The task of limiting climate change is urgent and huge

Editor's note

The scale of the challenge in fending off dangerous climate change has now become much clearer, if no less daunting. On Monday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its long-awaited report on the science of limiting global warming to 1.5C - you can see our at-a-glance infographic here.

By holding global warming to 1.5C instead of 2C, we can stave off the worst impacts of climate change. As Mark Howden and Rebecca Colvin write, that would save an extra 10.4 million people from sea-level rise, and lessen the toll of future heatwaves. But achieving it will require urgent, transformational change to our economy - Iain Stewart estimates that Australia has just two decades left to put itself on the road to being carbon-neutral. That’s why Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel has urged our leaders to start work today.

Michael Hopkin

Section Editor: Energy + Environment

Top story

Hydrogen fuel is just one opportunity for Australia in a clean-energy future. Sebastian Kahnert/AAP

The science is clear: we have to start creating our low-carbon future today

Alan Finkel, Office of the Chief Scientist

The latest UN climate report makes it clear that the task of limiting climate change is urgent and huge. We must start to transform our economy today, but it will bring rewards as well as challenges.

Limiting global warming 1.5℃ will be profoundly challenging given current policies. Chart data: Climate Action Tracker / Image: AAP

The UN’s 1.5°C special climate report at a glance

Michael Hopkin, The Conversation; Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation; Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation

Here are the essential facts from the UN's special report on climate change.

‘Urgent, transformational’ change needed

Australia has two decades to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change

Iain Stewart, ClimateWorks Australia

The world needs to be carbon-neutral by mid-century to give ourselves a chance of holding global warming to 1.5C. With around 1% of the global carbon budget, Australia needs to rapidly do its share.

New UN report outlines ‘urgent, transformational’ change needed to hold global warming to 1.5°C

Mark Howden, Australian National University; Rebecca Colvin, Australian National University

Limiting global warming to 1.5C is a tough challenge but still within reach, according to a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change commissioned after the 2015 Paris summit.

IPCC 1.5℃ report: here’s what the climate science says

Keith Shine, University of Reading

Limiting human-induced warming will be tough, given where we start from.

Why we can’t reverse climate change with ‘negative emissions’ technologies

Howard J. Herzog, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The UN's panel on climate change said that technologies to remove CO2 will be necessary to limit global temperature rise to only 1.5 degrees Celsius. But these techniques are largely unproven.

Listen

Trust Me, I’m An Expert: Cyclone season approacheth, but this year there’s a twist

Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation; Wes Mountain, The Conversation

Australia must come to terms with some fundamental shifts in our weather patterns. This month, Andrew Watkins from the BOM and climate scientist Joelle Gergis explore what's in store.
Media Files: Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy and former MP David Feeney on the digital disruption of media and politics

Andrea Carson, University of Melbourne; Matthew Ricketson, Deakin University

Today on the podcast we're talking filter bubbles, fake news, opinion vs fact. Media Files asks two experts how the media and politics influence each other - and why that's causing concern.

Energy + Environment

Climate change: 1.5°C is worth striving for – but is it feasible?

Arthur Petersen, UCL

Climate scientists have set out how we could limit global warming, but their scenarios are not at all realistic.
Individual action won’t achieve 1.5℃ warming – social change is needed, as history shows

Matthew Adams, University of Brighton

The kind of climate action outlined by the ubiquitous climate checklists won't be enough.

Arts + Culture

Friday essay: where are the female academics on film?

Tom van Laer, City, University of London

For decades, academics have been portrayed as brilliant, heroic men on our cinema screens. It's time to tell the story of more heroic female scholars. Here are some suggestions.
Decoding the music masterpieces: Debussy’s only opera, Pelléas and Mélisande

Madeline Roycroft, University of Melbourne

Pelléas and Mélisande tells a story of forbidden love between its title characters, set in the fictitious kingdom of Allemonde. However the action offstage before the opera's 1902 premiere was just as dramatic.

Science + Technology

The new Doctor Who picks up the chase with a pace as she crosses the gender barrier

Martin White, University of Adelaide

Jodie Whittaker finally takes over as the first woman to play the Doctor in the long-running TV series. But that's not all that's new as the show make a welcome return to our screens.
First Man: a new vision of the Apollo 11 mission to set foot on the Moon

Alice Gorman, Flinders University; Heather L. Robinson, Flinders University

The new film is a down-to-Earth portrayal of astronaut Neil Armstrong and our complex relationship with the Moon.

Politics + Society

The AFLW found instant success, but challenges remain for its long-term sustainability

Keith D. Parry, University of Winchester; Jessica Richards, Western Sydney University

It is now time for fans and administrators to put their money where their mouths are and support women's sport in meaningful ways.
On gender and sexuality, Scott Morrison’s ‘blind spot’ may come from reading the Bible too literally

Robyn J. Whitaker, University of Divinity

The prime minister's pentecostal faith champions a simplistic reading of the Bible - but that can lead its followers to a narrow view of the world.

Health + Medicine

You may not like reality TV but How ‘Mad’ Are You? rightly tests our assumptions about mental illness

Fincina Hopgood, University of New England

Some viewers will object to the reality TV format of How 'Mad' Are You, but the show achieves its aim of breaking down stigma.
You can’t ‘erase’ bad memories, but you can learn ways to cope with them

Carol Newall, Macquarie University; Rick Richardson, UNSW

A recent study found that half of patients who had therapy to help them cope with painful memories had a relapse four years later. So, is there a way to erase unwanted memories for good?

Business + Economy

Labor’s pay policy merely hints at helping low paid workers rather than actually doing it

Eugene Schofield-Georgeson, University of Technology Sydney

Labor wants to require Australia's big companies to report the ratio of their chief executive's pay to their workers' pay. While it might embarrass some, there's no evidence it would make them pay their workers more.
Newsflash. For most, energy remains affordable

Ben Phillips, Australian National University

Energy prices have doubled in ten years, but as a proportion of income, most of us are paying no more.

Cities

Affordable home-ownership scheme offers a pathway out of social housing

Katrina Raynor, University of Melbourne

Shared equity models have a dual benefit of making home ownership affordable for people on modest incomes and freeing up scarce social housing for other households in need.
How city squares can be public places of protest or centres of state control

Majdi Faleh, University of Melbourne

Today’s urban public spaces tend to represent governments and cities rather than people and citizens. Architects and urban designers should contribute to shaping spaces for freedom and interaction.

Education

How your birth date influences how well you do in school, and later in life

Lionel Page, Queensland University of Technology; Dipanwita Sarkar, Queensland University of Technology; Juliana Silva Goncalves, Queensland University of Technology

The reason isn't your astrological sign, but rather the role your birth date plays in deciding when you enter school. Children who are older than their peers in school tend to do better.
Six things you can do to get boys reading more

Margaret Kristin Merga, Curtin University

Girls are encouraged more often to read, despite performing better in reading assessments nationally and internationally. Here's how parents and educators can help connect boys with books.