Meeting Report 25th Swiss Global Change Day
This was the 25th Swiss Global Change Day
Is the AMOC really slowing down? Does it have a tipping point? And if yes, what are the consequences for weather extremes in Europe? Based on his latest research insights of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), Stefan Rahmstorf from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) started off the Swiss Global Change Day with a warning: Even though it is still unclear how close the AMOC tipping point is, it is certainly too close for comfort and reaching it should be avoided at all costs.
This wake up call was followed by a talk by ETH Professor Lint Barrage. She compared the economic and human health consequences of tropical cyclones in Australia and Mozambique to illustrate the fiscal consequences of climate change. She emphasized that we currently understand very little about the link between climate change and public finance. Professor Barrage identified four main channels through which climate change and related extreme events affect public finances:
- Increased public spending pressures,
- New investment requirements,
- Revenue shortfalls, and
- Higher public borrowing costs.
She warned that this dynamic can create a fiscal poverty trap for nations in the Global South. After a disaster, available capital diminishes, while default risks and borrowing costs rise. This in turn further reduces access to capital, reinforcing a vicious cycle.
We moved over from the fiscal to the legal space to discuss the case of the Senior Women for Climate Protection – exactly one year after the historical ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). After giving us a short overview of the case, Charlotte Blattner was joined on stage by Ana Vicedo-Cabrera and Sonia Seneviratne. Approaching the topic from different backgrounds, the three researchers had all participated in Third Party Interventions concerning this specific case. They debunked some of the myths around the ruling and gave us their assessment of what happened so far since the ruling and what is going to happen next.
«Climate litigation is not just a trend, it will stay and get more relevant going forward as well, especially also in topics of adaptation and loss and damages» – Charlotte Blattner
After lunch and a delightful surprise musical input, Niklaus Zimmermann (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ETHZ) gave a keynote on the co-benefits of finding joint solutions for biodiversity conservation and climate change protection. He emphasized the importance of compromise and the need for strategic optimization at the national level to ensure connectivity between different habitats and species. This becomes especially important when we consider that with climate change, species start migrating and need to be able to cross over from one habitat to another.
The Poster Awards winners were announced after another coffee break. In the «Geosphere | Biosphere» category, Helene Hollitzer impressed the judges with her research on Arctic Ocean acidification, demonstrating how terrigenous carbon and nutrient inputs affect both annual mean and seasonal variability. The «Atmosphere | Hydrosphere» category saw two winners this year: Onno Doensen used the Weather Research & Forecasting Model to examine Mediterranean cyclones in detail. He revealed that while they’ll become less frequent in the years to come, we can expect them to be significantly more extreme. And Francesco Grossi’s project looked at carbon and water cycles in plants. He demonstrated that vegetation activity can be accurately represented at global scale with a simple model – a critical tool as we face mounting climate challenges. Last but not least, Elisabeth Tadiri captured the «Human Dimensions | Sustainability» award by examining how extreme humid heat impacts human health. She studied vulnerable populations living in the town of Basse Santa Su in The Gambia.
- Poster «Quantifying how nutrient and carbon inputs from land affect Arctic Ocean acidification» by Helene Hollitzer
- Poster «Extreme cyclones in the central Mediterranean in aregional climate model» by Onno Doensen
- Poster «Improving coupled carbon-water cycle simulation from point to global scale» by Francesco Grossi
- Poster «Extreme humid heat and health: Baseline assessment in Basse Santa Su, The Gambia» by Elisabeth Tadiri
The last keynote of the day outlined the challenges for companiees to communicate their Net Zero goals. Nadine Strauss, communication scientist from University of Zurich, gave us an insight into her research on why companies set themselves Net Zero goals in the first place, why they are sometimes hesitant to communicate them and how these challenges can be overcome through alignment, open and transparent communication, organizational listening and dialogic relationships.
We rounded the day off with an aperitif in the sun-drenched foyer, where the climate community engaged in a lively exchange about posters, projects and current research - exactly what we want to promote with this event.