Comment
Insights and expert analysis on climate issues.
Share
![Free nomad 7vx YY97 Pi W0 unsplash](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/masthead/_800xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/free-nomad-7vxYY97PiW0-unsplash.jpg?v=1706651812%2C0.4888%2C0.2232)
![Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India. The heatwave in India and Pakistan, which killed thousands in 2015](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/shravan-k-acharya-UXQJ5PaRvgM-unsplash.jpg?v=1706888450%2C0.4895%2C0.5516)
Hot, dry or flooded — more weather extremes beyond 1.5°C warming
Dr Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Dr Fahad Saeed, Dr Quentin Lejeune
This blog gives an overview of the most important recent studies on climate impacts and extreme events. Much of it will be synthesised in the IPCC special report on 1.5˚C, due out in October, which will be a key document for setting the course of climate policy at a global level.
![The 2018 extreme heatwave has produced intense and unexpected forest fires in Arctic Sweden.](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/Skogsbränna_Umeå_1.jpg?v=1706888451)
Stayin' alive: heatwave makes searing case for 1.5°C
Dr Fahad Saeed, Dr Robert Brecha, Dr Peter Pfleiderer, Dr Quentin Lejeune, Dr Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
This year’s extreme summer, still scorching central and northern Europe, is a stark illustration of the kind of climate change impacts we could see if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Heat waves, droughts and other extremes will only increase in severity and frequency as the Earth continues to warm. Limiting warming to 1.5°C, as governments around the world pledged by signing the Paris Agreement, can help avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
![The 2018 Adaptation Futures conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/photo-1588455471455-4b28e9ab3cd5.avif?v=1706965914)
![Climate change loss & damage — an urgent, cross-cutting issue](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/assets/_c800x400/ny_loss___damage_event_with_belize_-_11_july__1_.jpeg?v=1706692410)
![Agriculture in places like Madagascar faces many risks of climate change impacts.](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/sandy-ravaloniaina-Y678onxFoJI-unsplash.jpg?v=1706965914)
For the first time the Adaptation Futures conference was held in Africa — an opportunity to shine a light on developing country adaptation issues. Six Climate Analytics experts had the opportunity to present their work and facilitate a number of sessions. Here's their perspective on the key threads at the conference.
![atasets for global temperature can result in different assessments of progress.](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/noaa-5hZJVGPG6vo-unsplash.jpg?v=1706888451)
Don’t shift the goalposts of Paris Agreement’s temperature limits
Dr Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
The adoption of the Paris Agreement started a lively debate among scientists about the interpretation of several of its elements. Of particular interest has been the long-term temperature goal of limiting warming to “well below” 2°C or 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and the question of how progress against the goal should be tracked. As there are a number of different observed datasets for global temperature – as well as methods that use climate models – it means different studies can arrive at different assessments.