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IPCC assessments present an unparalleled opportunity for climate science to speak directly to power. Re-thinking the summaries written for policymakers would enable scientists to communicate far more effectively with political leaders and the public.
How should the IPCC communicate its findings, not just to policymakers, but to a wider audience? In today's online environment, readers demand an open and transparent interaction, but the responses must be both rapid and authoritative. As the IPCC debates its future, it must be bold in engaging with social media.
In the light of its potential benefits, some scientists have been using the concept of risk to frame their discussions of climate change. At the moment, the media hardly pick up on risk language, so can anything be done to encourage them?
Fingers are often pointed directly at the news media for their powerful influence and ineffective reporting of climate change. But is that the best place to point? And are there more effective ways to conceptualize the power of the media and to consider whom they serve?
Current climate engineering proposals do not come close to addressing the complex and contested nature of conceivable 'climate emergencies' resulting from unabated greenhouse-gas emissions.
The shipping industry expects ongoing growth in CO2 emissions to 2050, despite an apparent recent decline. Opportunities for decarbonizing the sector in line with international commitments on climate change need to be re-evaluated.
Long-term climate change and sea-level rise in model projections have been primarily determined by external forcing of climate conditions. Now, research shows that centennial projections of the dynamic sea level are also sensitive to the ocean's initial conditions.
The underlying causes of biodiversity loss can be numerous and difficult to identify. Now evidence suggests that disease outbreaks triggered by warming oceans are a primary cause of the disappearance of Caribbean coral reefs.
Knowledge of the near-term rate of change is needed for adaptation. The rate at which climate change is occurring, over 40-year periods, is found to be unprecedented in the past 1,000 years. Regionally, Europe, North America and the Arctic are above the global average.
The probability of a hiatus in global warming is calculated, with a 10-year event having a probability of ∼10%, but a 20-year event less than 1%. The current 15-year event is found to have up to 25% chance of continuing for another 5 years.
How regional sea level will change in response to ocean dynamics is investigated by altering initial atmosphere and ocean conditions in model projections. Internal variability in the ocean is found to cause large differences in projected changes.
As the atmosphere warms it can hold more water so precipitation is expected to increase. This study uses palaeoclimate data and modelling results to investigate what this means for Antarctic mass balance and sea-level rise, as more snowfall will increase the water stored as ice on the continent.
Over-reliance on charcoal sourced from native forests rather than plantations doubled CO2 emissions from Brazil’s steel industry between 2000 and 2007.
Our knowledge of long-term changes in vegetation activity is incomplete, hindering understanding of Earth system dynamics. A comprehensive global assessment of vegetation phenology now shows that vegetation activity changed severely on 54% of the global land surface between 1981 and 2012.
Thermal stresses associated with climate change have contributed to the spread of white-band disease in important reef-building corals in the Caribbean.
The media uses specific language to report scientific knowledge to various audiences. A study focused on broadcast, newspapers and twitter reporting of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report shows that coverage and framing of the Report was influenced by its sequential three-part structure and by the availability of accessible narratives and visuals.
An emerging body of literature is exploring the role of the media in reporting climate change science and the recent IPCC efforts to reach out policymakers and the public. In this focus, Nature Climate Changepresents an Article examining media coverage of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report – in broadcast, print and social media – and a series of opinion pieces looking at the effectiveness of the IPCC communication strategy and the ways experts study media power in the context of climate change.
