Recent research shows that stopping greenhouse gas emissions will break the vicious cycle of warming temperatures, melting ice, wildfires and rising sea levels faster than expected just a few years ago. That's one of several unexpected developments around climate change last year.
Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to Zero
That’s one of several recent conclusions about climate change that came more sharply into focus in 2020.
January 3, 2021
Icebergs near Ilulissat, Greenland. Climate change is having a profound effect in Greenland with glaciers and the Greenland ice cap retreating. Credit: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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Parts of the world economy may have been on pause during 2020, dampening greenhouse gas emissions for a while. But that didn’t slow the overall buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which reached its highest level in millions of years.
Revamping Federal Climate Science
December 15, 2020, 5:00 am Getty/Liu Shiping/Xinhua
Sam Hananel
Ari Drennen
Introduction and summary
The United States has been the global leader in climate science for decades. Unfortunately, progress has slowed and in some cases, even moved backward over the past four years, with the Trump administration dismantling core elements of the federal climate science apparatus. As the country and the planet head toward an increasingly unstable climate, the U.S. government needs to get back to the business of being the preeminent source of trusted applied science that supports climate change mitigation and adaptation decision-making of governments and civilian stakeholders.
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At a time when the ravages of COVID-19, the chaos of our presidential election and the ever-present threat of the climate crisis weigh heavily upon our minds, good news has been in short supply. Today I am thankful for tidbits of progress that promise a better 2021.
Under President Biden we will rejoin The Paris Accord. John Kerry will be his special presidential envoy for climate.
Janet Yellen, the next U.S. Treasury Secretary, was a founding member of the Climate Leadership Council and supports pricing carbon.