Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries
By Julia Tomalka, Claudia Hunecke and Others
2024 REPORTS AND PAPERS
REPORTS AND PAPERS
U.S. STILL A PART OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT
President Biden signed an executive order on January 20, 2021 to rejoin the Paris Agreement, formally rejoining on February 19, 2021.
KEY REPORTS
- According to Carbon Brief, the climate paper that made the most splash in 2024 was Science Advances which found that AMOC - or the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the main system of ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean - is “en route to tipping,” which is “bad news for the climate system and humanity.” Carbon Brief compiled a list of the top 25 climate papers in 2024, based on mentions on social media platforms and citations in news articles. Five of the top ten are related to COVID-19. Included in the top ten are four Nature studies: on 2023’s unparalleled summer warmth; on how rising ocean temperatures are endangering the Great Barrier reef; a study predicting a 19% income reduction in the next 26 years under a warming climate; and one analyzing the Amazon forest system’s potential shift to a dry savannah.
- In October, the UN released a Synthesis Report on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris agreement. Apparently, current plans are not sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with Paris Agreement findings. According to the Secretariat, these findings are “stark but not surprising - current national climate plans fall miles short of what’s needed to stop global heating from crippling every economy, and wrecking billions of lives and livelihoods across every country.” The report urges for climate plans that are not only more ambitious, but also more detailed, adaptation-focused, and backed up by a legal apparatus to ensure implementation.
- In November, the Lancet countdown report revealed record-highs in 2024, with 10 of the 15 health hazard indicators reaching new records this year. Record-highs included heat-related deaths, associated potential income loss, transmission of infectious diseases, and higher frequency heatwaves and droughts leading to 151 million more people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity. At the same time, the largest oil and gas companies are accelerating emissions, on track to exceed emissions required for 1.5C by 189% in 2040.
WEBSITES PUBLISHING REPORTS
- There are a number of websites releasing reports on a regular basis that are worth checking out for the newest on climate change.
- The Lancet releases an annual countdown report on the intersections of climate change and public health.
- The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) releases an annual “State of the Global Climate” report, in addition to annual state of the climate reports for different regions (2024 can be found here).
- The NOAA produces monthly and annual climate reports, impressive for their immense scope, detail, and readability. These reports include national overviews, analyses of temperature and precipitation, overviews of billion-dollar climate disasters, and regional highlights.
CREDIT: Carbon Brief
2024 REPORTS & PAPERS
UNCCD - 11/30/24
As the climate crisis worsens, the warming outlook stagnates
By Jane Ellis, Andreas Geiges and Others
Climate Action Tracker - 11/14/24
The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action
By Marina Romanello, Maria Walawender and Others
The Lancet - 11/09/24
Adaptation Gap Report 2024
By María del Pilar Bueno Rubial, Alexandre Magnan and Others
UNEP - 11/07/24
Climate Adaptation Moves Closer to Center Stage at COP30
By Olivia Rudgard and Others
How to adapt to an inevitably hotter world has become crucial as climate change unleashes deadly disasters in every inhabited continent and negotiators at the…
Bloomberg - 11/19/25
COP30: How the world plans to pay its rising climate costs
By Simon Jessop
Countries trying to shift to clean energy while also preparing for extreme weather and other impacts in a warmer world will need money - a…
Reuters - 11/11/25
The Guardian view on the rising risk from flooding: uninsurable buildings should focus minds on climate adaptation
The bleak prospect facing the market town of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire, due to rising flood risks, is first and foremost a problem for locals.…
The Guardian - 10/14/25
Climate Change Is Making Disasters Deadlier. Here’s How Much.
By Austyn Gaffney
Two weeks before world leaders meet to debate the climate crisis, a report released on Thursday shows the 10 deadliest extreme weather events in the…
The New York Times - 10/31/24
Overconfidence in climate overshoot
By Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Gaurav Ganti and Others
Nature - 10/09/24
Scientists have said that we can cool the planet back down. Now they’re not sure it will be so easy.
By Shannon Osaka
For years, scientists and world leaders have pinned their hopes for the future on a hazy promise — that, even if temperatures soar far above…
The Washington Post - 10/09/24
Living Planet Report 2024
By Maud Abdelli, Zach Abraham and Others
WWF - 10/09/24
The rate of global sea level rise doubled during the past three decades
By B.D.Hamlington and Others
With the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite in 2020, the satellite radar altimeter record of sea level has surpassed 30 years in length.…
Nature - 10/17/24
A new report reveals “catastrophic” declines of animals worldwide — but is it accurate?
By Benji Jones
The latest health check on wildlife is in, and it’s not pretty. A new report by two of the world’s leading environmental groups reveals that…
Vox - 10/10/24
Here’s What a Shocking New Number on Wildlife Declines Really Means
By Catrin Einhorn
Wildlife populations around the world continue dropping precipitously, according to an important but limited and often misinterpreted assessment that’s issued every two years...
The New York Times - 10/09/24
Earth’s wildlife populations have disappeared at a ‘catastrophic’ rate in the past half-century, new analysis says
By Frances Vinall and Allyson Chiu
Earth’s wildlife populations have fallen on average by a “catastrophic” rate of 73 percent in the past half-century, according to a new analysis the World…
The Washington Post - 10/09/24
Sustained greening of the Antarctic Peninsula observed from satellites
By Thomas P. Roland, Oliver T. Bartlett and Others
NATURE - 10/04/24
Greening of Antarctica Is Another Sign of Significant Climate Shift on the Frozen Continent
By Bob Berwyn
When satellites first started peering down on the craggy, glaciated Antarctic Peninsula about 40 years ago, they saw only a few tiny patches of vegetation…
Inside Climate News - 10/04/24
A 485-million-year history of Earth’s surface temperature
By Emily J. Judd, Jessica E. Tierney and Others
SCIENCE - 09/20/24
Prehistoric Earth Was Very Hot. That Offers Clues About Future Earth.
By Raymond Zhong
Over the past 500 million years, our planet has gone from hot to cold to hot again. The oceans have risen and fallen. Ice caps…
The New York Times - 09/19/24
Taking the Earth’s Temperature Over the Past 485 Million Years
By Andy Fell
Palm trees in Alaska, crocodiles in Wyoming: Fossils show that Earth’s temperature has changed over hundreds of millions of years. Now a new study co-led…
UC Davis - 09/19/24
Scientists have captured Earth’s climate over the last 485 million years. Here’s the surprising place we stand now.
By Sarah Kaplan and Simon Ducroquet
An ambitious effort to understand the Earth’s climate over the past 485 million years has revealed a history of wild shifts and far hotter temperatures…
The Washington Post - 09/19/24
In a Landmark Study, Scientists Discover Just How Much Earth’s Temperature Has Changed Over Nearly 500 Million Years
By Riley Black
We live in a rapidly warming world. Immense volumes of human-generated greenhouse gases are nudging Earth’s climate to a warmer and warmer state, further changing…
Smithsonian Magazine - 09/19/24
NPUC - 09/18/24
Observation-constrained projections reveal longer-than-expected dry spells
By Irina Y. Petrova, Diego G. Miralles and Others
Nature - 09/18/24
New Study Suggests Major Climate Reports May Be Underestimating Drought Risks
By Bob Berwyn
Droughts in the coming decades could be longer than projected by current climate models, a new study published Wednesday in Nature warns. The international team…
Inside Climate News - 09/18/24
A just world on a safe planet: a Lancet report on Earth-system boundaries, translations, and transformations
By Joyeeta Gupta, Xuemei Bai and Others
The Lancet - 09/11/24
New research from the Earth Commission
The Earth’s resources are being pushed beyond their limits, but new research from the Earth Commision, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, reveals how transforming…
GLOBAL CHALLENGES FOUNDATION - 09/12/24
Report outlines a path to prosperity for planet and people if Earth’s critical resources are better shared
By Australian National University
Earth will only remain able to provide even a basic standard of living for everyone in the future if economic systems and technologies are dramatically…
phys.org - 09/12/24
New Research Reveals Paths To Prosperity For Planet And People If Earth’s Critical Resources Are Better Shared
It remains possible for all humans to escape poverty and be safe from harm caused by Earth system change – but the planet’s ability to…
Future Earth - 09/12/24
Consumerism and the climate crisis threaten equitable future for humanity, report says
By Jonathan Watts
The Earth Commission says hope lies in sustainable lifestyles, a radical transformation of global politics and fair distribution of resourcesAll of humanity could share a…
The Guardian - 09/12/24
The IRA’s Labor Provisions Look Like They’re Working
By Emily Pontecorvo
The Inflation Reduction Act is by far the most important climate law ever passed in the U.S. But it also may go down as one…
Heatmap News - 08/15/24
Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger
By Benjamin J. Henley, Helen V. McGregor and Others
NATURE - 08/07/24
Low latency carbon budget analysis reveals a large decline of the land carbon sink in 2023
By Piyu Ke, Philippe Ciais and Others
ARXIV - 07/17/24
The Stakes
By Bill McKibben
This epochal presidential campaign entered a new and I think more hopeful phase yesterday—I’m feeling buoyant, and ready to get to work. At least for…
ARXIV - 07/22/24
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - 06/13/24
Carbon dioxide levels rising ‘faster than ever’ amid unprecedented heat: Report
By Saul Elbein
Levels of planet-heating carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere are rising “faster than ever,” according to a report published Thursday. That spells serious disruption for…
The Hill - 06/06/24
New Energy Outlook 2024
By David Hostert, Matthias Kimmel and Others
BloombergNEF - 05/30/24
The Right Kind of Tipping Point
By David Gelles
Amid a deluge of terrifying headlines about destructive tornadoes, blistering heat waves and DVD-sized gorilla hail, here’s a surprising bit of good news: Global carbon…
The New York Times - 05/30/24
Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat: Assessing and Addressing the Risks
By Climate Central, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, World Weather Attribution
Climate Central - 05/29/24
Climate change added nearly a month’s worth of extreme heat in past year – Report
By the IFRC
The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, World Weather Attribution and Climate Central today released a report looking at the role climate change played in…
ifrc - 05/28/24
Climate change caused 26 extra days of extreme heat in last year: report
The world experienced an average of 26 more days of extreme heat over the last 12 months that would probably not have occurred without climate…
phys.org - 05/28/24
New report: Climate change added average of 26 days of extreme heat over last year
On Tuesday (28 May), Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, World Weather Attribution and Climate Central released a report looking at the role climate change…
IFRC - 05/28/24
2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years
By Jan Esper, Max Torbenson and Ulf Büntgen
NATURE - 05/14/24
Batteries and Secure Energy Transitions
By Apostolos Petropoulos and Brent Wanner
IEA - 04/25/24
Rapid expansion of batteries will be crucial to meet climate and energy security goals set at COP28
After their deployment in the power sector more than doubled last year, batteries need to lead a sixfold increase in global energy storage to enable…
IEA - 04/25/24
The economic commitment of climate change
By Maximilian Kotz, Anders Levermann and Leonie Wenz
NATURE - 04/17/24
Climate change may cost $38 trillion a year by 2049, study says
By Andrew Freedman
Climate change through the middle of this century is likely to be far costlier than thought — to the tune of $38 trillion per year,…
AXIOS - 04/18/24
Climate change’s economic bite will hit $38T a year by 2049, says study
By Associated Press
Climate change will reduce future global income by about 19 percent in the next 25 years compared with a fictional world that's not warming, with…
E&E News - 04/18/24
Climate change will make you poorer, according to a new report
By Samantha Delouya
Record-breaking heat waves, severe floods and acute wildfires, exacerbated by climate change, carry a colossal price tag: an approximately 19% reduction in global income over…
CNN - 04/17/24
New study calculates climate change’s economic bite will hit about $38 trillion a year by 2049
By Seth Borenstein
Climate change will reduce future global income by about 19% in the next 25 years compared to a fictional world that’s not warming, with the…
AP NEWS - 04/17/24
Climate crisis: average world incomes to diminish by nearly a fifth by 2050
By Jonathan Watts
The climate crisis will mean that average incomes will fall by almost a fifth within the next 26 years compared with what they would have…
The Guardian - 04/17/24
Quantifying methane emissions from United States landfills
By Daniel H. Cusworth, Riley M. Duren and Others
SCIENCE - 03/28/24
Landfills releasing methane at higher rates, study finds
By Damita Menezes
Landfills across the United States are a significant source of methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate change, a new study reveals. The…
NewsNation - 03/31/24
Aerial surveys show US landfills are major source of methane emissions
By Valerie Volcovici
Over half of U.S. landfills observed by aerial surveys are super-emitting sources of methane, according to a new study in the journal Science published on…
Reuters - 03/29/24
Landfills bake the planet even more than we realized
By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey
A landfill is a place of perpetual motion, where mountains of garbage rise in days and crews race to contain the influx of ever more…
Grist - 03/28/24
A potent planet-warming gas is seeping out of US landfills at rates higher than previously thought, scientists say
By Rachel Ramirez
Garbage piling up in landfills isn’t just an eyesore, it’s also a climate nightmare, belching out large amounts of planet-warming methane gas. In the United…
CNN - 03/28/24
‘Garbage Lasagna’: Dumps Are a Big Driver of Warming, Study Says
By Hiroko Tabuchi
They’re vast expanses that can be as big as towns: open landfills where household waste ends up, whether it’s vegetable scraps or old appliances. These…
The New York Times - 03/28/24
Meeting Growing Electricity Demand Without Gas
By Eric Gimon, Mike O’Boyle and Michelle Solomon
Energy Innovation - 03/27/24
Utilities should rethink ‘panicked rush’ to build gas plants — study
By Brian Dabbs
Researchers say renewable energy, when paired with energy efficiency, will be able to meet growing electricity demand. U.S. utilities are rushing to build new natural…
E&E News - 03/28/24
The Global Cement Challenge
By Emma Rutkowski, Hannah Pitt and Kate Larsen
RHG - 03/21/24
CO2 Emissions in 2023
By Thomas Spencer
IEA - 03/01/24
The Fraud of Plastic Recycling
By Davis Allen, Chelsea Linsley and Others
CCI - 02/15/24
Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf
By Michael Copley
The plastics industry has worked for decades to convince people and policymakers that recycling would keep waste out of landfills and the environment. Consumers sort…
NPR - 02/15/24
US oil and gas system emissions from nearly one million aerial site measurements
By Evan D. Sherwin, Jeffrey S. Rutherford and Others
NATURE - 03/13/24
When We See the Climate More Clearly, What Will We Do?
By David Wallace-Wells
This month MethaneSAT, an $88 million, 770-pound surveillance satellite conceived by the Environmental Defense Fund and designed at Harvard to precisely track the human sources…
The New York Times - 03/20/24
GETting Interconnected in PJM
By Katie Mulvaney, Katie Siegner and Others
RMI - 02/01/24
Grid-Enhancing ‘Magic Balls’ to Get a Major Test in Minnesota
By Dan Gearino
A sensor about the size of a bowling ball can measure the real-time temperature of a transmission line. With this information, the operator can safely…
Inside Climate News - 03/21/24
Preliminary US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates for 2023
By Ben King, Michael Gaffney and Others
RHG - 01/10/24
Rhodium: US greenhouse gas emissions fell in 2023, despite economic growth
By Lamar Johnson
The power sector had an 8% drop in emissions last year, with natural gas and renewables both seeing increased generation, according to Rhodium.
UtilityDive - 01/11/24