As 2024 comes to a close we look back at the most important climate events, meetings, negotiations and initiatives from the last twelve months. Our research and data, articles and projects reveal a year that has been rich with developments and change in both the climate itself and what we can expect from the future.
The United Nations recently adopted the UN Pact For The Future, its latest framework aimed at addressing global challenges and accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reforming international financial systems to better serve developing nations, tackling climate change, and governing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. We take a closer look at what this means for climate science.
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.
“We need to pull together and scale up resources within and beyond the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, and ensure that these resources reach those most in need,” say CMCC experts in the buildup to COP29. Following the creation of the Loss and Damage Fund, economic and adaptation experts have focused on estimating the amount of financial resources needed to support vulnerable regions whilst promoting a just allocation that reflects the unequal distribution of climate impacts. After the official operationalization of the Fund and the first round of commitments, pledges have reached over 700 million USD in 2024.
At times, climate policies are divisive and polarizing, others they do not even reach party platforms. At first glance, climate policies should carry significant weight in voters’ decisions, but the situation is much more complex. To better understand it, we reckon with political short-term goals, the parties’ ability to engage citizens in decision-making, and even the role of misinformation. A review of how climate change and electoral consensus are interlinked.
Science clearly points to the electrification of road transportation as a priority to achieve net zero emissions by mid-century. Particularly in Italy, the European country with the highest motorization rate. Three reports, with the contribution of experts from CMCC, illustrate where we stand and why electric mobility in Italy is preferable to other technological solutions.
The Marshall Islands, a nation of low-lying atolls threatened by rising sea levels, is facing an existential crisis. Yet, amidst this adversity, the Marshallese people are not only adapting to climate change but also charting a path for survival. Drawing inspiration from their rich maritime heritage, the Marshall Islands have developed a groundbreaking National Adaptation Plan for Survival (NAP). This plan, unveiled at COP28, outlines a comprehensive strategy for addressing the climate crisis over the next century.
“CMCC’s strategy aligns with the state of science and society today”. CMCC Scientific Director Giulio Boccaletti comments on the outcome of COP28 in Dubai, where our scientists were engaged in many topics, ranging from adaptation to loss & damage, land use and the science-policy interface. The growing need for integrated scientific knowledge, the intertwining of the climate and socio-economic systems, the ever-closer integration of adaptation and mitigation, and the opportunities arising from machine learning and available data: the points that emerge from COP28 are at the heart of the CMCC strategy.
Technical or easygoing, informative or inspiring, settled or still on air: the panorama of podcasts on climate change is wide and diverse. Maybe, even too much: to guide you in finding the most suitable one for you, we asked the CMCC scientists to suggest their favorite podcast series.
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.
We know a lot about the crisis. We know that it is time to progress from understanding the problems to solving them. However, we also know that there is no perfect solution. It is a matter of shifting understanding and knowledge from science to society, from data to stories, from facts to solutions.
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?
