A new report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency examines the geopolitical risks and opportunities linked to a growing demand for minerals and metals required for the energy transition.
Land is a critical resource. It is under pressure from human activities and climate change, but it is also part of the solution. According to the IPCC, keeping global warming below 2°C can be possible only by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, including land and food. The way we use land impacts climate change and, in turn, climate change deeply affects our land.
Climate change and global warming affect humans, nature and the environment at a global scale. However, their impacts are often not equally and uniformly distributed. People living in Urban Heat Islands are more likely to experience higher levels of heat-related risks for their health, often enhancing existing social inequalities.
Skyscrapers made of bamboo. Green roofs. Smart glass. Houses that are cool in summer and warm in winter without burning through loads of energy. All around the world, the future of cities and urbanization looks to bring smarter, more energy-efficient, healthier buildings to the urban environment. An unattainable utopia or simply a necessity in a rapidly urbanizing world that needs to find sustainable solutions to the cities of the future?
A look into the future of water, justice and inequalities: 1.6 billion people without access to safe drinking water at home; 2.8 billion without safe sanitation services; 1.9 billion without basic handwashing. Water issues are making existing inequalities worse and there is no improvement in sight due to the expected impacts of climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines drought as “a period of abnormally dry weather long enough to cause a serious hydrological imbalance.” The definition is however flexible, as drought is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, whose impacts are influenced by social, economic, and environmental factors.
El Niño has officially arrived and with it sensationalist headlines about temperature thresholds, extreme weather and destruction. “However, it is important to remember that climate change isn’t a strictly linear process and El Niño simply highlights the ups and downs in what is a generally warming trend dictated by climate change,” says CMCC researcher Leone Cavicchia, as he explains what ENSO is, how it impacts local and global weather, and what to expect now that it has arrived.
Companies that strategically push for sustainability to avoid the climate collapse. Brands that build their position in the market according to the kind of activism they decide to embrace. Welcome to the Me-conomy, where business commitments to climate change are taken for granted.
The rush of almost every household on the planet to buy an air-conditioning unit as soon as they can afford one is having implications on climate change mitigation. Scientific research meets photography in a project that sheds light on the reasons why air conditioning has become the leading cooling solution in a warming world, and on how we can keep cool without overheating the planet.
Reporters, scientists, data visualization designers: public awareness of climate change calls for close collaboration among many skills, disciplines and knowledge. A dialogue between Sarah Kaplan, climate reporter at the Washington Post, and Anna Pirani, senior research associate on climate risk and transformative adaptation strategies with CMCC and IPCC author, to share experiences and points of view of climate change reporting.
By Carolina Aragon and Ezra Markowitz
Sculptures made of data, fluctuating structures on the water, and an exploration of the
effects that climate art can have on people’s engagement. This is an example of how the scientific approach and the artistic process can bring us to a better understanding of how the climate is perceived by public opinion. An artist and a social scientist explain the way the art installation FutureSHORELINE integrates different perspectives and provides shared knowledge.
Climate change has trespassed the boundaries of science. It has exited academic buildings and entered parliaments, newsrooms, and the everyday life of each of us. As climate awareness rises among policy makers and common citizens alike, one of the biggest challenges is to turn it into rapid and concrete actions. How can communication assist in this process?
