A blog by David Higgins and Tess Somervell New novels about climate change – climate fiction, or cli-fi – are being published all the time. The nature of the climate crisis is a difficult thing to get across, and so imagining the future – a drowned New York City, say;...
The 2019 Eastern African short rains (October-December) was one of the wettest in recent decades, with many places seeing more than double the typical amount of rainfall for the season. The seasonal forecast from the 53rd Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF) did indeed note that above average rainfall was...
The 25th Conference of the Parties (COP) took place from 2-13 December 2019 in Madrid. For a relative newcomer to both climate science and COP itself, it was a huge opportunity to observe, absorb and learn. First, some background: COP25 aimed to both address unfinished business in implementing the Paris...
Under the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the increase in global mean temperature to well below 2°C, countries make their commitments to address climate change in the form of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). A key element of these contributions is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It’s important to be able...
‘Net-zero’ has become an increasingly familiar term over the past few months, appearing in policy announcements, conference titles and opinion pieces. Nations, cities and institutions have been making commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero in a bid to limit global average temperature rise. A number of University of...