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.
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.
Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) play a pivotal role in shaping climate research and policy. “The main progress lies in democratizing modeling capabilities across different countries, ensuring more pertinent and accurate policy insights,” says Roberto Schaeffer. The need for a shift towards national-level modeling of climate impacts, the complexity of balancing immediate costs with long-term benefits at the policy level, and the representation gap between countries, are at the core of the current discussion around climate modeling.
The origins, future and feasibility of net zero. “Net-zero is a powerful idea but it has to be understood as a systemic concept, related to the fact that temperatures will stop increasing once global CO2 emissions reach zero,” says Massimo Tavoni, director of the CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment.
“I’m anxious to see what emerges from the Global Stocktake. Although the report on our progress has already been published, we really need to build on this and raise ambition”. CMCC scientist Lara Aleluia Reis focuses on things such as credibility, accountability and transparency as key issues that will determine the success of COP28 in delivering a more ambitious pathway that brings us closer to the well below 2°C target. How? It all starts with the Global Stocktake.
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.
Land is a critical resource. It is under pressure from human activities and climate change, but it is also part of the solution. According to the IPCC, keeping global warming below 2°C can be possible only by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, including land and food. The way we use land impacts climate change and, in turn, climate change deeply affects our land.
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.
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.
Official press release by the IPCC on the publication of the Synthesis Report – AR6 —-
There are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change, and they are available now, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released March 20.
From science to policy: a matter of urgency, action, and hope. The latest IPCC synthesis report lays out the harsh truth on the current state of the climate. But, it also shows us that we have the tools to invert our current trajectory and that the decisions and measures we take today will have a lasting effect on the world of tomorrow. A collection of media reactions.
Everything you need to know about climate change. Fighting boredom and, at the same time, building a bridge between academia and journalism with accurate scientific reporting. Journalists and their audiences are aware of the causes and impacts of climate change, but what comes next? Leo Hickman, editor-in-chief of Carbon Brief, has a very clear answer to the question.
