What is Climate Change?  (Perlego, 14 Dec 2023)

Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against(Nature, 27 Nov 2019) – “The growing threat of abrupt and irreversible climate changes must compel political and economic action on emissions… A model study shows⁵ that when this sector collapses, it could destabilize the rest of the West Antarctic ice sheet like toppling dominoes — leading to about 3 metres of sea-level rise on a timescale of centuries to millennia… the Wilkes Basin — might be similarly unstable³… it could add another 3–4 m to sea level on timescales beyond a century… the Greenland ice sheet could be doomed at 1.5 °C of warming³, which could happen as soon as 2030… “

Sarah vs the State: Government’s climate targets ‘illegal, unreasonable, irrational’ (NZ Geographic, 12 Nov 2015) – “She claims that the Minister for Climate Change Issues has not followed the process stipulated by the Climate Change Response Act 2002 in setting emissions reduction targets, and that the government’s INDC fails to take into account relevant matters concerning the dire impacts of climate change. New Zealand’s proposed contribution—an 11 percent reduction on 1990 levels by 2030—is claimed to be, in legal terminology, “unreasonable and irrational”.

Hague climate change judgement could inspire a global civil movement (Guardian, 24 June 2015) – “In the first successful case of its kind, a judge in the Hague has ruled that the Dutch government’s stance on climate change is illegal and has ordered them to take action to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a hefty 25% within five years.”

The heat and the death toll are rising in India. Is this a glimpse of Earth’s future? (Guardian, 31 May 2015)

The real story behind Shell’s climate change rhetoric (Guardian, 17 May 2015) – “An investigation into the Shell business shows that under its forecasts the Earth’s temperature will rise nearly twice as much as the 2C threshold for dangerous climate change, and that the firm’s own greenhouse gas emissions are still rising and will rocket further after the £47bn acquisition of rival BG Group. Further, Shell’s Canadian tar sands, Brazilian, Nigerian and US Gulf deep-water projects are the most likely to be rendered worthless by a global clampdown on high carbon-emitting exploration projects, analyses find.”

How climate protection has become today’s labour solidarity (The Nation, 6 May 2015) – “After the march, they developed “Climate Works for All: A Platform for Reducing Emissions, Protecting Our Communities, and Creating Good Jobs for New Yorkers.”

How much of the world’s fossil fuels can we burn?  (Guardian, 25 March 2015)

New study confirms world’s oceans are warming (NIWA, 3 Feb 2015) – Full paper “Unabated planetary warming and its ocean structure since 2006” by Roemmich et. al. (Nature Climate Change, 5 Feb 2015)

Jakob M. and J. Hilaire, 2015. Climate Science: Unburnable fossil-fuel reserves (Nature 517,150–152; 8 Jan 2015) – See detailed writeup about it in the Guardian, 7 Jan 2015.

A sign of things to come? Examining four major climate-related disasters 2010-2013, and their impacts on food security – A preliminary study for Oxfam’s GROW campaign (Coghlan, et al. Sept 2014)

Bad news for Obama: Fracking may be worse than burning coal  (Bill McKibben in Mother Jones, 8 Sept) – “Because gas undercuts wind and sun just as much as it undercuts coal, there’s no net climate benefit in switching to it. … the development of shale gas would be “a liability” in fighting global warming if “it turns into a 20-to-30-year delay” for low-and zero-carbon models.”

Failure to deal with ethics will make climate engineering ‘unviable’ (Guardian, 31 July 2014)

Any climate change deal now too late for Kiribati – President Tong  (Radio NZ, 11 June 2014)

Holmyard, N. 2014. Climate Change: Implications on Fisheries and Aquaculture. Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Judge Business School, May 2014. See also Infographic. – “Current estimates of the total loss of landings to global fisheries by 2050 due to climate change range between USD 17 and 41 billion, based on a global 2°C warming scenario. Losses are likely to be highest in East Asia and the Pacific. Acidification
is projected to drive a decline in global shellfish production between 2020 and 2060…”

IPCC, 2014. IPCC  WGIII AR5 Final Draft: Summary for Policymakers. More reports on IPCC website.

Climate change is here now and it could lead to global conflict  (Guardian, 14 Feb 2014)

What will happen to global warming when we get the next big El Niño?  (Guardian, 23 Jan 2014) Quote: “In 134 years of records, NOAA says nine of the 10 warmest years have all happened since the turn of the century – with 1998 the exception.  There has not been a single year in the last 37 that’s been cooler than the long-term average…. A new study published last week in the journal Nature Climate Change found we will likely get twice as many extreme El Niño events under climate change…”

OECD/IEA, 2013. Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map. – Important quote, “To keep open a realistic chance of meeting the 2⁰C target, intensive action is required before 2020… The four policies are:
– Adopting specific energy efficiency measures (49% of the emissions savings).
– Limiting the construction and use of the least-efficient coal-fired power plants (21%).
– Minimising methane (CH4) emissions from upstream oil and gas production (18%).
– Accelerating the (partial) phase-out of subsidies to fossil-fuel consumption (12%).”

Carbon Tracker and The Grantham Research Institute 2013, Unburnable carbon 2013 : Wasted capital and stranded assets. – Important quote, “A precautionary approach means only 20% of total fossil fuel reserves can be burnt to 2050. As a result the global economy already faces the prospect of assets becoming stranded, with the problem only likely to get worse if current investment trends continue – in effect, a carbon bubble.

Sea level rise may be rapid, scientists say  (Brisbane Times, 13 Aug 2013)

Dame Anne Salmond: Help steer us away from disaster (NZ Herald, 30 June 2013)  – Very poignant piece of writing

Bangladesh’s climate refugees (Guardian, 29 Jan 2013)

Tigers under threat from disappearing mangrove forest (Guardian, 29 Jan 2o13)

Draft Climate Assessment Report (US National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, 11 Jan 2013)

Get used to record breaking heat: bureau  (The Age, 9 Jan 2013)

Central West Antarctica among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth (Nature Geoscience, Dec 2012)

Turn Down the Heat – Why a 4 degree C warmer world must be avoided (Nov 2012, World Bank) – PDF 15 MB

OECD/IEA, 2012. World Energy Outlook 2012. – Important quote, “no more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed prior to 2050 if the world is to achieve the 2⁰C goal, unless carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is widely deployed.”

An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Global Warming Impacts (14 Oct 2012, USA)

WCC-2012-Res-085-EN: Climate change justice and equity considerations – Resolution passed (by 74 Governments – 92%) at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Korea, Sept 2012.

WCC-2012-Res-107-EN: Addressing the impacts of environmentally unsustainable industrial-scale agricultural and animal husbandry enterprises on climate change, food security and biodiversity – Resolution passed (by 90 Governments – 89%) at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Korea, Sept 2012.

Bill Mckibben 2012, Global warming’s terrifying new math, Rolling Stone magazine 19 July 2012. – A must read on the three most important numbers re climate change and energy.

Deadly heatwaves will be more frequent in coming decades, say scientists (Guardian, 17 March 2011)