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75 news posts in Climate change

Frontiers news

28 May 2024

AI, open science, and the extreme weather pandemic: Takeaways from SXSW 2024

Every year, creatives, innovators, and visionaries from around the world gather in Austin, Texas for a celebration of human creativity at South by Southwest (SXSW). The week-long conference offers a vibrant convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture. Over 450 sessions, from keynotes and feature speakers to panels and workshops, enable participants to encounter cutting-edge ideas, discover new interests, and network with other professionals from across industries. Among the topics of focus for this year’s SXSW was climate change. A dedicated ‘track’, or lineup, of sessions explored the most promising ideas on mitigating or adapting to the effects of global warming and in-depth coverage of the consequences of unpredictable weather patterns and rising ocean levels.

Frontiers news

10 May 2024

Villars Institute Summit 2024: Catalyzing systematic change through interdisciplinary cooperation

The Villars Institute Summit 2024 was a pivotal gathering of minds, set against the picturesque backdrop of Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. Over three days, more than 280 experts, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists met to address the pressing challenges of our time: the climate and biodiversity crises. Through plenary discussions, workshops, and roundtables, participants focused on how interdisciplinary cooperation can accelerate systemic change and address these crises in a holistic manner.

Frontiers news

18 Apr 2024

The power of open science: Frontiers’ collaborative approach to addressing climate change

Climate change poses an existential threat to society. Rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns are fueling environmental degradation, natural disasters, weather extremes, food and water insecurity, economic disruption, conflict, and terrorism. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 identifies climate-related changes as some of the most severe risks over the next decade. And nearly two-thirds of the 1.2 million participants in the United Nations Development Programme’s 2021 People Climate Vote said that climate change is a ‘global emergency.’

Climate action

16 Nov 2023

Inequality hotspot map shows where women in agriculture are hit the hardest by the climate crisis

by Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Women working in agricultural sectors in low- and middle-income countries are disproportionally at risk from climate change induced hazards, such as droughts, floods, or shortened crop-growing seasons. Now, researchers have developed a map showing localities where climate change risk for women in agri-food systems is especially high. Ranking 87 countries, they found that women in central, east, and southern Africa, as well as west and south Asia are at particular risk. Threats posed by the climate crisis disproportionally affect certain communities and social groups that are more exposed. People living in low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries are at heightened risk. Within these countries, women typically face higher climate risk than men. To show where women working in agri-food systems – systems that encompass production, but also post-harvest handling and distribution – are most threated by climate change, an international team of researchers has developed a hotspot map that identifies and ranks localities by threat level. “We show that significant climate hazards, high exposure faced by women in agri-food systems, and high vulnerability faced by women due to systemic gender inequalities converge particularly in central, east, and southern Africa, as well as in […]

Earth science

14 Nov 2023

New study highlights need to address risk of continued global warming after net zero

by Liad Hollender, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com The UN Climate Panel’s latest best estimate is that global warming will end once we reach net zero CO2 emissions – but a study in Frontiers in Science warns significant warming could still occur. Researchers including those from Imperial College London and University of Exeter assess factors controlling global temperatures post ‘net zero’ and offer a pioneering framework for better estimating climate change risks. These risks must inform climate mitigation and adaptation policies to protect future generations.  From scorching heatwaves to torrential downpours and devastating storms, the disastrous effects of global warming are sweeping across the world. Being the predicted outcome of burning fossil fuels, our best and only plan to limit warming is to reduce CO2 emissions from human activities to ‘net zero’ – where the amount of CO2 we emit into the atmosphere is equal to the amount we remove from it. To keep within the 1.5°C limit of the 2015 Paris Agreement, this needs to happen as soon as possible.   Though the scientific community’s current best estimate from models is that global warming will stop at net zero, an article published in Frontiers in Science raises a red flag.  […]

Climate action

08 Aug 2023

Antarctic extreme events: ‘All-time records are being shattered not from decades ago, but from the last few years and months’

By Prof Martin Siegert, University of Exeter (Cornwall) Image: Shutterstock.com 42 governments around the world have agreed to protect Antarctica’s environment. While the main focus has been on operational activities in Antarctica, global warming caused by fossil-fuel burning by these (and other) countries has left Antarctica on the brink of irreversible change. A new study published in Frontiers in Environmental Science has revealed that, in addition to the influence of gradual global heating, Antarctica is increasingly affected by extreme environmental events; a recognized and predicted outcome of our heating world. Writing as part of Frontiers’ guest editorials series, the study’s lead author – Prof Martin Siegert, deputy vice chancellor of the University of Exeter (Cornwall) – discusses how without there being a rapid shift to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the Antarctic environment will experience ever more drastic changes. Extreme weather events appear to be increasing in size and occurrence, with disastrous outcomes for lives and livelihoods, whether it be from intense heatwaves, severe droughts, deluge rainfall, flooding, and deep storms. All-time records are being shattered not from those of decades ago, but from the last few years and months, exemplifying the human-induced forces we are subjecting our planet […]