The Earth League, Future Earth, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) have been preparing 10 New Insights in Climate Science policy reports for six consecutive years, all officially received by the UNFCCC. The latest report was launched at COP26 in Glasgow, in a press conference with UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa. This publication series curates recent advances in climate change research across disciplines, and is an important science policy contribution. The synthesis is submitted for peer-review, and published in an academic journal. This synthesis underpins the development of the policy report which provides a climate science year-in-review for journalists, policy makers, and the informed general public. We have begun preparing the 10 New Insights in Climate Science 2022, and are scoping expertise from around the globe for inputs on which key findings should be featured. We invite experts in a wide variety of disciplines and sectors to contribute to this year’s effort, by answering this form by February 20.

And, do we rely too much on so-called ‘silver bullet’-solutions in the known scenarios? These are two of the central questions of a recent publication by Waszawski et al. published in Environmental Research Letters. Among the coauthors are Earth League Fellows Tim Lenton, Daniela Jacob, Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, and Kazuhiko Takeuchi, as well as Earth League co-chairs Peter Schlosser and Johan Rockström. The study that is based on the results of the 2019 Annual Earth League Workshop (“Towards a 1.5 °C world: Challenges and Solutions”) investigated 50 of the SR1.5 scenarios (the currently known scenarios with which global warming can be limited to 1.5°C with low or no overshoot) of the IPCC with regard to their feasibility and limits. Available technologies and other options to reduce CO2 (‘levers’) were investigated for their feasibility by determining within which boundaries they could be used at a ‘reasonable’ (most desirable), ‘challenging’ or ‘speculative’ level when they would be deployed at such a large scale as implied by the scenarios. None of the scenarios were able to limit global warming to 1.5 °C as stated in the Paris Agreement when all levers were only used within ‘reasonable’ boundaries. When at least one of the five levers was allowed to be used within ‘challenging’ boundaries, less than half of the scenarios were able to limit global warming. Additionally, most of the scenarios used geological CO2 storage methods beyond what is currently acknowledged to be feasible (‘silver bullet’-solution). Continue reading →

From Al Gore and Xiye Bastida to the Dalai Lama and Jennifer Doudna – these and many more renowned leaders will take part in the first Nobel Prize Summit, “Our Planet, Our Future”. The Summit will bring together Nobel Prize laureates and other committed minds in the sciences, policy, business, the youth movement, and the arts to explore actions that can be achieved this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all. Registration is now open for the April 26-28 virtual summit, which is free and open to the public.

“In our Anthropocene Epoch, humankind has become the single most important force acting on the planet, and our own encroachments on nature are the underlying cause for today’s global crises,” said Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). “But we are at the dawn of what could be a transformative decade, and it is not too late to overcome these challenges and create a new vision for our common journey on Earth.”

The virtual summit will draw upon lessons learned in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic to mobilize action on:

• fighting climate change and biodiversity loss
• reducing inequality
• advancing technologies with the power to transform the way we live and work Join the conversation at #NobelPrizeSummit.

The virtual summit will take place April 26-28. Registration is free, but space is limited. Click here for more information or to register.