Arguments
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #3 2023
Posted on 19 January 2023 by Doug Bostrom, Marc Kodack
Open access notables
Bad news delivered by an all-star cast of familiar researchers: Another Year of Record Heat for the Oceans. From the abstract:
In 2022, the world’s oceans, as given by OHC, were again the hottest in the historical record and exceeded the previous 2021 record maximum. According to IAP/CAS data, the 0–2000 m OHC in 2022 exceeded that of 2021 by 10.9 ± 8.3 ZJ (1 Zetta Joules = 1021 Joules); and according to NCEI/NOAA data, by 9.1 ± 8.7 ZJ. Among seven regions, four basins (the North Pacific, North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and southern oceans) recorded their highest OHC since the 1950s. The salinity-contrast index, a quantification of the “salty gets saltier–fresh gets fresher” pattern, also reached its highest level on record in 2022, implying continued amplification of the global hydrological cycle.
Alexander Li, Chen-Fei Qu and Xi-Liang Zhang build improved models to explore different international emissions trading scenarios in Exploring U.S.–China Climate cooperation through linked carbon markets. Their results suggest yet again that "can't we all just get along" is a sensible hint, if we believe that mutually optimized GDP connotes success. While bilateral cooperation between the US and China will provide useful emissions benefits, the best outcome seems to be a fully mulitlateral engagement involving other SE Asian actors.
In Polarisation vs consensus-building: how US and German news media portray climate change as a feature of political identities Robin Tschötschel explores a hypothesis with subtle implications: "Depending on the outlet consumed, audiences will encounter different representations of what it means to be a Democrat or Republican, a member of one of the German parties, or a young citizen." These portrayals feed cognitive heuristics helping to shape individuals' conclusions about the validity, importance or urgency of whatever matter is under discussion, here climate change. From case to case this of course may or may not be an engineered outcome and witless media behavior may be as harmful as planned deceit, Skeptical Science offers.
The other benefit of electric vehicles by Michael Stadler et al. employs buildings in California to provide a detailed model of how EV batteries can be integrated into power grids at the retail level to provide demand response. Even while we may end up replicating "too many cars" as we modernize vehicle fleets, there's a silver lining to having all of this transportation hardware piling up and connected to the grid: collectively it can replace large electrical plant assets needed for demand response.
The invisible fingers of the gas CO2 we're adding to the atmosphere reach many places and act in subtle ways. One such circumstance appears set to have a profound impact on a ceteacean species. Changes in Antarctic sea ice cover due to warming trigger further knock-on effects and thus disturb a food web spanning from planckton, across krill and on to large mammals--whales. A surplus no more? Variation in krill availability impacts reproductive rates of Antarctic baleen whales by Logan Pallin et al. couples krill population with baleen whale reproductive rates to show where controls on whale populations are rooted, and how these in turn are controlled by geophysics we're creating. It doesn't help that krill are also the target of a burgeoning fishery.
As part of their performance as trained circus animals putting on a show for the fossil fuel industry (and being paid poorly for this embarrassing, humiliating display), some US state legislatures are seeking to punish corporations for behaving responsibily via their including "Environmental, Social, and Governance" policies in corporate bylaws. ESG Boycott Legislation in States: Municipal Bond Market Impact in our government/NGO section and commissioned by the Sunrise Project examines how much gumming up the works in this way is costing taxpayers. It's costly friction; hundreds of millions of dollars per year are being wasted for fossil-friendly legislative optics.
156 articles in 63 journals by 1,336 contributing authors
Physical science of climate change, effects
AMOC Stabilization under the Interaction with Tipping Polar Ice Sheets
Sinet et al., ESS Open Archive, Open Access 10.1002/essoar.10511833.1
Interaction between dry and hot extremes at a global scale using a cascade modeling framework
Mukherjee et al., Nature Communications, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-022-35748-7
Investigating the radiative effect of Arctic cirrus measured in situ during the winter 2015–2016
Marsing et al., Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Open Access pdf 10.5194/acp-23-587-2023
Radiative contributions of different cloud types to regional energy budget over the SACOL site
Wang et al., Climate Dynamics, 10.1007/s00382-022-06651-0
Observations of climate change, effects
Another Year of Record Heat for the Oceans
Cheng et al., Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s00376-023-2385-2
Changing water chemistry in one thousand Norwegian lakes during three decades of cleaner air and climate change
de Wit et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 10.1029/2022gb007509
Observed trends and coherent changes in daily rainfall extremes over Greater Mumbai, 1985–2020
Mann et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Open Access 10.1007/s00704-022-04354-4
Recent waning snowpack in the Alps is unprecedented in the last six centuries
Carrer et al., Nature Climate Change, 10.1038/s41558-022-01575-3
Separation and attribution of impacts of changes in land use and climate on hydrological processes
Polong et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 10.1007/s00704-022-04351-7
Severity of winters in the Czech Republic during the 1961–2021 period and related environmental impacts and responses
Brázdil et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.8003
Spatial and temporal variation characteristics of extreme hydrometeorological events in the Yellow River Basin and their effects on vegetation
Song et al., Natural Hazards, 10.1007/s11069-022-05745-6
Spatiotemporal analysis of consecutive extreme wet days in China from 1980 to 2020
Zong et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.8011
Time trends, irregularity and multifractal structure on the monthly rainfall regime at Barcelona, NE Spain, years 1786–2019
Lana et al., International Journal of Climatology, Open Access 10.1002/joc.7786
Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects
Application of copula-based approach as a new data-driven model for downscaling the mean daily temperature
Nazeri Tahroudi et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.7752
Evaluating Winter Precipitation over the Western Himalayas in a High-Resolution Indian Regional Reanalysis Using Multisource Climate Datasets
Nischal et al., Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 10.1175/jamc-d-21-0172.1
Improved Monitoring of Subglacial Lake Activity in Greenland
Bahbah Nielsen et al., [journal not provided], Open Access 10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7222
Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects
A Bayesian hierarchical spatio-temporal model for extreme temperatures in Extremadura (Spain) simulated by a Regional Climate Model
García et al., Climate Dynamics, Open Access 10.1007/s00382-022-06638-x
Assessment of future wind speed and wind power changes over South Greenland using the Modèle Atmosphérique Régional regional climate model
Lambin et al., International Journal of Climatology, Open Access pdf 10.1002/joc.7795
Climate-driven changes of global marine mercury cycles in 2100
Wang et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2202488120
Exploiting SMILEs and the CMIP5 Archive to Understand Arctic Climate Change Seasonality and Uncertainty
Wu et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 10.1029/2022gl100745
Future changes in the transitions of monthly-to-seasonal precipitation extremes over the Midwest in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 models
Chen & Ford, International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.7756
Mega-city development impact on hourly extreme rainfall over the South China Greater Bay Area under near-future climate warming
Hu et al., Urban Climate, 10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101389
Pyrocumulonimbus Events over British Columbia in 2017: An Ensemble Model Study of Parameter Sensitivities and Climate Impacts of Wildfire Smoke in the Stratosphere
Lee et al., [journal not provided], Open Access 10.1002/essoar.10511121.1
Simulation and projection of climate extremes in China by multiple Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 models
Wei et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.7751
The Role of Mesoscale Cloud Morphology in the Shortwave Cloud Feedback
McCoy et al., [journal not provided], Open Access 10.1002/essoar.10512288.1
Understanding the seasonality, trends and controlling factors of Indian Ocean acidification over distinctive bio-provinces
Madkaiker et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Open Access 10.1029/2022jg006926
Advancement of climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection
Advantages of a variable-resolution global climate model in reproducing the seasonal evolution of East Asian summer monsoon
Zhu et al., International Journal of Climatology, Open Access pdf 10.1002/joc.7796
Characterising temperature and precipitation multi-variate biases in 12 km and 2.2 km UK Climate Projections
Garry & Bernie, International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.8006
Deficient precipitation sensitivity to Sahel land surface forcings among CMIP5 models
Wang et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.7737
How well do CMIP6 models simulate the climatological northern boundary of the East Asian summer monsoon?
Piao et al., Global and Planetary Change, 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104034
Machine learning of cloud types in satellite observations and climate models
Kuma et al., Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Open Access pdf 10.5194/acp-23-523-2023
Mesoscale convective clustering enhances tropical precipitation
Angulo-Umana & Kim, Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.abo5317
Robustness of precipitation Emergent Constraints in CMIP6 models
Ferguglia et al., Climate Dynamics, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s00382-022-06634-1
The representation of summer monsoon rainfall over northeast India: assessing the performance of CORDEX-CORE model experiments
Ahamed et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 10.1007/s00704-023-04369-5
Cryosphere & climate change
A regional and seasonal approach to explain the observed trends in the Antarctic sea ice in recent decades
Yu et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.8010
Comparison of energy and mass balance characteristics between two glaciers in adjacent basins in the Qilian Mountains
Chen et al., Climate Dynamics, 10.1007/s00382-022-06641-2
Decomposition of Estuarine Circulation and Residual Stratification under Landfast Sea Ice
Burchard et al., Journal of Physical Oceanography, 10.1175/jpo-d-22-0088.1
First results of Antarctic sea ice type retrieval from active and passive microwave remote sensing data
Melsheimer et al., The Cryosphere, Open Access pdf 10.5194/tc-17-105-2023
Glaciological history and structural evolution of the Shackleton Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica, over the past 60 years
Thompson et al., The Cryosphere, Open Access pdf 10.5194/tc-17-157-2023
IMPACT OF SEA ICE COVER SHRINKAGE ON THE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS IN MID AND HIGH LATITUDES OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
J?druszkiewicz et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.8008
Inter-decadal climate variability induces differential ice response along Pacific-facing West Antarctica
Christie et al., Nature Communications, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-022-35471-3
Quantitative Impact of Organic Matter and Soil Moisture on Permafrost
Du et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 10.1029/2022jd037686
Paleoclimate
Climatic and vegetational controls of Holocene wildfire regimes in the boreal forest of northern Fennoscandia
Remy et al., Journal of Ecology, 10.1111/1365-2745.14065
No changes in overall AMOC strength in interglacial PMIP4 time slices
Jiang et al., Climate of the Past, Open Access pdf 10.5194/cp-19-107-2023
Paleoclimate Changes in the Pacific Northwest Over the Past 36,000 Years from Clumped Isotope Measurements and Model Analysis
Lopez?Maldonado et al., Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, Open Access 10.1029/2021pa004266
Sensitivity of northwest Australian tropical cyclone activity to ITCZ migration since 500 CE
Denniston et al., Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.add9832
Biology & climate change, related geochemistry
A surplus no more? Variation in krill availability impacts reproductive rates of Antarctic baleen whales
Pallin et al., Global Change Biology, Open Access 10.1111/gcb.16559
Benthic composition changes on coral reefs at global scales
Tebbett et al., Nature Ecology & Evolution, 10.1038/s41559-022-01937-2
Climate presses and pulses mediate the decline of a migratory predator
Clark-Wolf et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2209821120
Common snowdrop as a climate change bioindicator in Czechia
Hájková et al., International Journal of Biometeorology, 10.1007/s00484-023-02426-2
Disentangling thermal from alternative drivers of reflectance in jewel beetles: A macroecological study
Wang et al., Global Ecology and Biogeography, Open Access 10.1111/geb.13632
Disrupting a socio-ecological system: could traditional ecological knowledge be the key to preserving the Araucaria Forest in Brazil under climate change?
Tagliari et al., Climatic Change, Open Access 10.1007/s10584-022-03477-x
Earlier precipitation enhances dryland annual primary production
Zhao et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 10.1029/2022jg007127
Effects of high temperature stress on the intestinal histology and microbiota in Yesso scallop Patinopecten yessoensis
Kong et al., Marine Environmental Research, 10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.105881
Future temperature extremes threaten land vertebrates
Murali et al., Nature, 10.1038/s41586-022-05606-z
Global patterns of climate change impacts on desert bird communities
Ma et al., Nature Communications, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-023-35814-8
Half a century of rising extinction risk of coral reef sharks and rays
Sherman et al., Nature Communications, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-022-35091-x
Highly conserved thermal performance strategies may limit adaptive potential in corals
Álvarez-Noriega et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 10.1098/rspb.2022.1703
The detection and attribution of extreme reductions in vegetation growth across the global land surface
Yang et al., Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.16595
Warming-induced tree growth may help offset increasing disturbance across the Canadian boreal forest
Wang et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2212780120
Warmth shifts symbionts
Armarego-Marriott, Nature Climate Change, 10.1038/s41558-022-01580-6
GHG sources & sinks, flux, related geochemistry
A Coupled Deep Learning Model for Estimating Surface NO2 Levels from Remote Sensing Data: 15-Year Study Over the Contiguous United States
Ghahremanloo et al., SSRN Electronic Journal, 10.2139/ssrn.4280883
Carbon for soils, not soils for carbon
Masciandaro et al., The Future of Soil Carbon, Open Access 10.1016/b978-0-12-811687-6.00001-8
Carbon uptake in Eurasian boreal forests dominates the high-latitude net ecosystem carbon budget
Watts et al., Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.16553
Dinitrogen emissions dominate nitrogen gas emissions from soils with low oxygen availability in a moist tropical forest
Almaraz et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 10.1029/2022jg007210
Dissolved carbon export by large river systems is influenced by source area heterogeneity
Stets. et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 10.1029/2022gb007392
Modeled production, oxidation and transport processes of wetland methane emissions in temperate, boreal, and Arctic regions
Ueyama et al., Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.16594
Peatlands and their carbon dynamics in northern high latitudes from 1990 to 2300: a process-based biogeochemistry model analysis
Zhao & Zhuang Zhuang Zhuang, Biogeosciences, Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-20-251-2023
Tropical forests post-logging are a persistent net carbon source to the atmosphere
Mills et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2214462120
Decarbonization
A review of renewable energy based power supply options for telecom towers
Deevela et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s10668-023-02917-7
A submillimeter bundled microtubular flow battery cell with ultrahigh volumetric power density
Wu et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2213528120
Bioelectrochemical technologies for simultaneous treatment of dye wastewater and electricity generation: a review
Uduma et al., International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 10.1007/s13762-022-04753-0
Construction of Hierarchical PdAgAu Nanorings/MXene–GO Electrocatalysts for Efficient and Ultrastable Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Sun et al., Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, Open Access 10.1002/aesr.202200194
Design and economic analysis of an on-site electrolytic medical oxygen and solar electricity production system in a sunny country
Edouma Fils et al., Energy for Sustainable Development, 10.1016/j.esd.2023.01.002
Do solar photovoltaic clean development mechanism projects contribute to sustainable development in Latin America? Prospects for the Paris Agreement
Ottonelli et al., Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113428
Electric vehicle batteries alone could satisfy short-term grid storage demand by as early as 2030
Xu et al., Nature Communications, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-022-35393-0
Energy- and carbon-efficient CO2/CO electrolysis to multicarbon products via asymmetric ion migration–adsorption
Ozden et al., Nature Energy, 10.1038/s41560-022-01188-2
Extending urban energy transitions to the mid-tier: Insights into energy efficiency from the management of HVAC maintenance in ‘mid-tier’ office buildings
Daly et al., Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113415
Formation of hierarchically ordered structures in conductive polymers to enhance the performances of lithium-ion batteries
Zhu et al., Nature Energy, 10.1038/s41560-022-01176-6
Going offshore or not: Where to generate hydrogen in future integrated energy systems?
, Physics Today, Open Access 10.1063/pt.4.0633
Historical wind power in Karnataka differs from predictive models: A granular analysis of performance across climatology, technology, and location
Schwarz & Tongia, Energy for Sustainable Development, 10.1016/j.esd.2022.12.009
Lithiated metallic molybdenum disulfide nanosheets for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries
Li et al., Nature Energy, 10.1038/s41560-022-01175-7
New Pathways toward Sustainable Sn-Related Perovskite Solar Cells
Chang et al., Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, Open Access 10.1002/aesr.202200175
Optimizing Various Operational Conditions of Hydrazine Single Cell for a Short Stack System
Park & Lee, Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, Open Access 10.1002/aesr.202200188
Physics-guided co-designing flexible thermoelectrics with techno-economic sustainability for low-grade heat harvesting
Zhou et al., Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.adf5701
Recent advances in material chemistry for zinc enabled redox flow batteries
Zhao et al., Carbon Neutralization, Open Access 10.1002/cnl2.43
Resilience management processes in the offshore wind industry: schematization and application to an export-cable attack
Köpke et al., Environment Systems and Decisions, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s10669-022-09893-9
Solar for renters: Investigating investor perspectives of barriers and policies
Hammerle et al., Energy Policy, Open Access 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113417
State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects
, Public Health Economics, Open Access 10.1177/107755874600301003
The other benefit of electric vehicles
Stadler et al., 2011 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, Open Access pdf 10.1109/vppc.2011.6043044
The role of regulation in geothermal energy in the UK
McClean & Pedersen, Energy Policy, Open Access 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113378
Wormlike Perovskite Oxide Coupled with Phase-Change Material for All-Weather Solar Evaporation and Thermal Storage Applications
Irshad et al., Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, Open Access 10.1002/aesr.202200158
Geoengineering climate
Climate response to off-equatorial stratospheric sulfur injections in three Earth system models – Part 1: Experimental protocols and surface changes
Visioni et al., Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Open Access pdf 10.5194/acp-23-663-2023
High-latitude stratospheric aerosol injection to preserve the Arctic
Lee et al., Earth's Future, Open Access 10.1029/2022ef003052
Black carbon
Revised historical Northern Hemisphere black carbon emissions based on inverse modeling of ice core records
Eckhardt et al., Nature Communications, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-022-35660-0
Aerosols
Air-stagnation episodes based on regional climate models part I: evaluation over Europe
Van Nieuwenhuyse et al., Climate Dynamics, 10.1007/s00382-023-06665-2
Climate change communications & cognition
Climate change framing and innovator attention: Evidence from an email field experiment
Guzman et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2213627120
Climate Storylines
Bukovsky et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Open Access pdf 10.1175/bams-d-22-0224.1
Don’t Talk Climate Like This: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Comment Stance on Aggressive Climate Change Videos
Yuan & Lu, Environmental Communication, 10.1080/17524032.2023.2165524
Polarisation vs consensus-building: how US and German news media portray climate change as a feature of political identities
Tschötschel, Environmental Politics, Open Access pdf 10.1080/09644016.2022.2164410
Two cheers for collapse? On the uses and abuses of the societal collapse thesis for imagining Anthropocene futures
Davidson, Environmental Politics, Open Access 10.1080/09644016.2022.2164238
Agronomy, animal husbundry, food production & climate change
Climate change adaptation behaviour of forest growers in New Zealand: an application of protection motivation theory
Villamor et al., Climatic Change, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s10584-022-03469-x
Concurrent Precipitation Extremes Modulate the Response of Rice Transplanting Date to Preseason Temperature Extremes in China
Liu et al., Earth's Future, 10.1029/2022ef002888
Correction to: Evaluating rice yield and adaptation strategies under climate change based on the CSM-CERES-Rice model: a case study for northern Iran
Darikandeh et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s00704-023-04359-7
Decadal spatio-temporal dynamics of drought in semi-arid farming regions of Zimbabwe between 1990 and 2020: a case of Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts
Mupepi & Matsa Matsa, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Open Access 10.1007/s00704-022-04327-7
Optimized rice adaptations in response to heat and cold stress under climate change in southern China
Zhang et al., Regional Environmental Change, 10.1007/s10113-022-02010-1
Organic agriculture in a low-emission world: exploring combined measures to deliver sustainable food system in Sweden
Basnet et al., Sustainability Science, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s11625-022-01279-9
Traditional crops and climate change adaptation: insights from the Andean agricultural sector
Arias Montevechio et al., Climate and Development, 10.1080/17565529.2022.2151307
Hydrology, hydrometeorology & climate change
Analysis of drought characteristics and trends during 1965–2020 in the Tigris River basin, Turkey
Gumus et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 10.1007/s00704-023-04363-x
Assessment of climate change impacts on the hydrological response of a watershed in the savanna region of sub-Saharan Africa
Animashaun et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 10.1007/s00704-023-04372-w
Convective precipitation over a Mediterranean area: From identification to trend analysis starting from high-resolution rain gauges data
Treppiedi et al., International Journal of Climatology, Open Access pdf 10.1002/joc.7758
Extreme hourly precipitation characteristics of Mainland China from 1980 to 2019
Wang et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.8012
Flood Increase and Drought Mitigation Under a Warming Climate in the Southern Tibetan Plateau
Shao et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 10.1029/2022jd037835
High resolution SnowModel simulations reveal future elevation-dependent snow loss and earlier, flashier surface water input for the Upper Colorado River Basin
Hammond et al., Earth's Future, 10.1029/2022ef003092
Moisture changes with increasing summer precipitation in Qilian and Tienshan mountainous areas
Ma et al., Atmospheric Science Letters, Open Access 10.1002/asl.1154
Separation and attribution of impacts of changes in land use and climate on hydrological processes
Polong et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 10.1007/s00704-022-04351-7
Climate change economics
Do the globalization and imports of capital goods from EU, US and China determine the use of renewable energy in developing countries?
Liu et al., Carbon Management, Open Access 10.1080/17583004.2023.2165162
Renewable energy creditors versus renewable energy debtors: Seeking a pattern in a sustainable energy transition during the climate crisis
Kazak et al., The Anthropocene Review, 10.1177/20530196221149111
What factors contribute to the extent of decoupling economic growth and energy carbon emissions in China?
Xie et al., Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113416
Climate change mitigation public policy research
A European-wide exploratory study to analyse the relationship between training and energy efficiency in the construction sector
Barbero et al., Environment Systems and Decisions, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s10669-022-09891-x
An analysis of the factors affecting Irish citizens’ willingness to invest in wind energy projects
Sirr et al., Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113364
Applying multilevel structural equation modeling to energy-saving behavior: The interaction of individual- and city-level factors
Long et al., Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113423
Assessment of low-carbon energy transitions policies for the energy demand sector of Cameroon
Ayuketah et al., Energy for Sustainable Development, 10.1016/j.esd.2022.12.014
By-production, emissions and abatement cost–climate benefit of HFC-23 in China's HCFC-22 plants
Xing-Chen et al., Advances in Climate Change Research, Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2023.01.003
Can regional integration reduce carbon intensity? Evidence from city cluster in China
Feng et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability, 10.1007/s10668-023-02932-8
Development of city-scale air pollutants and greenhouse gases emission inventory and mitigation strategies assessment: A case in Zhengzhou, Central China
Zhang et al., Urban Climate, 10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101419
Does climate policy uncertainty really affect corporate financialization?
Ren et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability, 10.1007/s10668-023-02905-x
Environmental information disclosure and energy efficiency: empirical evidence from China
Wang & Shao, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 10.1007/s10668-023-02910-0
Environmental, social, and governance disclosure in response to climate policy uncertainty: Evidence from US firms
Hoang, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 10.1007/s10668-022-02884-5
Exploring the influencing factors of urban residential electricity consumption in China
Hao et al., Energy for Sustainable Development, 10.1016/j.esd.2022.12.015
Increasing solar entitlement and decreasing energy vulnerability in a low-income community by adopting the Prosuming Project
Fox, Nature Energy, 10.1038/s41560-022-01169-5
Increasing voluntary enrollment in time-of-use electricity rates: Findings from a survey experiment
Lang et al., Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113410
Leaders or laggards in climate action? Assessing GHG trends and mitigation targets of global megacities
Brown, Oxford Music Online, Open Access 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.16178
Taking control of energy as a solar prosumer
Middlemiss, Nature Energy, 10.1038/s41560-022-01174-8
Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research
A disaster-damage-based framework for assessing urban resilience to intense rainfall-induced flooding
Zhang et al., Urban Climate, Open Access 10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101402
From greening the climate-adaptive city to green climate gentrification? Civic perceptions of short-lived benefits and exclusionary protection in Boston, Philadelphia, Amsterdam and Barcelona
Planas-Carbonell et al., Urban Climate, Open Access 10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101295
Joint problem framing: a transdisciplinary methodology for a sustainable future in mountain areas
Pachoud et al., Sustainability Science, 10.1007/s11625-022-01285-x
Local governments as key agents in climate change adaptation: challenges and opportunities for institutional capacity-building in Mexico
Cid & Lerner, Climate Policy, 10.1080/14693062.2022.2163972
Planning for context-based climate adaptation: Flood management inquiry in Accra
Gaisie & Cobbinah, Environmental Science & Policy, Open Access 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.01.002
Understanding uncertainties in contemporary and future extreme wave events for broad-scale impact and adaptation planning
Morim et al., Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.ade3170
Urban risks due to climate change in the Andean municipality of Pasto, Colombia: A Bayesian network approach
Ortega Chamorro & Cañón Barriga, Risk Analysis, 10.1111/risa.14086
Climate change impacts on human health
Multifaceted characteristics of summer heat and affected population across China under climate change
Feng et al., Climate Dynamics, 10.1007/s00382-023-06671-4
Responses to heat waves: what can Twitter data tell us?
Zander et al., Natural Hazards, Open Access pdf 10.1007/s11069-023-05824-2
Spatiotemporal characteristics of human thermal comfort across southern Africa: an analysis of the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) for 1971–2021
Roffe et al., International Journal of Climatology, 10.1002/joc.8009
Uncovering social and environmental factors that increase the burden of climate-sensitive diarrheal infections on children
Dimitrova et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2119409120
Climate change & geopolitics
Exploring U.S.–China Climate cooperation through linked carbon markets
LI et al., Advances in Climate Change Research, Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2023.01.005
Other
Challenging the values of the polluter elite: A global consequentialist response to Evensen and Graham's (2022) ‘The irreplaceable virtues of in-person conferences’
Whitmarsh & Kreil, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101881
Climate-driven changes of global marine mercury cycles in 2100
Wang et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2202488120
Tonga eruption increases chance of temporary surface temperature anomaly above 1.5 °C
Jenkins et al., Nature Climate Change, 10.1038/s41558-022-01568-2
Tracking artificial intelligence in climate inventions with patent data
Verendel, Nature Climate Change, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41558-022-01536-w
Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives
Carbon for soils, not soils for carbon
Masciandaro et al., The Future of Soil Carbon, Open Access 10.1016/b978-0-12-811687-6.00001-8
Climate change and informal workers: Towards an agenda for research and practice
Dodman et al., Urban Climate, Open Access 10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101401
Methane possible
, Nature Climate Change, Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41558-022-01590-4
Powering the next wave of green energy innovation
Popp & Grégoire-Zawilski, PLOS Climate, Open Access pdf 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000119
Recognizing the dark side of sustainability transitions
McGowan & Antadze, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 10.1007/s13412-023-00813-0
Science-based targets
Yan, Nature Climate Change, Open Access 10.1038/s41558-022-01581-5
Articles/Reports from Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations Addressing Aspects of Climate Change
Global Water Monitor. 2022 Summary Report, Van Dijk et al., Global Water Monitor
The authors present information on rainfall, air temperature and humidity, soil water availability, river flows and storage in natural and artificial lakes in 2022. Trends in the water cycle and some of the most important hydrological events of 2022 are interpreted and discussed. The global water cycle was dominated by warmer-than-average ocean waters in the western Pacific Ocean and cool waters in the east, combined with a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, with relatively warm sea water in the eastern and northern Indian Ocean and cool water in the west. Global precipitation - averaged over the year and the land area - was very close to average values around 2000. However, the last two decades have seen increased air temperatures and declining air humidity, increasing heat stress and water requirements for people, crops and ecosystems alike.
Voices that Matter. Boston Area Residents of Color Discuss Climate Change, Estrada-Martínez et al., University of Massachusetts Boston
Racial and ethnic inequalities in climate impacts have become increasingly apparent. The author's work has further indicated a strong relationship between negative consequences, the ability to respond to climate change, and the racial makeup of communities dealing with or preparing to deal with those impacts. In short, the burden falls heaviest on people of color. The authors amplify the voices of Greater Boston’s Asian American, Black, Latino, and Native American residents of color, who often provided deeply personal insights on climate change in focus group discussions. Although the COVID-19 pandemic caused considerable delays in the timing and structure of these discussions, the opportunity to build upon the phase one comprehensive survey of residents completed earlier has proven to be crucial.
ESG Boycott Legislation in States: Municipal Bond Market Impact, Econsult Solutions, The Sunrise Project
In more than a dozen states across the country, state legislatures have either passed or have pending bills based on a piece of model legislation developed by the American Legislative Exchange Council known as the “Energy Discrimination Elimination Act.” These bills would essentially pull state funds from investment managers if they are deemed by government officials to be adverse to the oil and gas and coal industries in their investment strategies. Some of the same states–in addition to many others–are considering bills that would similarly punish or blacklist financial firms for including having strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards in their investment strategies. Among many key unknowns associated with these legislative and executive actions impact the residents and taxpayers of the states where they become law. Setting aside the implications of politics interfering in financial decisions, there is the question of how removing major, proven financial companies from the marketplace will affect competition. Restrictions on financial market participants, (and in this analysis, the authors look at large investment banks), alter the outcomes of municipal bond market transactions and modify contractual engagements with state governments. It is therefore of tremendous importance that policymakers, business leaders, and the public have the tools to estimate and anticipate these impacts. The authors perform an econometric analysis of Texas to provide estimates of the potential impacts on state and local municipal bond markets of certain state legislative initiatives restricting consideration of climate-related and other sustainability risks and opportunities on state and local municipal bond markets in other states. The author's analysis focuses on the municipal bond market impacts of ESG boycotts actions, applied to six states: Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.
CO2 emissions from private flights to the World Economic Forum, Jasper Faber and Sander Raphaë, Greenpeace International
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos brings together leaders from government, business, and civil society to address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead. In 2023, the number of participants is expected to exceed 2,500 many of whom will charter private flights to get to the venue. Private flights have significantly higher emissions per passenger than any other standard mode of transport. Private jets are 5 to 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial flights and 50 times more polluting than trains. Some private jets emit two tonnes of CO2 per hour, while the carbon footprint of inhabitants of the EU-27 was equal to 6.8 tonnes per person in 2019. The authors analyze private flights associated with the WEF 2022 which was held from 22 May 2022 until 26 May 2022. It estimates the number of flights, their fuel use, and CO2 emissions during the event.
Forestry-Backed AssetsDesign, Biffis et al., Imperial College Business School
The inherent heterogeneity and riskiness of forestry projects pose severe challenges to investors targeting narrowly defined risk-return profiles and lacking the expertise and resources to engage in effective project selection, thus hampering the ability of originators to deliver investable forestry assets to the market. The authors consider in detail security design mechanisms in relation to forestry projects bundled into forestry-backed securities. They focus on foundational concepts of forest aggregation, which should be of interest to any originator of forestry-linked securities. Once the mechanics of risk aggregation are well understood, it becomes relatively straightforward to tranche the forestry pool to deliver forestry-backed instruments with different yields depending on investors’ risk appetite. The authors devote attention to understanding the aggregation of forestry assets along different dimensions, separately and jointly. The main risk drivers they consider in their analysis are geography, forestry vintage, wildfire risk exposure, and carbon sequestration potential. They also provide examples of multidimensional project screening, taking into account biodiversity.
Voting Matters 2022. Are asset managers using their proxy votes for action on environmental and social issues?, Gray et al., ShareAction
The authors analyze how 68 of the world’s largest asset managers voted on 252 shareholder resolutions designed to address current environmental and social crises. They examine voting performance on environmental and social issues, and how it differs from their 2021 findings. For the first time, They also analyze shareholder-filed governance resolutions that directly relate to environmental and social issues, grouped together as Pay and Politics resolutions.
Identifying States That Will Benefit Most from Updated Building Energy Codes, Michael Waite, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
States will soon have access to major federal investments to advance building energy codes. The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $45 million in competitive grants for Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation (RECI). And there is much more to come: An eventual total of $225 million in funding over five years and $1 billion in funding to support state adoption of stronger energy codes in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to become available in 2023. While all states’ residents and businesses would benefit from reducing building energy usage, states with older energy codes (or none at all) will see the biggest improvements in efficiency. But the overall impact of updating energy codes will also depend on other factors, such as a state’s existing building emissions and new construction activity. The author performed an analysis using publicly available data sources to identify the 10 states with statewide codes that are best positioned to take advantage of the upcoming funding: Louisiana, North Carolina, Minnesota, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. This also includes the five “home rule” states that scored similarly to these 10 but that have additional challenges because they lack statewide codes: Colorado, North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Missouri.
U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, US. Government
Nearly all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions should be eliminated in the transportation sector by 2050. The U.S. needs a holistic strategy to achieve a future mobility system that is clean, safe, secure, accessible, affordable, and equitable and provides sustainable transportation options for people and goods. The Blueprint is the roadmap to address these issues to provide better transportation options, expand affordable and accessible options to improve efficiency, and transition to zero-emission vehicles and fuels. The Blueprint offers a whole-of-government approach to transform the transportation sector and sets forth an interagency call to action to coordinate and work effectively together.
A review of the first year of the Peer Review Network on Global Climate Litigation, Maria Antonia Tigre & Juan Sebastian Castellanos, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
In December 2021, the Sabin Center launched the Peer Review Network of Global Climate Litigation, through which practitioners and scholars from the around the world act as “rapporteurs” for their jurisdictions, helping to update and maintain the Global Climate Change Litigation database. In its first year, the Network reviewed, analyzed, and updated multiple cases from the database and helped identify and add new cases from nearly 40 different jurisdictions. However, the work done by the rapporteurs and the discussions that arose from monthly meetings surpassed our expectations, leading to a wide range of outputs covering diverse topics within climate litigation through multiple mediums.
Pesticides and Climate Change: A Vicious Cycle, Sharma et al., Pesticide Action Network
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. Scientific evidence indicates that pesticides contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions while also making agricultural systems more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. However, the reduction of synthetic pesticide use has been omitted from climate change solutions, and synthetic pesticide use is even presented as a climate change mitigation strategy by industrial agriculture interests. Pesticides contribute to climate change throughout their lifecycle via manufacturing, packaging, transportation, application, and even through environmental degradation and disposal. Importantly, 99% of all synthetic chemicals —including pesticides — are derived from fossil fuels, and several oil and gas companies play major roles in developing pesticide ingredients. Other chemical inputs in agriculture, such as nitrogen fertilizer, have rightly received significant attention due to their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. Yet research has shown that the manufacture of one kilogram of pesticide requires, on average, about 10 times more energy than one kilogram of nitrogen fertilizer. Like nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides can also release greenhouse gas emissions after their application, with fumigant pesticides shown to increase nitrous oxide production in soils seven-to-eightfold.
Obtaining articles without journal subscriptions
We know it's frustrating that many articles we cite here are not free to read. One-off paid access fees are generally astronomically priced, suitable for such as "On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light" but not as a gamble on unknowns. With a median world income of US$ 9,373, for most of us US$ 42 is significant money to wager on an article's relevance and importance.
- Here's an excellent collection of tips and techniques for obtaining articles, legally.
- Unpaywall offers a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that automatically indicates when an article is freely accessible and provides immediate access without further trouble. Unpaywall is also unscammy, works well, is itself offered free to use. The organizers (a legitimate nonprofit) report about a 50% success rate
- The weekly New Research catch is checked against the Unpaywall database with accessible items being flagged. Especially for just-published articles this mechansim may fail. If you're interested in an article title and it is not listed here as "open access," be sure to check the link anyway.
How is New Research assembled?
Most articles appearing here are found via RSS feeds from journal publishers, filtered by search terms to produce raw output for assessment of relevance.
Relevant articles are then queried against the Unpaywall database, to identify open access articles and expose useful metadata for articles appearing in the database.
The objective of New Research isn't to cast a tinge on scientific results, to color readers' impressions. Hence candidate articles are assessed via two metrics only:
- Was an article deemed of sufficient merit by a team of journal editors and peer reviewers? The fact of journal RSS output assigns a "yes" to this automatically.
- Is an article relevant to the topic of anthropogenic climate change? Due to filter overlap with other publication topics of inquiry, of a typical week's 550 or so input articles about 1/4 of RSS output makes the cut.
The section "Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives" includes some items that are not scientific research per se but fall instead into the category of "perspectives," observations of implications of research findings, areas needing attention, etc.
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