REPORTS & PAPERS

In 1988, NASA scientist James Hansen warned lawmakers in the U.S. Senate of the looming dangers presented by global warming which humans were accelerating. The same year, the United Nations (UN) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to report to world leaders on the science of climate change.

Two years later, in 1990, the First IPCC Assessment Report (FAR) was published, underlining the importance of climate change as a challenge with global consequences and requiring international cooperation. It was followed by the 2nd (1995), 3rd (2001), 4th (2007), 5th (2013-2014), and 6th (2021-2023) assessment reports. 

A LITTLE POLITICAL BACKGROUND

• U.S. signs the Paris Agreement

  On December 12, 2015 in Paris at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, the now-infamous Paris Agreement was written with an objective to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. It entered into force on November 4, 2016 by which time it had been ratified by 55 countries (accounting for 55% of global emissions). Within the following two years 197 countries signed on, including the U.S.

• U.S. withdraws from the Paris Agreement

  In the summer of 2017 President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Polls show the majority of voters opposed the withdrawal. In response, 24 governors formed the U.S. Climate Alliance of members committed to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

A FEW KEY REPORTS

The global average temperature for land and ocean surfaces in 2017 was 0.84°C (1.51°F) above the 20th-century average, making it the third warmest year on record, behind 2016 and 2015.  Notably, greenhouse gas concentrations reached record highs, and the year was one of the warmest on record for both global land and ocean temperatures. Arctic sea ice extent was also significantly below average. Much of this can be found in NOAA’s 2017 climate report.

Important papers in climate change research before 2017 include the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment by the Arctic Council and International Arctic Science Committee in 2004 that chronicles a decrease in sea ice, thawing of permafrost, and disruption to arctic species. 

Also, crucially, there is the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the U.S. Department of Energy’s report back in 1968 called Sources, abundance, and fate of gaseous atmospheric pollutants, which warns of rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere that may be the cause of serious world-wide environmental changes. NEITHER OF THESE CAN BE ACCESSED ANY LONGER.

In 2017, the UN Climate Change Annual Report emphasized the continued warming trend, noting that 17 of the 18 warmest years on record had occurred in the 21st century, and highlighting the impacts of climate change through extreme weather events and other disruptions. 

Also in 2017, a variety of climate groups worked together to release 2020: The Climate Turning Point, which talks about how GHG emissions must begin declining rapidly by 2020 if the world is to avoid crossing the temperature threshold agreed to in the Paris Climate Accords. 

A stunning timeline, following our extraordinary lack of progress since 1988, was written by Paul Bledsoe and published in the New York Times on December 29, 2018. Many of the 2017 reports and papers referenced in this article appear in this CCR section.

Carbon Brief published a list of 2017 climate-change related papers most featured in the media. The infographic below shows which ones made it into the Top 10.