Look for more emphasis on solutions, efforts by cities, climate equity . and outlook for emissions cuts in a hoped-for global economic recovery from pandemic.
By Bob Henson | Wednesday, January 6, 2021
John Kerry – then U.S. Secretary of State, and now set to be the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate – signs the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on April 22, 2016, at UN headquarters, with his granddaughter in tow. The upcoming IPCC Sixth Assessment Report will be released ahead of the 2023 deadline for nations to update the emission cuts they pledged under the agreement. (Photo credit: United Nations / Flickr)
Despite the speed bump posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is rolling toward completion of its Sixth Assessment Report, the latest in a series that began in 1990.
Wild weather, warming planet 2020 Replay
Published December 23, 2020
It’s been a year of extremes. Wildfires consumed vast areas of Australia, Siberia and the U.S. West. Flooding in Africa and southeast Asia pushed millions from their homes, while extreme heat and drought hit countries in South America. Cyclone Harold tore through the Pacific, and this year saw an exceptionally intense hurricane season in the Atlantic, including unprecedented back-to-back Category 4 hurricanes that devastated Central American countries in November. And in the Arctic, sea ice shrank back to its second-lowest extent ever recorded.
For years, scientists have warned that climate change will cause increasingly chaotic and extreme weather, and studies are bearing that out. Advances in a field known as “event attribution science” mean researchers are able to assess whether climate change played a role in causing, or worsening, a specific weather event.
Paradoxically, the foundations of modern finance know their origins to a religious order that promoted a rigorous and evangelical poverty.
Franciscans, from the second half of the 13th century, were almost the only ones to express, on the doctrinal level, an economic theology. They sought to help the needy gain access to credit and combat usury by setting up montes pietatis. These were initially funded by donations from wealthy Christians. Borrowers would provide the montes with small items of value as a form of security for the loan’s repayment.
Inspired by the love of St Francis and his ideal of an integral ecology, Pope Francis invited youths to take part in a meeting called The Economy of Francesco. Young economists, entrepreneurs and researchers, of different beliefs and nationalities, were to meet in Assisi last May. The aim was to explore, discuss and propose more sustainable ways of living that promote the common good.
Marine Institute Director Elected Chair of JPI Oceans Management Board
18th December 2020
Dr Niall McDonough will serve as Chair of the JPI Oceans Management Board for a three-year term.
Credit: Andrew Downes
Dr Niall McDonough, Director of Policy Innovation and Research Support Services at the Marine Institute, was recently elected Chair of the JPI Oceans Management Board.
JPI Oceans is an intergovernmental platform that works to increase the alignment and impact of national investments in marine and maritime research and innovation in Europe. The platform provides its member countries with a shared voice, strategic agenda and action plan to address complex ocean-related societal challenges that cannot be solved at national level. JPI Oceans focuses on long-term collaboration between EU member states, associated countries and international partners.