Selected publications and news on climate

A subjective selection of key articles, news and publications on climate, ecology and emissions that I found noteworthy:

2021

  • [Opinion] Three Myths About Renewable Energy and the Grid, Debunked, Amory B. Lovins and M. V. Ramana, Yale Environment 360, 9 December 2021: “Renewable energy skeptics argue that because of their variability, wind and solar cannot be the foundation of a dependable electricity grid. But the expansion of renewables and new methods of energy management and storage can lead to a grid that is reliable and clean.“
  • [Op-Ed] The richest 10% produce about half of greenhouse gas emissions. They should pay to fix the climate, Lucas Chancel, The Guardian, 7 December 2021: “Let’s first look at the facts: 10% of the world’s population are responsible for about half of all greenhouse gas emissions, while the bottom half of the world contributes just 12% of all emissions. This is not simply a rich versus poor countries divide: there are huge emitters in poor countries, and low emitters in rich countries.”
  • [Report] Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis – Summary for Policymakers, contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S. L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M. I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T. K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu and B. Zhou (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 7 August 2021.
  • [Opinion] From win-win to net zero: would the real sustainability please stand up?, Duncan Austin, Institutional Investor, 20 May 2021: “Duncan Austin argues that the need for net zero reveals there have been two interpretations of sustainability all along. … Some regard sustainability as a relative concept by which it is sufficient merely to make progress – to ‘become more sustainable’ – while others view sustainability as an absolute concept that demands we be ‘sustainable enough in time’.”
  • [Research article] Nature-based solutions can help cool the planet — if we act now, Cécile A. J. Girardin , Stuart Jenkins , Nathalie Seddon , Myles Allen , Simon L. Lewis , Charlotte E. Wheeler , Bronson W. Griscom and Yadvinder Malhi, Nature (2021), 12 May 2021: “Analysis suggests that to limit global temperature rise, we must slash emissions and invest now to protect, manage and restore ecosystems and land for the future.”
  • [Report] Net Zero by 2050 – A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, International Energy Agency, May 2021: “The energy sector is the source of around three‐quarters of greenhouse gas emissions today and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change, perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has faced. .. The global pathway to net‐zero emissions by 2050 detailed in this report requires all governments to significantly strengthen and then successfully implement their energy and climate policies.”

2020

  • [Report] Emissions Gap Report 2020, UN Environment Programme, 9 December 2020: “The report finds that, despite a brief dip in carbon dioxide emissions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is still heading for a temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century – far beyond the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C.”
  • [Data tables and visuals] Climate Watch Data Explorer, Climate Watch platform, World Resources Institute, last retrieved: 11 November 2020
  • [Report] Living Planet Report 2020 – Bending the curve of biodiversity loss, Almond, R.E.A., Grooten M. and Petersen, T. (Eds), WWF in partnership with the Zoological Society of London, 10 September 2020

    In the last 50 years, we lost close to 70% of animal populations: “The 2020 global Living Planet Index shows an average 68% (range: -73% to -62%) fall in monitored populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016.”
  • [Documentary] IT’S OK TO PANIC, directed by Jonathan L. Ramsey, September 2020

    “A documentary about the past, present and future through the eyes of a climate scientist.” “It’s Okay to Panic is a nostalgic documentary portrait of 62-year-old Polish atmospheric physicist, Professor Szymon Malinowski. A career educator, Prof. Malinowski studies phenomena leading to climate changes and for years he has been raising the alarm about the threats we face.”
  • [Research] “Future of the human climate niche”, Chi Xu, Timothy A. Kohler, Timothy M. Lenton, Jens-Christian Svenning and Marten Scheffer, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117 (21) 11350-11355, 26 May 2020

    “We demonstrate that depending on scenarios of population growth and warming, over the coming 50 y, 1 to 3 billion people are projected to be left outside the climate conditions that have served humanity well over the past 6,000 y. Absent climate mitigation or migration, a substantial part of humanity will be exposed to mean annual temperatures warmer than nearly anywhere today.”

2019

  • [Research] “Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against”, Timothy M. Lenton, Johan Rockström, Owen Gaffney, Stefan Rahmstorf, Katherine Richardson, Will Steffen and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Nature 575, 592-595 (2019), 27 November 2019

    “In our view, the evidence from tipping points alone suggests that we are in a state of planetary emergency: both the risk and urgency of the situation are acute. [..] We argue that the intervention time left to prevent tipping could already have shrunk towards zero, whereas the reaction time to achieve net zero emissions is 30 years at best. Hence we might already have lost control of whether tipping happens. A saving grace is that the rate at which damage accumulates from tipping — and hence the risk posed — could still be under our control to some extent.”

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013