Climate and environment updates: 7 key measures of Earth's health in danger, report warns

Imagine you have a swimming pool with ice cubes filling it. Now, measure the total area of the pool that has ice on the surface, even if the ice cubes don't cover it completely. Because ice often spreads out unevenly, leaving water between the chunks, scientists count areas where at least 15% of the surface is covered. So, because your pool is loaded with ice cubes, it would be considered ice covered. In the real world, scientists call it sea ice extent.

While you can add ice to your pool, you can't to the ocean. And according to a new report by Copernicus, the European Union's Climate Change Service, the sea ice extent in the Antarctic has dipped to its lowest value on record for the month of November. It is 10% below average. This occurred during a stretch of near-record global land and sea surface temperatures.

Last month ranked as the second warmest November on record globally, with an average temperature of 14.10 degrees Celsius, or 57.38 degrees Fahrenheit.

Copernicus noted the new data not only makes it virtually certain that 2024 will surpass 2023 as Earth's warmest year on record, but it will likely be the first year to be 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) than the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to prevent the worst outcomes of climate change.

As of November 2024, the average global year-to-date temperature was 0.14 degrees Celsius (or 0.25 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than it was in 2023, which is the warmest year ever recorded.

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck

The United States will need a "shocking" amount of power in the coming years, according to a new report from the consulting firm Grid Strategies.

"The era of flat power demand is behind us," the report found. "Over the past two years, the five-year load growth forecast has increased by almost a factor of five."

That means the country's demand for electricity is estimated to increase by nearly 16% by 2029.

The report cites data centers and manufacturing as the primary drivers of the increased demand but also finds that oil and gas production and the electrification of buildings and vehicles are adding to the growth.

"There are real risks to America's economic, technological and geopolitical leadership if the grid can't keep up with demand," the report warns.

America's increased demand for electricity will significantly impact the country's efforts to fight climate change. According to the EPA, electricity generation is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. And while more clean energy projects are coming online each year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says 60% of U.S. electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels.

The study's authors say their findings could be an underestimate or overestimate due to the complexity of the electric system and the rapid growth in demand for electricity.

-ABC News Climate Unit's Matthew Glasser

At a Tuesday night event, politicians and climate activists, including actress Jane Fonda, delivered a strong message to the incoming Trump administration: they will continue fighting for climate progress and Trump's agenda will not stop them.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. told a crowd gathered at George Washington University, "It is time, after one month, for us to get up and begin to fight," adding, "The power of this movement is undeniable, and unlike the incoming president, our record of victory is unimpeachable."

Despite the incoming administration's "doomsday day one agenda," activists and advocates from the climate movement would push for change in Congress, in board rooms and in the streets, he said.

"The planet is running a fever," Markey said. "There are no emergency rooms for planets, so we have to engage in the preventative care which is necessary to save this planet and the people on this planet, and we know we're going to face an uphill battle with a climate denier in chief."

Climate activist and actress Jane Fonda called on those who care about climate progress to stand together and welcome new people into the movement's tent – even those who voted for President-elect Trump.

"Seventy-eight million Americans voted for Trump. They are not all part of the MAGA movement," Fonda said. "Many of them did so because they're suffering financially, they're scared, they're confused and they're angry because the neo-liberal leaders of the Democratic Party have ignored them for so many decades, and so they took a chance on the burn-it-all-down option."

Fonda, a longtime activist, became involved in the climate movement during the first Trump administration by hosting "Fire Drill Fridays" in front of the U.S. Capitol. These weekly protests often led to her arrest.

At Tuesday night's event, Fonda wore the same bright red coat she wore during her "fire drills," noting that it was her "blanket and pillow when I turned 82 in jail."

"Standing here today in my red coat, I hereby declare myself part of the resistance," Fonda said.

Fonda also encouraged listeners to focus on down-ballot races and initiatives to address climate change.

Since becoming a climate activist, Fonda has started a political action committee dedicated to electing "climate champions." In 2024, she said the PAC endorsed 154 candidates, telling the audience at the event that her PAC's candidates won at a ratio of two-to-one.

Local activists, like Roishetta Ozane, spoke about the importance of not forgetting the communities that are feeling the impacts of climate change firsthand, saying, "These are our real lives and we are real people."

In her home state of Louisiana, Ozane has been advocating against the implementation and use of liquified natural gas pipelines, arguing that her area has suffered adverse health and environmental effects from local LNG production efforts.

One of the projects Ozane has advocated against, Calcasieu Pass 2, which would represent an expansion of one of the existing LNG projects in the area, was just delayed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this week.

-ABC News Climate Unit's Kelly Livingston

The world uses a lot of plastic -- 460 million metric tons of it are produced each year, according to the United Nations. And the International Union for Conservation of Nature says an estimated 20 million metric tons of plastic end up as trash in our environment.

So when more than 3,300 delegates from 170 countries and 440 organizations met in South Korea at the end of November to hash out an agreement to reduce the production of plastics, environmentalists hoped that something might finally get done to address the problem. It didn't.

The fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee failed to reach a binding agreement on plastic production and waste for the fifth time since the group began meeting in November 2022.

Nearly 100 countries came to an agreement that would limit plastic production and establish an accountability method ensuring all parties would meet reduction goalposts. Some oil-rich nations pushed back, however, wanting to focus on plastic pollution instead. U.N. rules require a consensus among all delegates for any plan to be binding. That didn't happen.

"It is clear there is persisting divergence in critical areas and more time is needed for these areas to be addressed," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program.

Most plastic is not recycled. Instead, it ends up in landfills and pollutes marine bodies like oceans and rivers worldwide. According to an OECD report from 2022, only 9% of plastics worldwide get recycled, and since 1970, 139 metric tons have ended up in our oceans, rivers and lakes. A 2021 study revealed that the plastics industry's contribution to climate change will exceed coal's by 2030.

While countries failed to reach an agreement on capping the production of plastic, they did agree to continue talks in 2025.

"As we look ahead to 2025, and navigate what an INC 5.2 could look like, countries must come to the table ready to fight for our future," said Erin Simon, vice president and head of plastic waste and business at World Wildlife Fund. "The current draft has some of the ingredients for success, but we can't back down on delivering a legally binding text that finally puts us on a course to eliminate plastic pollution."

According to the Center of International Environmental Law, fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists made up the largest delegation of all groups at the talks.

"Let us always remember that our purpose is noble and urgent: to reverse and remedy the severe effects of plastic pollution on ecosystems and human health," said Luis Vayas Valdivieso, chair of the U.N.'s international plastics negotiating committee.

-ABC News' Charlotte Slovin