Climate Change and Environment

Integrated assessment models combine key elements in energy, economy, land, water and climate into a consistent modelling framework. The EU-funded NAVIGATE project is boosting the capability of integrated assessment models in two key areas, to support the design and evaluation of effective climate policies.

The Paris Agreement secured the cooperation of 191 signatories in addressing climate change. However, actions needed for the treaty’s implementation require the support of those affected. The EU-funded PARIS REINFORCE project enhances the legitimacy of climate policymaking by introducing an innovative stakeholder inclusion framework.

A new study has shown that applying algebraic topology to climate models could help us predict the next abrupt change in Earth’s climate.

The destination established by the Paris Agreement is clear: in order to avoid catastrophic climate change, Europe must reach peak emissions as soon as possible and reduce them rapidly thereafter. How we get there is less certain. The EU-funded LOCOMOTION project is developing an advanced integrated assessment model (IAM) that will guide Europe’s transition to a low-carbon society.

One of the key challenges we face today is how society should tackle climate change and mitigate the impacts of global warming. The EU-funded ENGAGE project has gathered key stakeholders to produce a new generation of global and national decarbonisation pathways.

Researchers compared the performance and fatigue of flexible subsea cables. They found that using a device called a bend stiffener greatly increases their lifespan by protecting them against damage and fatigue.

What will Europe’s first seagoing ferry powered by hydrogen fuel cells look like? The EU-funded HySeas III project has released the first images as testing progresses on the ship’s key components.

An international consortium has completed the design of a single-point mooring (SPM) system platform for floating wind turbines.

The plight of honeybees has captured the public’s imagination, but the reality is that many wild pollinators are in decline. Wild bees, butterflies, beetles, flies and other insects play an important role in ecosystems but are under pressure from habitat loss, pesticides and climate change.

Researchers grow glasswort and grey mullet together for the first time in an aquaponics experiment, and study the growth of greater amberjack reared in sea cages, all under one EU-funded project.

A new study shows a link between the windborne iron aerosols from Australia’s 2019-2020 wildfires deposited in the Southern Ocean and the massive algal blooms observed there, raising new questions about oceanic carbon uptake.

An EU-backed team is developing an innovative photonics sensor for fast and reliable food safety monitoring in Europe’s fruit and vegetable production and distribution chains.

A new study explores the climate and air quality benefits of removing methane from the atmosphere – a crucial complementary approach to current CO2 emissions reduction efforts.

Meet two of this year’s best EU-funded innovators: Finnish company MetGen, the overall Grand Prix winner, and C2CA Technology, the Netherlands, winner of the Sustainability Tech category.

For the first time, scientists have produced a stable 2D silicon compound, paving the way for new uses of silicon in molecular chemistry.

Their pioneering work in complex physical systems has earned German climate modeller Klaus Hasselmann and Italian theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics, which they share with US-based climatologist Syukuro Manabe.

A new study published in ‘Nature Climate Change’ and supported by the EU-funded TiPES project has highlighted how the Atlantic current system – of which the Gulf Stream is a part – appears to be showing clear signs of instability and potential collapse. If this happened, it would have a major cooling effect on Europe’s climate.

An EU-funded team’s novel precision aquaculture technology helps farmers predict water quality events that could affect mussel and oyster culture and lead to site closures.

A hybrid concrete-plastic floating platform and its components have been validated for offshore wind energy use.

Residents in the Portuguese city of Porto get help making their own compost, and urban metabolism is analysed as an important tool in transitioning to a circular economy.