The era of climate opportunity

How important is listening to science when facing climate risks: renewable energy, advances in technology, an active financial sector and carbon pricing. It is “A perfect storm of climate opportunity”.

Michael E. Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, one of the world’s most influential climate scientists and author of the book The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet, reveals how to face the “coalition of the unwilling” made up of fossil fuel interests, climate change deniers, conservative media tycoons and petrostate actors.

The science tells us it is not too late to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. There is great urgency to act now to reduce carbon emissions globally by a factor of two within the next decade if we are to avert a truly dangerous interference with our climate.
Michael E. Mann

Today it is not possible anymore to deny that climate change is happening, because we are seeing the impacts. But the “forces of inaction” haven’t given up, they have changed their tactics. They’ve moved from the “old climate war”, which was an effort to discredit the scientific evidence and the scientists, to what I call the “new climate war”, a new array of tactics – including soft denial and efforts to delay action – that are still aimed at keeping us addicted to fossil fuels.

Michael E. Mann

The live streaming event was part of the series Seeds. Words that feed the future for the CMCC Climate Change Communication Award “Rebecca Ballestra”.

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The cooling solution

The rush of almost every household on the planet to buy an air-conditioning unit as soon as they can afford one is having implications on climate change mitigation. Scientific research meets photography in a project that sheds light on the reasons why air conditioning has become the leading cooling solution in a warming world, and on how we can keep cool without overheating the planet.

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The climate stories stored in trees

What does uncovering the mysteries surrounding sunken ships have in common with understanding our climate? Both involve looking at tree cores and studying the historical archives contained within their inner rings. Dendrochronology, literally the study of tree time, offers a view into the past that provides vital information about our present and future.

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COP28 | ELENA VERDOLINI: “All that is discussed in the negotiations is about Just Transition”

Designing a just transition requires global efforts on multiple levels. It requires sitting scientists, policymakers, and the private sector at the same table. It needs to give each of society’s sectors a voice. It involves harnessing the potential of digital technologies in the context of decarbonisation to promote democracy, equity and planetary stability. CMCC scientist Elena Verdolini highlights the need to focus on the regulation of the processes, on the framing, on channeling joint forces across countries and sectors to drive the climate transition justly and in the right direction.