Climate and health: understanding the entanglement
Infographics, resources, and analyses to understand the way climate change and health are closely connected. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events and substantial environmental transformations, primarily driven by climate change, pose significant threats to both physical and mental well-being. These changes have far-reaching implications for safety, affecting people’s access to critical resources such as clean air, safe water, food, and healthcare.
El Niño is here and its effects will be no child’s play
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.
Heatwaves or the new normal? Global media analyses and reactions
Record-breaking temperatures in Europe, heat advisory in the US, and peaks in electricity consumption in China. Media outlets and climate change communicators across the world are pointing to links between the ongoing heatwaves and climate change, just as researchers are working to make the science behind extreme weather attribution more robust.
The financial impacts of climate risk
The International Foundation Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Human Development (iFAB) in collaboration with CMCC and Leithà, launches the European Extreme Events Climate Index (E3CI), an innovative operational service for weather induced hazard assessment and management. E3CI has the potential to revolutionize the way insurers and financial markets evaluate extreme weather-related risks in Europe. A bold step in ensuring that scientific research has tangible impacts on the real world.
Disbanded Climate Group Reconvenes
The climate change advisory panel disbanded by Trump in 2017 has regrouped. They warn that the US economy is set to lose $500bn due to extreme weather events and aim to develop science-based methods to support local communities in implementing mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Global Risks Report 2019: three of top five are related to climate
The 2019 edition of the annual World Economic Forum flagship publication lists extreme weather events, failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation and natural disasters among the top five threats most likely to occur in the next 10 years.
COP29 Spotlight | A collective financial goal for a just transition
Mitigation and adaptation finance are critical elements in climate negotiations aimed at building a more resilient future. “COP29 has already been called ‘the Finance COP’ due to the importance of the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), which will replace the previous USD 100 billion goal,” says Marta Ellena, CMCC researcher and member of the Italian delegation to COP29. Frontier climate research, such as that conducted at CMCC, can support international and local climate financing mechanisms by quantifying needs, evaluating and devising effective policies, and ensuring accountability and transparency of financial flows.
A climate compass: Advanced research directions to understand and design the future
The current effects of climate and the increasingly analytical understanding of what will happen in the future. Big data and the challenges of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Increasingly detailed and understandable climate data to better define policies and strategies for the interaction between human societies and nature. The European State of the Climate 2023 through the lens of CMCC’s research strategy in the words of Simona Masina, director of the Institute for Earth System Prediction, and Monia Santini, director of the Institute for Climate Resilience.
Visual narratives: From science to engagement through the European State of the Climate
More than just colorful maps and eye-catching graphics. Data visualization enhances the readability of complex data, engages broader audiences, and sparks interest in the “state of the climate”. Anna Lombardi, climate data visualizer at the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), offers insight into what’s behind visual narratives for climate trends. Through innovative data visualizations, the latest C3S report enhances accessibility and engagement with climate science across all audiences.
What is the state of the European climate?
What does it mean to be the world’s fastest warming continent toppling flooding, temperature and wildfire records as glaciers melt at unprecedented rates and communities suffer like never before? Understanding the latest trends in Europe’s climate, including progress in areas such as renewable energy generation and resilience to extreme events, is the key to effective adaptation and mitigation.
Summer’s threat: Heat, health and climate risk in Europe
Human health is impacted in many ways by climate change, both at the individual level and through systemic risks to the health system. The European Climate Risk Assessment identified heat stress and wildfires as the two risks for which urgent action is needed.
John Weyant: Integrated Assessment Modelling informing future climate policy
“Whether or not we keep up with the needs of policymakers will be determined by how much they trust the results from models and how relevant they are to their needs.” Professor John Weyant of Stanford University discusses the evolution of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), emphasizing the importance of incorporating growing datasets to meet policymakers’ needs. The Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC) gathers leading climate modeling experts, facilitating crucial advancements in scenario development for climate policy. Its contributions, including defining concepts like Net-Zero, are crucial in informing international climate agreements and shaping future strategies for combating climate change.