Chris Buckley

Industrial emissions of greenhouse gases rose only slightly in 2014 and appear to be on track to decline in 2015, raising the possibility that rapid global emissions growth may be coming to an end.

Rising seas besieging China’s economically vital coastal zones. Mighty feats of infrastructure, like the Three Gorges Dam and railway in Tibet, strained by turbulent rainfall and the melting of frozen earth. And on the Himalayan frontiers, the risk in future decades of international conflict over dwindling water supplies as glaciers retreat.

Driven by fears that an aging population could jeopardize China’s economic ascent, the Communist Party leadership ended its decades-old “one child” policy, announcing that all married couples would be allowed to have two children.

China will allow all couples to have two children, a Communist Party leadership meeting decided Thursday, bringing an end to decades of restrictive policies that limited most urban families to one child.