Climate Change Impacts

The Climate of the Past

The Ca’ Foscari University of Venice opens its (virtual) doors. Professor Carlo Barbante takes us on a journey through the climate’s last 500 million years

The hottest decade ever. When “acceleration” is the watchword

It sounds like a refrain we are quite used to, as it has been happening for 40 years: the last decade was not only hotter than the previous one but also the hottest on record. And it looks as if things are not going to change in the immediate future. However, some clues show that the last decade’s legacy can act as a springboard for the change we need in the next one.

The Global Banking System is not Immune to Climate Change.

Climate change will have a growing influence on the stability of the banking system, potentially contributing to future financial crises. A new paper published in Nature highlights the detrimental effects of climate change on the banking system, adding to established literature on the effects of climate change on economic growth and productivity of labour. However, financial regulation authorities can act to reduce climate-related risks by implementing targeted measures.

As the Climate Crisis Advances is it Time to Retreat?

Responding to a changing climate can be both a challenge and an opportunity. A new policy paper published in the journal Science advocates a strategic and managed climate retreat, curbing new developments in at risk areas and shifting the focus from ad hoc disaster measures to efficient and equitable retreat strategies.

In the Glacier’s Belly

“Thwaites glacier is huge and contains vast amounts of ice above sea level that, if transported into the ocean, would affect global sea level significantly” researcher Dorotea Iovino on retreat and ice melt in West Antarctica. A NASA-led study has found that a giant, growing cavern two-thirds the area of Manhattan is contributing to the rapid melting of Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier. Comment by Dorotea Iovino, CMCC scientist at the ODA – Ocean modeling and Data Assimilation Division

The future of food safety

With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalized people, especially women and children, populations affected by conflict and migrants. The First International Food Safety Conference will try to identify key actions and strategies to address current and future challenges to food safety globally while strengthening commitment at the highest political level to scale up food safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Arctic Report Card 2018: effects of persistent Arctic warming continue to mount

Continued warming of the Arctic atmosphere and ocean are driving broad change in the environmental system in predicted and, also, unexpected ways. New emerging threats are taking form and highlighting the level of uncertainty in the breadth of environmental change that is to come. A report tracking sea ice, snow cover, air temperature, ocean temperature, the Greenland ice sheet, vegetation and ecosystem changes during the 2018 calendar year.