Climate Thinkers

When the coronavirus hit, an unforeseen consequence of the pandemic were the most rapid emission cuts ever recorded. What does that mean for the climate? And what can we learn from the pandemic going forward? Meet CO2 expert Corinne Le Quéré – who has some unexpected answers.

The Greenland ice sheet is melting by thousands of tonnes every second. Greenland researcher Jason Box has discovered how "dark snow" and glacier algae are exacerbating the ice melt. He also believes that the world is misjudging the consequences of the process.

Four times more people are fleeing climate-related events than wars. Migration researcher Koko Warner has published several groundbreaking studies on environmentally induced migration. She warns of what could happen if parts of the earth became uninhabitable, but she also sees reasons for optimism.

The Gulf stream, the Amazon, the Greenland ice sheet – are they all close to a point of no return? And if so, what does that mean for the Earth? John Schellnhuber is the world-renowned researcher behind the concept of "tipping points" in the climate.

For a long time, climate change was described as a distant threat. But as new research shows, this is not the case. Meet climatologist Friederike Otto, who has proved that human emissions are already raising the risk of extreme weather.