The E-11 sector of Islamabad. © M.H. Toori (permission to use)

Combating heat stress through urban planning: Integrated case studies for Lisbon and Islamabad

New peer-reviewed study examines the effectiveness of nature-based adaptation solutions to combat heat stress and high temperatures in Lisbon and Islamabad. Local stakeholders were involved in the design of the urban nature-based solutions, which were found to offer localised respite from heat stress by up to 40% during the day, mainly by providing shading from direct sunlight and by reducing land surface temperatures.

Extreme heat risks in Germany: priorities for adaptation and preparedness

Report finds that heat extremes are projected to rise significantly across German cities this century, with levels strongly determined by global climate change mitigation efforts. The report highlights on seven urban areas: Berlin, Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt a. M.), Cologne, Düsseldorf, Munich, Leipzig, and Hamburg.

Troubled waters: risks and realities of blue carbon in climate action

Carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass meadows (blue carbon) is viewed as a potential bridge between mitigation, adaptation, and climate finance. However, as this brief explores, the viability of blue carbon as a mitigation option is questionable due to the fragility of these systems and the use of blue carbon as offsets counterproductive.

Projections of climate change vulnerability along the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways 2020–2100

As climate change continues to accelerate, its multifaceted impacts will affect societies across the globe in increasingly complex and uneven ways. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of how socioeconomic factors interact with climate vulnerability up to the year 2100.

Latest science on the 1.5°C limit of the Paris Agreement

This briefing provides a comprehensive overview of what the science is saying now about the 1.5°C warming limit – what it means, what is at stake, and what actions are needed to limit the risks of overshoot and safeguard a liveable future.

Climate overshoot implications for local adaptation planning

New perspective piece argues climate overshoot – the temporary exceedance of the 1.5°C limit of the Paris Agreement – may not be relevant for short-term adaptation planning, but it should be considered for long-term plans and policies, such as infrastructure-based measures and for irreversible impacts such as sea-level rise.

Reversal of the impact chain for actionable climate information

This study helps local decision-makers understand the link between the risks they want to avoid (i.e. health-related heat risks) and CO2 emissions using a new method that makes identifying critical risk levels easier for non-scientists.

Humid heat exceeds human tolerance limits and causes mass mortality

With critical physiological limits to human heat tolerance drawing ever closer, this Comment highlights the urgent need to limit further climate warming and emphasises the adaptation challenge ahead.

Spatially resolved emulated annual temperature projections for overshoot pathways

This study presents a new dataset of annual temperature projections for different overshoot pathways (when the 1.5 °C of global warming limit is exceeded). The data offers a unique opportunity to study local and regional climate change impacts of a range of overshoot scenarios, including when temperature thresholds might be exceeded, and by how much.

Geological Net Zero and the need for disaggregated accounting for carbon sinks

This study in Nature show that definitions of net zero now in widespread use will not actually stop global warming. The paper demonstrates that relying on natural carbon sinks, such as in forests or oceans, to 'offset' ongoing fossil fuel emissions will lead to continued warming.

The role of northern forests in limiting warming to 1.5°C

Northern forests are critical in the race to net zero CO₂ by mid-century. Protecting and restoring these forests, alongside steep and rapid reductions in fossil fuel emissions, is essential both to mitigating emissions and to supporting forest ecosystem services and biodiversity.

Rapid urbanisation and climate change key drivers of dramatic flood impacts in Nepal

New study finds the devastating floods in Nepal late September were exacerbated by rapid urbanisation and climate change. The analysis found the relentless rain, which fell on saturated ground in the late monsoon, was made at least 10% heavier and 70% more likely by climate change.

About us

Decarbonisation targets and 1.5°C pathways

Comment

Compound dry-and-hot extremes exacerbate income inequality and poverty in Europe

Press release

As heatwave sweeps Europe, study warns of growing toll on household incomes

Publications