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Changes in U.S. voters’ top reasons to reduce global warming
The report finds that while providing a better life for future generations remains the top reason for U.S. voters to reduce global warming, there has been a significant shift toward present-day concerns, specifically preventing extreme weather and global poverty. Conversely, motivations based on energy independence, religious creation, and economic growth have declined across most political groups.
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Document type: Research paper
Let the climate games begin – are more world records inevitable?
The document highlights the increasing frequency of record-breaking global temperatures and extreme weather events, urging a shift toward scalable renewable energy, science-based net zero targets for subnational entities, and the fulfillment of climate finance commitments for developing countries.
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Document type: Statement
The Climate Crisis Domino Effect
The report examines how the increasing frequency and severity of climate-driven disasters lead insurance companies to raise premiums or withdraw coverage, particularly in high-risk areas of the US. This process creates a 'domino effect' where the lack of affordable insurance makes homes unmortgageable, reduces property values, and increases homelessness. The authors highlight a cycle where insurers profit from these increases and reinvest in fossil fuels, further exacerbating the climate crisis. The document warns that widespread mortgage defaults and the devaluation of lender security could lead to a systemic financial crisis with global implications.
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Document type: Research paper
Unnatural Disasters: The Connection Between Extreme Weather and Fossil Fuels
The briefing establishes that fossil fuels are responsible for approximately 70% of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution, with a small number of companies contributing a disproportionate share. It highlights the role of attribution science in linking specific extreme weather events to climate change and details the growing trend of using the 'polluter pays' principle in litigation and legislation to hold these companies financially accountable. The document further argues that to meet the 1.5C target, global fossil fuel production must decrease significantly by 2030, supported by a transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles.
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Document type: Briefing
Ecological Security Threats in North Africa for 2040: Water Scarcity and Desertification
North Africa faces critical ecological security threats from water scarcity and advancing desertification, which are expected to intensify by 2040 due to climate change and population growth. The region is experiencing declining rainfall, extreme heat waves, and sea-level rise, which threaten food security and socio-economic stability. Key vulnerabilities include the overexploitation of groundwater and a high dependence on food imports. The document recommends a transition to sustainable agriculture, including drip irrigation and drought-resistant crops, alongside wastewater recycling and community-based resilience initiatives.
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Document type: Policy brief
Insuring the Climate Crisis: New York Bill
The Center for International Environmental Law examines the "Insuring Our Future Act" (Assembly Bill A9905A/Senate Bill S9435) in New York. The bill targets the contradiction of insurance companies raising premiums due to climate-driven disasters while continuing to finance the fossil fuel industry. It proposes a five-year phase-out of fossil fuel investments and underwriting, alongside protections against "bluelining" and sudden non-renewals for policyholders.
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Document type: Research paper
Meeting Summer Peaks: The Need for Virtual Power Plants
The document advocates for the adoption of virtual power plants (VPPs) to address electricity grid reliability and affordability during summer peaks. It highlights that VPPs can leverage existing assets to manage investment costs and enhance community resilience against extreme weather, providing guidance for regulators to replicate successful VPP implementations from other jurisdictions.
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Document type: Policy brief
Reportando sobre el cambio climático 101
The document serves as a '101' guide for journalists to report on climate change, explaining the difference between weather and climate, the primary causes of global warming, and the impacts of extreme weather. It offers specific phrasing to help reporters connect current events to climate change and distinguishes between mitigation and adaptation strategies. Additionally, it provides professional guidance on avoiding greenwashing, handling climate deniers, and centering climate justice in reporting, while emphasizing that climate coverage is based on scientific consensus rather than activism.
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Document type: Guide
Climate Change Reporting 101
The document serves as an introductory resource for journalists to understand the causes and impacts of climate change and how to report on them accurately. It defines key terms, explains the role of greenhouse gases and fossil fuels, and details the effects of warming on weather patterns. The guide offers specific phrasing to help reporters connect extreme weather events to human-caused climate change and distinguishes between mitigation and adaptation strategies. It also outlines international and national policy frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement and the US Inflation Reduction Act, while advising journalists on how to avoid pitfalls like greenwashing and the platforming of climate deniers.
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Document type: Guide
Artículo XI del Acuerdo para la Creación del Instituto Interamericano para la Investigación del Cambio Global: Asociados del Instituto. El Centro de Ciencia del Clima y la Resiliencia (CR2)
Chile has proposed that the Climate Science and Resilience Center (CR2) be admitted as an Associate of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI). The proposal highlights CR2's regional research ambitions in South America and Antarctica, its interdisciplinary approach to bridging natural and social sciences, and its contributions to Chilean public policy, including the 2022 Framework Law on Climate Change and the design of Chile's NDC for COP25. Additionally, CR2's leadership in climate services is noted through the creation of the Climate Risk Atlas of Chile (ARClim) and 14 other open-access climate services.
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Document type: Briefing
Connecting the Dots: Local U.S. television coverage of extreme weather and climate change
The report finds that while only 5% of event-related local television segments provided climate change context, these segments reached over 17 million people across the 50 largest U.S. media markets. Audiences surged during extreme events, with local television viewership doubling in Orlando during Hurricane Ian and increasing 78% in Los Angeles during Tropical Storm Hilary. Extreme heat events, specifically the July 2023 heat streak in Phoenix, were most frequently linked to climate change, accounting for 48% of all climate-contextualized segments. Analysis of closed captioning shows that 96% of contextualized segments highlighted major impacts in categories such as health and safety, vulnerable communities, power supply, the economy, and travel disruption.
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Document type: Executive summary
DASD Caroline Baxter on Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education
DASD Caroline Baxter describes the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) efforts to integrate climate literacy into professional military education (PME). She argues that climate change acts as a "threat multiplier" affecting installations, mission demand, and budgets. The DoD's approach focuses on making climate information mission-relevant, integrating it into existing curricula to avoid task saturation, and emphasizing readiness and lethality over political terminology. Key initiatives include the Climate Literacy Sub-Working Group, a new outcomes-based PME instruction, and a dedicated online portal for authoritative climate information.
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Document type: Statement
OPINION for THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS concerning THE POTENTIAL FOR CLIMATE LOSS AND DAMAGE CLAIMS IN SOUTH AFRICA
The document provides a preliminary legal mapping of the procedural and substantive requirements for a delictual claim against Carbon Majors in South Africa. It examines jurisdictional hurdles, such as the need to attach assets for foreign defendants, and the potential for state immunity defenses for state-owned companies. Substantively, it analyzes the elements of delictual liability—wrongfulness, fault, and causation—suggesting that South African courts' flexible approach to factual causation and the use of attribution science could support such claims. It also discusses parent company liability and the possibility of holding a select group of joint wrongdoers severally liable for the full extent of damages.
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Document type: Research paper
Diez mitos desmentidos sobre el cambio climático
The document outlines ten prevalent climate myths, attributing their spread to fossil fuel companies and political allies to confuse the public and press. It counters these myths with scientific consensus, noting that over 99% of climate scientists agree human activity is overheating the planet. The guide emphasizes that while the climate has changed naturally in the past, the current rate of change is unprecedented in 66 million years due to 250 years of fossil fuel combustion. It asserts that the tools to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius exist and that renewable energy is increasingly cost-competitive with oil. Geographically, it highlights the United States as the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, followed by China, and notes that current warming of approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius is already intensifying extreme weather globally.
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Document type: Guide
Promoting a sustainable and resilient unified health system in Bolivia in the face of climate change
The proposal identifies a critical lack of human, technical, and financial resources within Bolivia's health sector to address climate-related health risks. To resolve this, the project aims to mainstream health into national climate planning, conduct vulnerability and adaptation assessments, and establish a national climate and health observatory. It also focuses on measuring the carbon footprint of healthcare facilities, improving disaster response protocols for extreme weather, and developing a bankable concept note for future Green Climate Fund (GCF) financing. A strong emphasis is placed on gender-responsive strategies, recognizing the disproportionate impact of climate change on indigenous and rural women.
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Document type: Report
Climate change increased heavy precipitation associated with impactful Storm Bettina over Black Sea
An attribution study by the World Weather Attribution initiative found that human-induced climate change doubled the likelihood of the heavy precipitation associated with Storm Bettina and increased its intensity by approximately 5 percent. In contrast, the study found no clear evidence that climate change influenced the wind speeds of the event, attributing observed decreases in wind speed to natural variability. The analysis notes that warming increases the proportion of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow, exacerbating flood damages, and that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war increased the vulnerability of affected populations.
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Document type: Research paper
Issues, Trends, & Tools — 2024
The WWF Markets Institute highlights the need for a systemic global transformation of food systems to address climate change and population growth. Key trends include a rapid increase in extreme weather events and a shift toward understanding soil as a biome. The report advocates for market mechanisms that reflect the true environmental cost of food and warns that the rapid adoption of AI may outpace public sector regulation and exacerbate inequality.
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Document type: Executive summary
2023: 5th-Hottest U.S. Year with Record Billion-Dollar Disasters
In 2023, the contiguous U.S. experienced its 5th-hottest year on record, with an annual average temperature 2.4°F above the 20th century average. The year saw a record 28 billion-dollar disasters, resulting in an estimated 492 lives lost and over $93 billion in damages. Severe storms were the primary driver, accounting for 68% of these events. The frequency of such disasters has increased significantly, with the average time between events dropping to 12 days in 2023, compared to 82 days in the 1980s.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Gas Malfunction Calling into Question the Reliability of Gas Power Plants
The document examines the vulnerability of the US gas-fired power plant fleet to extreme winter and summer weather, noting that gas plants are the primary source of generation failures during major storms. It argues that current resource adequacy metrics overvalue gas reliability and recommends transitioning to probabilistic modeling, increasing transparency, and prioritizing renewables, storage, and demand-side solutions to ensure a resilient power grid.
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Document type: Policy brief
Gas Malfunction Calling into Question the Reliability of Gas Power Plants
The document examines the reliability of natural gas power plants in the US, noting that they are disproportionately prone to failure during extreme weather, such as winter storms. It highlights the 2021 Winter Storm Uri as a critical example of how gas plant failures lead to catastrophic blackouts. To improve grid reliability and mitigate climate change, the author recommends transitioning to clean energy solutions—including renewables, energy storage, and demand-side efficiency—and urges regulators to restrict the approval of new gas plants.
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Document type: Executive summary