In the “10 New Insights in Climate Science” report, Future Earth and the Earth League aim to highlight the latest climate-related research across disciplines for the 4th consecutive year to support policy decision-makers. To do so, they need input from the research community.
Please share with them what you think are the 1-3 most important new discoveries or advancements in your overarching field of research since 1st July 2019 and the key articles and reports highlighting them.
The poll takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. For any longer answers, they suggest that you write and save these in a document first before copying into the poll in case you experience any problems with the form. The poll closes on 8th May 2020.
For guidance, here are some key insights from last year’s report:
- Existing and proposed energy infrastructure commits us to 850 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions if operated during its full life cycle, twice the budget available for stabilizing the climate at 1.5°C.
- Sea-level rise is accelerating.
- Changes to glaciers, snow, and ice in mountains influence water availability in the mountain catchments and the lowlands, possibly affecting billions of people.
- Anthropogenic forest fires driven by land-use alternation have been reducing major CO2 sinks.
- The duration of extreme weather events is anticipated to increase in a 2°C world.
- Terrestrial biodiversity is suffering from climate shifts, with 14% local species loss on average predicted already at 1–2°C warming – to more than one-third in a business-as-usual scenario.
- Increasing concentrations of CO2 will reduce the nutritional quality of most cereal crops, with hundreds of millions of people in South East Asian and sub-Saharan African countries worst affected.
- Climate change “hotspots” will push tens to hundreds of millions to migrate, mainly within borders by 2050.
- Success and failure of climate policies highlight the importance of addressing social issues.
- Historic evidence shows that 21–25% of a population needed to change their behaviour to enact significant system-level changes.
Please email Erik Pihl for any additional information.