article thumbnail

From Research to Action: The Growing Impact of Attribution Science

Union of Concerned Scientists

They can also look at known carbon emission sources and model the world with and without those added emissions. Another study found that climate change made severe flooding in the United Kingdom 43 percent more likely during the winter of 2013-14. Precipitation events.

article thumbnail

Arctic Report Card 2024: How Did the Region Fare? Ask the Caribou

Union of Concerned Scientists

Another bright spot this year amid thebad news was that the massive Greenland Ice Sheet had the lowest annual ice mass loss since 2013 ( Poynar et al. , Mountain glacier and ice sheet contributions to global sea level rise has been a growing proportion with each passing decade. in Arc2024 ). No doubt about it.

2024 171
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

What’s the Role of the Land Carbon Sink in Achieving US Climate Goals?

Union of Concerned Scientists

A brief history of the land carbon sink Every year, globally, land-based ecosystems remove roughly 30% of human emissions from the atmosphere, slowing both the accumulation of atmospheric CO2 and increases in global temperature. These same environmental changes can also increase carbon losses from land-based ecosystems.

article thumbnail

Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors

Union of Concerned Scientists

But as I showed in my 2013 and 2021 reports, the hype surrounding SMRs is way overblown, and my conclusions remain valid today. They also are less effective in mitigating carbon emissions, because uranium mining and milling are relatively carbon-intensive activities compared to other parts of the uranium fuel cycle.

article thumbnail

Washington state just started capping carbon emissions. Here’s how it works.

Environmental News Bits

The new “cap-and-invest” program is designed to follow in the footsteps of California, where a cap-and-trade system began in 2013, while trying to learn from its missteps. Signed into law … Continue reading Washington state just started capping carbon emissions. Here’s how it works.

article thumbnail

How Canada Can Unlock the Power of Public Transit to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Enviromental Defense

By providing public transit operating funding, encouraging housing density near public transit, setting zero-emission bus procurement requirements and providing incentives for cities to speed up public transit service with dedicated bus lanes, Canada can cut polluting carbon emissions by 65 million tonnes from 2024 to 2035.

article thumbnail

Why Earth Overshoot Day And The Ecological Footprint Are Pseudoscientific Nonsense

Environmental Progress

The only thing out-of-balance were humankind's carbon emissions. But solving that problem doesn't require that rich nations become poor — or that poor nations remain poor — but simply that we move toward energy sources that don't produce carbon emissions, a process known as "decarbonization."