “now is the time to put a global treaty on plastics on the agenda”.

Donald Pols, director of Milieudefensie, after hearing the court ruling. (Keystone/EPA/Remko de Waal)

Major wins against big oil. In a week filled with good news for climate action, a court in the Hague ordered Royal Dutch Shell to slash its carbon emissions by 45 per cent in by 2030 and shareholders of Exxon Mobil and Chevron slammed the two oil companies for not doing more to tackle climate change. Donald Pols, director of the Dutch Dutch environment organisation Milieudefensie, welcomed the court's decision with joy.

📌 28 May | Connect with GENvironment. As part of their series of informal conversations with environmental experts from international Geneva, this Friday’s session will feature Sara Venturini, climate coordinator at the Group of Earth Observations.

📌 3 June | Advancing the climate and environment agendas in fragile contexts. International and local actors discuss online how to promote and support investment in ecosystem and forest protection in the West and Central Africa region.

New climate projections by the World Meteorological Organization reveal that in at least one of the next five years global annual temperatures could temporarily increase by 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial levels. This is double the chances compared to assessments from last year. Predictions also show that there’s a 90 per cent chance that temperatures will hit new record highs in that timeframe.