Climate variability and change
Change in the statistical distribution of climate elements for an extended period
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| 2025 | Start of the projected period for potential climate reparations, where the top 21 fossil fuel companies could owe cumulative climate reparations of $5.4 trillion through 2050. |
| 2025 |
Retreat of glaciers since 1850
Schoolroom Glacier in Grand Teton National Park is expected to completely disappear.
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| April 1 2025 |
Locations and entities by greenhouse gas emissions
Deadline set by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment for Sasol to comply with legal emission limits under the Air Quality Act 2004.
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| 2025 |
Drought
The United Nations warned that retreating glaciers could potentially threaten the food and water supply of 2 billion people worldwide, with particular concern for Himalayan river basins affecting multiple countries including India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar.
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| 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Global efforts continue to track and document the impacts of climate change, with a focus on measuring, predicting, mitigating, and developing adaptation strategies for environmental challenges.
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| 2024 | Recorded as the warmest year on record since regular temperature tracking began in 1850 |
| 2024 | Global temperatures exceeded 1.5°C above recent averages, highlighting the continuing trend of accelerated global warming. |
| 2024 | World Meteorological Organization estimates almost 50% chance of five-year average global temperature exceeding +1.5 °C between 2024 and 2028. |
| December 2024 |
2024 in climate change
NOAA's Arctic Report Card stated that the Arctic tundra has shifted from a carbon sink to a carbon source, continuing to be a methane source.
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| December 18 2024 |
2024 in climate change
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the August 2023 trial court decision in Held v. Montana, ruling that limiting environmental considerations in oil and gas permit decisions violated youth plaintiffs' constitutional right to a safe environment.
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| December 11 2024 |
2024 in climate change
An Earth's Future journal study projected sea level rise by 2100, ranging from low to high emissions scenarios.
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| December 9 2024 |
2024 in climate change
UNCCD reported that over 75% of Earth's land has become permanently drier, with a quarter of the global population living in expanding drylands.
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| December 5 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A Science study attributed 2023's large global temperature rise to record low planetary albedo, caused by diminishing low cloud cover in mid-latitudes and tropics.
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| December 2 2024 |
2024 in climate change
The International Court of Justice in The Hague began hearings to form advisory opinions on how countries should control greenhouse gas emissions and potential consequences.
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| November 30 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research report estimated an annual land degradation rate, in addition to previous accumulated land degradation.
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| November 22 2024 |
2024 in climate change
At the COP29 conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, wealthy nations pledged to provide $300 billion per year in support by 2035, and governments agreed on rules for creating, trading, and registering emission reductions and carbon credits.
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| November 20 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A study in Environmental Research: Climate estimated that climate change increased peak wind speeds in all eleven 2024 Atlantic hurricanes, including Helene and Milton.
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| November 12 2024 |
2024 in climate change
At COP29 conference, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres describes 2024 as a 'master class in climate destruction', underscoring the severity of global climate challenges.
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| October 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Global recognition that the hydrological cycle is out of balance for the first time in human history, threatening an equitable and sustainable future.
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| October 2024 |
Ice age
44 climate scientists published an open letter to the Nordic Council of Ministers warning about the potentially underestimated risk of collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), which could cause severe climate changes in the coming decades.
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| October 15 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A global survey by insurance company Axa revealed regional differences in climate change perception: 67% of European experts and 49% of the European public ranked climate change among their top five risks, compared to 43% of U.S. experts and 38% of the U.S. public.
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| October 14 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study projected U.S. vehicle electrification could reduce air quality-related health impacts by $84 to $188 billion from 2022 through 2050.
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| October 4 2024 |
2024 in climate change
World Health Organization projected that without urgent action, climate change will cause 5 million deaths from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress between 2030-2050.
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| September 30 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Britain's coal-powered Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station closed, ending the U.K.'s 142-year use of coal to generate electricity.
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| September 24 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A Nature Communications study concluded that rapid permafrost thaw will intensify wildfires in western Siberia and Canada through soil drying and surface warming.
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| August 28 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A study in Nature concluded that the June–September 2023 Canadian wildfires caused carbon emissions exceeding annual fossil fuel emissions of all nations except India, China, and the US.
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| August 12 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A U.S. survey found no evidence that terms like 'climate crisis' or 'climate emergency' generate more perceived urgency compared to 'climate change' or 'global warming'.
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| August 7 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A PLOS One study discovered that a single repetition of a claim can increase perceived truth for both climate science-aligned and climate change skeptic statements, demonstrating the potential psychological impact of repeated messaging.
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| July 25 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A One Earth study concluded that emissions from exposed Great Salt Lake sediments are significant enough to warrant inclusion in regional carbon budgets.
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| July 21 2024 |
2024 in climate change
The highest daily global average temperature was recorded, surpassing the previous record set on 6 July 2023.
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| July 18 2024 |
2024 in climate change
An analysis exposed that 100 U.S. Representatives and 23 U.S. Senators (all Republicans), representing 23% of Congress, were identified as climate change deniers.
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| July 15 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A PNAS study found that global warming-induced ice melting is changing Earth's shape and increasing day length, potentially reaching 2.62 ms/year by 2100 under a high emissions scenario.
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| July 9 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Earth's average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial baseline in each month of a 12-month period for the first time.
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| July 1 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Category 5 storm on record in the Atlantic, breaking records for rapid intensification, overall strength, and location for June.
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| June 20 2024 |
2024 in climate change
The governor of Hawaii announced a court-approved settlement in the Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation case, acknowledging the constitutional right of Hawaii's youth to a 'life-sustaining climate' and committing to achieve net-negative emissions by 2045.
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| June 13 2024 |
2024 in climate change
NOAA announced the end of El Niño conditions, concluding a year of record-setting ocean and air temperatures.
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| June 11 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A study in Earth System Science Data estimated that annual anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions increased 40% from 1980 to 2020, exceeding projected CMIP6 model scenarios.
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| June 6 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A Geophysical Research Letters study concluded that internal climate variability enhanced Arctic warming but suppressed global warming from 1980 through 2022.
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| June 5 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A study in Nature introduced a 'charge-sorbent' material with reactive hydroxide ions embedded in activated carbon, capable of removing carbon dioxide from the air through bicarbonate formation and renewable at low temperatures.
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| June 2 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Mexico elected a climate scientist with a doctorate in energy engineering who had previously helped write Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports as president.
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| May 30 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Vermont became the first U.S. state to enact the Climate Superfund Act, requiring the state to charge fossil fuel companies for climate impacts of their emissions.
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| May 30 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A study in Communications Earth & Environment found that the 2020 International Maritime Organization fuel regulation reduced sulfur emissions from shipping, but caused an increase in global warming effect termed an 'inadvertent geoengineering termination shock'.
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| May 28 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A study by Climate Central, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and World Weather Attribution concluded that human-caused climate change caused 26 additional days of extreme heat worldwide in the preceding twelve months.
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| May 21 2024 |
2024 in climate change
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by oceans constitute marine pollution, establishing that countries have a legal obligation to monitor and reduce such emissions.
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| May 20 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A study in PNAS revealed that seawater rushing beneath Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica makes it more vulnerable to melting, increasing projections of ice mass loss.
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| May 14 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A Nature Communications study forecast that by 2050, 177–246 million older adults will be exposed to dangerous acute heat, with most severe effects in Asia and Africa.
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| May 11 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Venezuela became the first country in modern times to lose all of its glaciers, with the Humboldt Glacier shrinking to the point of being reclassified as an ice field.
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| May 8 2024 |
2024 in climate change
A Guardian poll of IPCC report authors revealed that 76.3% projected at least 2.5°C of global warming, with only 5.79% forecasting 1.5°C or less.
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| May 8 2024 |
2024 in climate change
Ember reported that renewable energy generated 30% of global electricity for the first time in 2023.
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| April 30 2024 |
2024 in climate change
G7 ministers agreed to end unabated coal power plants by 2035, allowing exceptions for plants fitted with carbon capture technology.
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Retreat of glaciers since 1850, List of locations and entities by greenhouse gas emissions, 2024 in climate change, Climate change, Drought & Ice age, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.