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.
From Obama to Trump, then Biden and Trump again. The US presidents who have come and gone over the past quarter century have brought different visions and policies when it comes to climate finance. Leveraging her experience in policy analysis of international environmental and climate agreements, CMCC researcher Semercioglu Nazlicicek outlines the history of US contributions to loss and damage funding and what we can expect from a second Trump term in office.
Climate finance was front and center, while a leading actor was relegated to a sideline role. In a CMCC webinar, negotiators returning from Baku take stock of key aspects of COP29, such as the complex context of the negotiations, decisions on the New Collective Quantified Goal, the Baku-to-Belem roadmap, news on the carbon market, global cooperation, and adaptation. Throughout, it emerges that bridging scientific insights with policy is more essential than ever to transform commitments into meaningful climate action.
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.
The focus of the ongoing COP is to decide on a new finance regime. Major polluters will be asked to massively increase their financial contributions to developing nations. Researchers from IIASA and CMCC show that Loss and Damage needs of vulnerable countries range between roughly 130 and 940 billion Dollars in 2025 alone. On top of money for mitigation and adaptation.
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.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are intertwined crises with common causes and effects. Research, science-based tools, and collaboration are taking center stage as national and international efforts to understand, monitor and promote biodiversity ramp up. From the ongoing COP16 on Biological Diversity to the National Biodiversity Future Centre, Italy’s first National Research and Innovation Center dedicated to biodiversity, getting accurate knowledge and data to decision makers and stakeholders is key.
“Wind and solar energy are inherently free,” though research is crucial to understanding the true costs and benefits of renewable energy projects. As renewable energy evolves, with technical barriers dissolving and costs declining, challenges persist in navigating public perception and policy hurdles. CMCC researcher Wei Guo explores the multifaceted journey of overcoming historical obstacles and envisioning a sustainable transition, delving into the complexities that will shape our renewable energy 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.
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.
In the pre-WWII era, the German design school set the template for beautiful, functional design with a focus on the built environment. In its modern iteration, the New European Bauhaus integrates the principles of sustainability, inclusivity, and aesthetics to propel innovation and move society towards more sustainable development.
The EEA’s first ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) identifies justice as a key component of adaptation. Yet justice is not just about measuring the equity in distribution of benefits and burdens from climate impacts, it’s also intrinsically tied to the concept of resilience.
