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?
EU clean energy targets will need 35 times more lithium and seven to 26 times the amount of rare earth metals in 2050 compared with today. Critical raw materials are a key ingredient in any green transition, but now the question is: can mining go hand in hand with nature protection laws?
Mining isn’t the only way to extract the critical raw materials needed for the green transition. Soon, they could increasingly be recovered from waste, reducing the need for virgin materials and the dependence of EU from the import.
The European path to meet the goals for a clean, green, and renewable energy future leads to a growing demand of critical metals supply. A recent agreement proposes a response mechanism to the risks of critical raw materials supply shortage or disruption, working towards a more independent and resilient Europe, while negotiating with strict environmental regulations.
It can leverage new technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning to greatly improve the selection, processing and use of the vast amounts of climate data we currently have. The result? More informed and effective decision making from the local to the global level. Scientists, startuppers and representatives of EU institutions dialogue on funding opportunities, innovation and applications.
It is the most intense tropical cyclone in terms of energy released by a tropical cyclone during its lifetime and the third-deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere: scientists at work with machine learning and climate intelligence to allowing an optimal response and preparedness to events like Freddy.
