Wildfires and heatwaves wreaking havoc across swathes of the globe show humanity facing “collective suicide”, the UN secretary general has warned. António Guterres told ministers from 40 countries meeting…Continue readingHumanity faces ‘collective suicide’
Tag: projections
In the years ahead, sea level rise, more intense storm surge and jacked-up tropical storms will be visiting many of the world’s roughly 3,800 ports. Most of those ports…Continue readingRising Seas Are the Next Crisis for the World’s Ports
No organism on Earth is known to live as long as the Great Basin bristlecone pine. The oldest documented tree, a well-hidden specimen nicknamed “Methuselah,” after the long-lived biblical…Continue readingScientists rush to save 1,000-year-old trees on the brink of death
In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (Assessment Report 5; AR5) concluded that Northern Hemisphere temperatures had reached levels unprecedented in at least 1,400 years. The…Continue readingTechnical Note:Past and future warming – direct comparison on multi-century timescales
Almost a quarter of the world’s population are exposed to significant flood risks, according to new research published Tuesday, which warned those in poorer countries were more vulnerable. 1.81…Continue readingNearly 1 in 4 globally at risk from severe flooding
Unless urgent action is taken, emissions are expected to cause the planet to continue heating rapidly over the next few decades, prompting the global average temperature to overshoot the…Continue readingEven temporarily overshooting 2°C would cause permanent damage to Earth’s species
Antarctic ice sheets are melting, the continent’s climate is changing, and the Southern Ocean is warming, becoming more acidic and losing oxygen. Locally, changing climates are already affecting the…Continue readingAntarctic is changing dramatically, with global consequences
Sea level rise will force the abandonment of about 200,000 coastal properties in England within 30 years, new data suggests, as the climate crisis takes hold. These are the…Continue readingSea level rise in England will force 200,000 to abandon homes
A world severely blighted by plastic pollution is on track to see the use of plastics nearly triple in less than four decades. Even with aggressive action to cut…Continue readingGlobal plastic use and waste on track to triple by 2060
In their effort to provide decision makers with insight into the consequences of climate change, climate researchers are bringing order to the large number of sea level projections. Aimée…Continue readingBringing order to the chaos of sea level projections
Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation must be done “urgently, using every tool we can,” says a new report from the…Continue readingWorld ‘at a crossroads’ in management of droughts, up 29% in a generation and worsening, reports the UN
Coral reefs are rapidly declining due to local environmental degradation and global climate change. In particular, corals are vulnerable to ocean heating. Hotter oceans can kill corals via expulsion…Continue readingPast the precipice? Projected coral habitability under global heating
Amazon rainforest becomes a savanna The 2.5 million square mile rainforest is so vast it creates its own rainfall and is home to 10% of the world’s species. But…Continue readingThe world is ‘perilously close’ to irreversible climate change
The study examined four possible scenarios for future carbon emissions, and found increased risk of El Niño events in all four. This means El Niño events and associated climate…Continue readingIncreasing frequency of El Niño events expected by 2040
Although Africa has contributed relatively little to the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, the continent has suffered some of the world’s heaviest impacts of climate change. This will only get…Continue readingAfrica, already suffering from warming, will see worse
As required by the UK Climate Change Act 2008, the government has today submitted the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) to Parliament. Professor Richard Betts MBE, who led…Continue readingUK government: 4°C warming by 2100: “can’t be ruled out”
In 2009, an international team of researchers identified nine planetary boundaries that demarcate the remarkably stable state Earth has remained within for 10,000 years—since the dawn of civilization. These…Continue readingSafe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, exceeded
A few days before Christmas, Super-typhoon Rai – known locally as Odette – ravaged the Philippines. Lost lives continue to climb two weeks on. Vast numbers of buildings were…Continue readingFilipinos count cost of climate crisis as typhoons get ever more destructive
“We need drastic, radical emissions reductions, and on top of that we need some CDR,” said Glen Peters, research director at the Centre for International Climate Research. There are…Continue readingClimate: Removing CO₂ from the air no longer optional
Today’s emission reduction pledges cover less than 20% of the gap that needs to be closed by 2030 to keep a 1.5 °C path within reach. For all the…Continue readingA new global energy economy is emerging, but the transformation still has a long way to go
National net zero emission targets could, if fully implemented, reduce best estimates of projected global average temperature increase to 2.0–2.4 °C by 2100, bringing the Paris Agreement temperature goal within…Continue readingWave of net zero emission targets will still cause dangerous warming
Global greenhouse gas emissions must peak in the next four years, coal and gas-fired power plants must close in the next decade and lifestyle and behavioural changes will be…Continue readingGreenhouse gas emissions must peak within 4 years, says leaked UN report
Rising sea levels and climate change are posing serious threats to the population and economy of several Asian coastal cities—Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Manila and Shanghai, among them. Threats come…Continue readingAs Asian cities sink, managed retreat must be tabled
The comprehensive assessment of climate science published on Monday, the sixth such report from the IPCC since 1988, has been eight years in the making. It represents the world’s full knowledge to date of…Continue readingMajor climate changes inevitable and irreversible – IPCC’s starkest warning yet
Earth’s temperature is projected to hit 1.5˚C or 1.6˚C around 2030 in all five scenarios—a full decade earlier than a similar prediction the IPCC made less than three years…Continue readingKeeping Earth cool: Is the 1.5˚C target ‘mission impossible’?
If climate change continues at its current rate, more than 98% of emperor penguin colonies are expected to become quasi-extinct by the turn of the century. Scientists’ near-term predictions were equally…Continue readingVirtually all emperor penguins doomed for extinction by 2100 as climate change looms, study finds
“We find that there is a substantial mismatch between likely warming rates and research coverage. 1.5 °C and 2 °C scenarios are substantially overrepresented. More likely higher end warming…Continue readingBetting on the best case: higher end warming is underrepresented in research
“There is growing evidence we are getting close to or have already gone beyond tipping points associated with important parts of the Earth system” The 5 hottest years on…Continue readingCritical measures of global heating reaching tipping point, study finds
Carbon emissions are set to hit an all-time high by 2023 as just two percent of pandemic recovery finance is being spent on clean energy. “Not only is clean energy…Continue readingCovid recovery to drive all-time emissions high: IEA
The figures are based on projections of a population growth of about 4.5 billion over the same period, and a temperature rise of about 3.7˚C by 2100.Continue readingClimate crisis ‘may put 8 billion at risk of malaria and dengue’ by 2080
Chair of CCAG, Sir David King said: “I believe we have five years left to get on top of this global problem. We began talking seriously about climate change in 1992,…Continue readingReducing carbon emissions not enough, expert warns
Species extinction, more widespread disease, unliveable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas—these and other devastating climate impacts are accelerating and bound to become painfully obvious before a…Continue readingCrushing climate impacts to hit sooner than feared: draft UN report
“I cannot say that there was really any breakthrough in the consultations that took place here” said United Nations climate chief Patricia Espinosa.Continue readingNo breakthrough during ‘exhausting’ online climate talks
“If we allow fossil fuel burning to continue to grow, our grandchildren may experience CO₂ levels that haven’t been seen on Earth for around 50 million years, a time when crocodiles roamed the…Continue readingEarth’s history sends climate warning
“There is no longer any realistic chance for an orderly transition.”Continue readingPrepare for DISORDERLY shift to low-carbon era
“While 63% of reefs are projected to continue to accrete by 2100 under the low-impact pathway, 94% will be eroding by 2050 under the worse-case scenario,” Dr Cornwall said. “And no…Continue readingTime running out to save coral reefs
The nightmare scenario: Year 2100, global waming exceeds 4˚C:→ Massive frequent wildfires→ Dead coral reefs→ Frequent prolonged droughts→ Increased air pollution→ Ice-free Arctic summers→ Rapid sea level rise→ Abandoned small…Continue readingClimate change: how bad could the future be if we do nothing?