Two reports this week by the US National Research Council look at whether humans could artificially steer Earth's climate by reflecting sunlight back into space, or by taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The twin reports– Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration and Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool the Earth argue that carbon dioxide removal might have a place in a broader response plan, but sunlight-reflecting technologies are too risky.

Though politicians and scientists have disagreed about whether atmospheric warming can be delayed by reducing short-lived climate forcing (SLCF) agents, an international research team has confirmed that a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is the only long-term solution. Previously, politicians and industry had been pushing for measures to reduce SLCF emissions as a way to buy time before needing to address CO2 emissions directly.

This report, Closing the door on HFCs, documents the continued shift away from hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the supermarket refrigeration sector. Now in its sixth year, EIA’s Chilling Facts reports have become an important resource used to disseminate information about progress in the shift away from HFC-based technology.

In this Carbon Brief blog Dr. Rob Bellamy presents an analysis of geoengineering, discussing available alternative options, different perspectives and the complexity of applying such solutions to the real world. In presenting the results of past studies he concludes that despite the addition of more options and perspectives, there is a remarkable consistency of arguments in geoengineering proposals and alternatives.  Read the full article here. Read more about geoengineering on our website.

This book contains 17 chapters focusing on the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, food security, water resources and economic stability. Strategies to develop sustainable systems that minimize impact on climate and/or mitigate the effects of human activity on climate change are also presented.

In this open letter a large number of civil society organisations present a critique of the use of ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’, a concept that is gaining increasing attention among governments, NGOs, academics, corporations and in international policy. They state that they have concerns around the aims of the 'Global Alliance on Climate Smart Agriculture' to establish policies to enable farming to deal with the impacts of climate change.

A major new report released by a commission of global leaders finds that governments and businesses can improve economic growth and reduce their carbon emissions together. Rapid technological innovation and new investment in infrastructure are making it possible today to tackle climate change at the same time as improving economic performance.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide last year grew at the fastest rate since 1984, says a BBC news article. Reporting on data released by the World Meteorological Organisation, the article describes how this increase in concentration is due not only to increased greenhouse gas emissions, but also to a reduced carbon uptake by the biosphere. This reduction could be temporary, or it could be an indication that the biosphere has reached its absorption limit. The article points out that seas, trees, and living things, which play an important role by absorbing over half of the total greenhouse gas emissions, are also breaking records; the oceans soak up about 4kg of CO2 per person every day, a rate unparalleled over the last 300 million years and resulting in unprecedented salination of the oceans.