Articles in 2016

Households’ carbon footprints often differ with wealth and level of consumption. This study shows the urban rich disproportionally contribute to the Chinese carbon footprint, whilst overall household footprints are growing with increased consumerism.

How ocean acidification will impact coastal biogenic habitats is unclear. This study predicts that indirect effects on habitat-forming organisms, combined with direct effects on biodiversity, will cause changes in structural complexity and extent of these habitats.

A coupled agriculture and health modelling framework shows that levying greenhouse gas taxes on food commodities could be a health-promoting climate policy in high-, mid-, and low-income economies.

The use of natural high-CO₂ sites to assess the impact of ocean acidification on coral reef zooplankton shows a threefold reduction in biomass compared with ambient-CO₂ sites. However, zooplankton species distribution is unchanged. The reduction may be partly due to a change in coral species.

The impact of climate change on crop yield can be estimated using a variety of methods. Here, a multi-method ensemble is used to quantify ‘method uncertainty’ and improve overall confidence in projections of climate impacts on wheat yields.

Analysis of over 18,000 vessels shows that the CO₂ emissions from shipping in East Asia accounted for 16% of global shipping emissions in 2013 (compared to 4–7% in 2002–2005), and account for 14,500–37,500 premature deaths per year.

In 2014–2015 the northeast Pacific Ocean experienced a strong marine heatwave. This study shows teleconnections to the tropical Pacific and the weak El Niño were key sources in the atmospheric forcing and persistence of the event.

The North America winter cooling trend in the early 2000s can be explained by decadal climate signals. For the northwest, fluctuations in the remote tropical Pacific were responsible, whereas for central North America it was mid-latitude circulation changes.

Energy storage is vital to the widespread rollout of renewable electricity technologies. Modelling shows that energy storage can add value to wind and solar technologies, but cost reduction remains necessary to reach widespread profitability.

A model comparison shows that integrated and sector-specific models suggest different results for various climate impacts. The discrepancies are particularly pronounced for indicators such as food production and water exploitation.

The people that are most concerned about climate change do not always take action. Behavioural modelling shows that concerned citizens are more likely to act if they believe similar people are taking action, and that their action will make a difference.

Adaptation plans are an increasingly important part of US communities’ responses to climate change, but little is known about their content. Analysis of 44 plans shows that most fail to prioritize impacts or provide detailed implementation processes.

Integrated assessment modelling backed by expert judgement indicates that the existence of future multiple interacting climate tipping points, with irreversible economic damages, greatly increases the social cost of carbon.

Meta-analysis shows people’s views on climate change have only a small impact on their tendencies to act in climate-friendly ways. These views are affected more by ideology and political orientation than education, sex and experience of extreme weather.

An ensemble of climate model simulations, as well as hydrological modelling and flood risk mapping, are used to show the role of anthropogenic warming on the extreme rainfall that caused the 2013/14 floods in southern England.

Combined energy and weather modelling suggests that CO₂ emissions from the US electricity sector can be reduced by up to 80% using existing technologies, and without increasing the cost of electricity.

Global warming could trigger irreversible regime shifts—‘tipping points’—in the climate system. This study analyses climate policy in the presence of a potential domino effect resulting from the interaction of such tipping points.