climate model

Moody's highlights blended finance as a way to mobilise private capital for development projects in emerging markets. The approach combines public or philanthropic funds with private investment to reduce risk and attract financing for infrastructure, climate and social projects that might otherwise go unfunded. The report points to growing interest in the model as developing countries face shortfalls in development funding.

A weather observer suggests the transition into seasonal cooling is now competing with residual latent heat, producing fragmented stretches of lower temperatures followed by renewed heat rebounds. They note the growing tension between climate and weather models, arguing forecasting has become more complicated than in the past as overlapping patterns make temperature swings harder to predict.

Scientists have overhauled the snow physics component of a climate model to better represent Arctic snow conditions, aiming to improve how the model captures snow's insulation and reflectivity effects on sea ice and permafrost. The refinement is expected to sharpen projections of Arctic warming, where inaccurate snow representation has been a known source of uncertainty in climate simulations.

Analysts are weighing whether artificial intelligence will ultimately be good or bad for the climate, drawing on the latest evidence about energy use. Data centres powering AI consume significant electricity, raising emissions concerns, but the technology could also improve energy efficiency and support climate modelling. Experts say the net effect depends on how quickly clean power can keep pace with growing AI demand.

A new study from researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds that the stickier, gooier marine snow is, the more effectively it transports carbon from the surface ocean to the deep sea. Marine snow, made up of organic particles that sink through the water column, plays a key role in the ocean's carbon cycle. Scientists say the findings could improve climate models that depend on estimates of how much carbon reaches the deep ocean.

The London School of Economics has marked the 20th anniversary of the Stern Review, the landmark 2006 report on the economics of climate change. The event highlighted renewed calls for urgent climate action and new approaches to economic growth, revisiting the review's argument that tackling climate change is far cheaper than inaction.

Risk modelling firm KCC says climate change does not make risks uninsurable, as long as they can be properly quantified. The message, picked up in reinsurance circles including Bermuda, points to accurate catastrophe modelling as the key to keeping cover available and priced sustainably as extreme weather losses grow.