arctic
The climate impacts of shorter Arctic shipping routes
The rapid Arctic warming has opened the region up to freight shipping, as the Northern Sea Route reduces voyage distance between Europe and Asia by 40%. Now, researchers from Norway compared the shipping emissions on traditional vs. Arctic routes and found that the impact of increased emissions of short-lived aerosols and their precursors in the Arctic in fact offsets the benefit of lower CO₂ emissions due to reduced fuel consumption.
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high impact events
Drying of Northern Hemisphere land areas from soil moisture changes
Soil moisture influences water availability and the occurrence of extreme events such as droughts, floods and heat waves. This study assesses soil moisture changes in Northern Hemispheric land regions from 1951-2000 with both land-surface models (LSM) and global climate models participating in CMIP5. It finds a significant soil moisture decrease, especially in dry regions, with less consistent trends in wet regions, as well as an increase in the area affected by drought of 20-30%.
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sea level
Changes in 20th and 21st century coastal sea levels
This study analyses sea level changes, through examining observed time series (from tide gauges, altimetry and reconstructions), and projected changes (from CMIP5 output and estimates of glacial isostatic adjustment and dynamic ice). It focuses on quantifying the regional deviations from the global average, which locally can reach up to ±20 cm, the reasons for this as well as the uncertainty in projections.
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hydrological cycles
Changing regional wind- and precipitation patterns
Precipitation in the extra-tropics varies strongly with longitude due to aspects of the circulation such as stationary waves. As these winter stationary wave fields are projected to change in a warming climate, the meridional wind field and regional precipitation are affected. Yet, most models are likely overestimating the response of the waves to global warming, so that the wetting of e.g. the North American west coast will likely be less than projected.
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Reactions to the COP21 climate deal
The Paris Agreement sets out an action plan to limit global warming to 2°C, possibly 1.5°C. To achieve this, governments will review their national emission reduction targets every five years and report their progress. Starting in 2020, developed countries will provide US$ 100 billion per year for climate adaptation in vulnerable countries. Also, a “loss and damage” article addresses the negative impacts of climate change (>DG Climate Action).
While the deal has been widely welcomed, its success will depend on the countries’ concrete measures and investment decisions towards decarbonisation over the next years (>EEA). Some pledges remain vague, and the sectors of international aviation and shipping have been excluded (>European Parliament, CAN Europe).
For climate research, this means that policymakers need to be presented with strategies, which emphasizes the importance of science that can be translated into actionable plans (>Nature).
For a series of articles covering some of the major issues at stake, check out >OECD Insights.

dg environment
New publication “LIFE and Climate change adaptation”
The environment and climate funding programme has put out a new brochure that presents the contribution of the LIFE programme towards implementing the EU policy on climate change adaptation. Last year, the brochure on “LIFE and Climate change mitigation” was published.
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european environment agency (eea)
Technical report on nature-based solutions
This EEA publication discusses how extreme events and natural hazards like landslides, floods and storm surges will likely increase in the future, and how green infrastructure and ecosystem services can contribute to mitigating the negative impacts of these events.
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european marine board (emb)
Policy briefs on deep sea research
The EMB recent publication “Delving Deeper” gives an overview of the existing knowledge of the deep ocean and its ecosystems. Also, it presents the key knowledge gaps and research needs and calls for effective regulatory frameworks in the context of technological advancements and increasing commercial activities into previously inaccessible areas.
The EMB has further publications on this issue and others, such as sea level change and the Arctic.
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jpi climate
JPI Symposium report “Taking stock and inspiring the future”
JPI Climate discussed with 60 participants (climate scientists, stakeholders) in a panel discussion and group discussions (17-18 November 2015, Madrid) about past activities and future tasks and challenges of JPI Climate. The outcomes will contribute to the update of the Strategic Research Agenda of JPI Climate.
Symposium report

lund declaration
Lund declaration 2015 - “Lund revisited: tackling societal challenges”
230 delegates from all over Europe (high-level conference) identified in a 2nd Lund declaration (4-5 December 2015, Lund) four priority areas in science and innovation, which should be implemented by European member states and European institutions in the future. The declaration concluded that “Europe must speed up solutions and to tackle grand challenges through alignment, global cooperation and achieving impact”.
More information

JPI Climate –Pre-announcement for ERA-NET joint call “ERA4CS”
The ERA4CS call is designed to develop efficient Climate Services in Europe. This call will be funded with up to 72 Mio € by Partner Organisations and co-funding by the European Commission. Proposals require eligible partners from three or more different countries participating in ERA4CS. Call opening will be in Early March 2016, Pre-proposal deadline at End June 2016. Topic A (Innovative co-development with users) is open to all applicants, subject to national funding rules of the Research Funding Organisations (RFO). Topic B (Institutional integration between the ERA4CS Research Performing Organizations (RPOs)) is open only to the RPO’s who are partner of ERA4CS Consortium (see provisional list of participants and further information: www.jpi-climate.eu).

New IMPACT2C web-atlas presents impacts of global warming
The FP7 project IMPACT2C provides information on the impacts of a 2°C warming on various European sectors such as water, energy and coasts, as well as key vulnerable regions in the world. Now, the results can be explored in an interactive atlas of maps and texts.
See the atlas

UNESCO’s “eAtlas of Research and Experimental Development”
In this interactive atlas from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, developments in R&D in more than 200 countries can be explored in maps, charts and tables based on 75 indicators on the human and financial resources devoted to R&D.
See more

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