Heatwaves: how do scientists forecast them? 5 climate change stories to read this week

Aug 5, 2022

heatwaves climate change freshwater cycle world energy

The ocean's economic value, Earth's freshwater cycle and the state of the world's energy - here are the latest stories on climate change. Image: Unsplash/Yannes Kiefer

Tom Crowfoot

Writer, Forum Agenda

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This weekly roundup brings you some key climate change stories from the past seven days.
Top stories this week: Forecasting heatwaves; The ocean's economic value; The world's energy portfolio; Freshwater cycle at its limits; Knowledge sharing to manage disaster risks.

1. How the UK’s ‘insane’ 40C heat was forecast weeks in advance

The past month has seen heatwaves affect many parts of the planet, from North America to Europe. One way of reducing the impact on societies caused by heatwaves is early forecasting, allowing meteorologists "to share life-saving information days in advance", explains one scientist.

Despite the challenges of climate change, groups of simulations called 'ensembles' use different inputs to account for inaccuracies in forecasts and show the most likely outcome.

Despite the challenges of climate change, 'ensembles' use different inputs to account for inaccuracies in forecasts and show the most likely outcome. Image: UK Met Office

Learn more about the ever-improving accuracy of weather forecasting and its importance.

2. The blue economy is worth $2.5 trillion a year. But what is it?

The blue economy refers to the millions of jobs worldwide that are created from the ocean. Despite the economic value of these coastal and marine resources, harmful human practices such as overfishing, marine pollution and global warming are damaging the health of the ocean.

Countries in the Eastern Caribbean are at the forefront of global efforts to defend and boost the blue economy, particularly crucial to their economy as tourism among these countries accounts for 50% of regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and some 40% of employment.

From supporting conflict resolution related to the ocean to involving underrepresented groups as key stakeholders in decision-making processes, discover how the ocean can be both protected and profitable.

Discover

What's the World Economic Forum doing about the ocean?

Our ocean covers 70% of the world’s surface and accounts for 80% of the planet’s biodiversity. We can't have a healthy future without a healthy ocean - but it's more vulnerable than ever because of climate change and pollution.

Tackling the grave threats to our ocean means working with leaders across sectors, from business to government to academia.

The World Economic Forum convenes the Friends of Ocean Action, a coalition of global leaders from a wide range of sectors who are working together to protect the seas. From a programme to scale blue carbon benefits through coordinated action with governments to unlock finance, strengthen and empower local communities, to a global partnership to catalyze science-based actions towards healthy and sustainable blue food value chains, the Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda is pushing for new solutions and aiming to support 1000 Ocean Startups by 2030 that are creating a wave of innovation to address global challenges.

The Forum's Ocean Action Agenda also works closely with our industry partners, such as offshore wind developers and ports, to support them in their transitions towards a nature positive and net zero future. Climate change is an inextricable part of the threat to our ocean, with rising temperatures and acidification disrupting fragile ecosystems. The Forum runs a number of initiatives to support the shift to a low-carbon economy, including hosting the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, who have cut emissions in their companies by 9%.

Is your organization interested in working with the World Economic Forum? Find out more here.

3. This is the state of the world's energy in charts

Despite the drop in energy use during 2020, world energy demand quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels as countries came out of lockdowns and emerging economies increased their demand, according to BP.

Fossil fuels still dominate the energy market amidst climate change concerns. Image: BP

For the past two years, renewable energy has accounted for more than half of the increase in global power generation, constituting 13% of global power generation in 2021. Despite this, the world is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

Read more on the state of the world's energy.

4. The Earth's freshwater cycle has exceeded the safe limit, says research

A new study has found that widespread pressure on green water - rainwater available to plants in soil - has surpassed a critical limit.

Have you read?

A graphic depicting how freshwater is over capacity to sustainably support Earth. climate change

Freshwater’s ability to sustain a stable Earth system is becoming increasingly threatened. Image: Azote/Stockholm Resilience Centre

Global food production is reliant on green water, so action is vital. From adopting sustainable farming practices to improving governance of green water, explore how we can protect this vital resource.

5. Why knowledge sharing is crucial to mitigating disaster risks

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how in a globalized world, disaster risks are much more inherent and their impacts are felt in sync around the world. To effectively tackle issues ranging from climate disasters to global health emergencies, knowledge exchange must improve to bolster resilience to global risks, according to the World Bank.

Read more to learn how knowledge sharing has improved responses to previous global shocks and the lessons we can learn.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.