Wim Thiery
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wimthiery.bsky.social
Wim Thiery
@wimthiery.bsky.social
Climate scientist modelling extreme events in a changing climate, Associate Professor @vubrussel.bsky.social. Previously research fellow @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social and @ethz.ch. Website: https://sites.google.com/site/wimthiery/
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Will you live an unprecedented life?

In our new paper in @nature.com and accompanying @savethechildren.org report, we detect who will face unprecedented lifetime exposure to climate extremes (🧵) 1/n
Report: resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/bor...
Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Born into the Climate Crisis 2. An unprecedented life: Protecting children’s rights in a changing climate | Save the Children’s Resource Centre
The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it is a pressing reality that children are facing today. Despite having contributed the least to the climate crisis, the inherent intergenerational injustic...
resourcecentre.savethechildren.net
Reposted by Wim Thiery
First electric cars and buses, now trucks: in the past we were often told that electric trucks would not be feasible.

But the market is picking up speed and electric trucks have become a reality. Expectations are for significant market expansion in the coming years.
November 20, 2025 at 12:11 PM
"Door de persoonlijke contacten tijdens de COP-diplomatie hebben we al veel gewonnen voor het klimaat" vrtnws.be/p.YbnN9ol0R
Zijn vliegreizen voor klimaattop te verantwoorden? "Diplomatie werkt en je moet fysiek aanwezig zijn" | VRT NWS: nieuws
De vooruitgang die door directe diplomatie op een VN-klimaattop kan worden gemaakt, weegt vele keren zwaarder door dan de uitstoot die de verplaatsingen naar zo'n COP veroorzaken. Dat blijkt uit een a...
vrtnws.be
November 19, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Published today in Earth System Science Data: The Global Carbon Budget 2025
essd.copernicus.org/preprints/es...
Global Carbon Budget 2025
Abstract. Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere in a changing climate is critical to bette...
essd.copernicus.org
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Time is up for 1.5°C. The remaining carbon budget for 1.5°C is virtually exhausted: 170 GtCO2, equivalent to 4 years at the 2025 emissions levels.
November 13, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Annual emissions from permanent deforestation declined over 2015–2024 but remain high at around 3.9 GtCO2. Removals through permanent af/reforestation are 2.2 GtCO2 per year over the same period.
Net is still a source...
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
1) Fossil fuel
Still no peak. Emissions are projected to increase by 1.1% in 2025, reaching 38.1 GtCO2. An all time high.
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 PM
New study led by Louise Busschaert @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social showing that the area of profitable rainfed maize production in Europe may shift north and expand with global warming.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Future projections of European maize yields using AquaCrop with an adaptive growing season
Securing maize crop production is essential in our changing world. However, it remains unclear to what extent climate conditions and farmers’ practice…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Many congratulations to the amazing @frediotto.bsky.social for receiving the Hans Oeschger Medal! This career award from the @egu.eu Climate Division underlines the ground-breaking research Fredi did on many fronts, most notably on near-realtime extreme event attribution @wwattribution.bsky.social
I've got a medal! And not just any, but the Hans Oeschger Medal from the EGU, for outstanding contributions to research on climatic changes. www.egu.eu/news/1551/eg...
November 13, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004.

Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 AM
10 jaar na de klimaatconferentie van Parijs gaat het deze week in Belém over hoe we dat klimaatakkoord van Parijs in stand kunnen houden: "We moeten daarvoor zes keer meer doen dan wat nu op tafel ligt."

www.vrt.be/vrtmax/luist...
VRT MAX
www.vrt.be
November 10, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Guterres is right.
Even a temporary overshoot could unleash far greater destruction and costs for every nation. It could push ecosystems past catastrophic and irreversible tipping points.
Fossil fuel companies are deceiving the public and obstructing progress. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, Guterres tells Cop30 summit
UN secretary general urges opening session in Brazil to bring about a ‘fundamental paradigm shift’
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
If we do not seriously move away from burning fossil fuels, hurricanes like Melissa will only become worse. Already today Melissa tested the limits of what preparedness and adaptation can do. These limits are very real for everyone in the Caribbean. www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-chan...
November 6, 2025 at 9:40 AM
In our new study @natwater.nature.com led by Yi Yao @ethz.ch, we show that irrigation expansion in many regions substantially decreases the net water influx from the atmosphere to land, further aggravating the existing drying trends caused by climate change www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Irrigation-induced land water depletion aggravated by climate change - Nature Water
The rapid expansion of agricultural irrigation raises concerns about exacerbating water scarcity, but land–atmosphere interactions are often overlooked. This study isolates irrigation impacts from oth...
www.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Two years ago, the @esabcc.bsky.social published its advice on the EU's 2040 emissions reduction target. We indicated a 90-95% reduction relative 1990 levels.

Today, EU climate ministers agreed on a 90% target, with an 66.25-72.5% reduction as part for its new NDC for 2035.
Today, EU climate ministers agreed on a 90% net reduction in GHG emissions by 2040. The Council also updated the NDC with an indicative 66.25–72.5% reduction by 2035 The @esabcc.bsky.social contributed to this process by providing independent scientific advice on the 2040 climate target.
November 5, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Today is the official launch of this year's @unep.org #EmissionsGap report.

It's title says it all

OFF TARGET

that's true for progress, NDCs and implementation
New national climate plans have barely moved the needle on limiting global warming. Yet there is hope.

According to UNEP's latest #EmissionsGap Report, accelerated adoption of renewable energy and falling costs mean we have the tools to cut emissions now: www.unep.org/news-and-sto...
November 4, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
What is the current state of climate action? What do latest country pledges add up to?
And how much global warming are we in for? 🌍🌡️ 🔥
For the 16th year in a row, we publish the @unep.org #emissionsgap report.
As usual, I looked the assessment of the global gap and its global warming implications.
NEW: The latest climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have driven only a slight fall in predicted global temperature rise over the course of this century.

The UN Emissions Gap Report finds that implementing current policies would lead to up to 2.8°C of warming, down from 3.1°C. 🧵
November 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
"Parijs was speciaal omdat het de eerste keer was dat er een exact temperatuurdoel werd ingesteld. Het stellen van een doel was enorm belangrijk voor landen, ngo's, bedrijven enzovoort. Het geeft een richting aan." vrtnws.be/p.xZpjAKbyl
"Een armageddon is vermeden": wat leverde het klimaatakkoord van Parijs al op? | VRT NWS: nieuws
Dankzij het klimaatakkoord van Parijs stevent onze planeet niet meer af op 4 graden opwarming, maar op 2,6 graden extra. Concreet kunnen we daarmee gemiddeld 57 extreem warme dagen per jaar vermijden....
vrtnws.be
November 3, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
Extended hurricane category scale, following Wehner&Kossin, Proceedings of the National Academy 2024: www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
If that scale didn't stop at Category 5 for historic reasons, we would have had several Category 6 tropical cyclones since year 2000.
November 2, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
I wanted to offer some thoughts on the Gates climate memo that has been circulating this week. While I can't directly speak for others, I can say that my own response is one of dismay & deep frustration (and that this view is shared by many climate/Earth scientists). [1/n]
October 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Future changes in irrigation will reduce dry-heat stress (without reversing GHG trend) and will substantially amplify moist-heat stress (strengthening GHG trend).

New study @natcomms.nature.com led by Yi Yao @hydr-vub.bsky.social and @usyseth.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Compounding future escalation of emissions- and irrigation-induced increases in humid-heat stress - Nature Communications
This study shows that future exposures to moist-heat increase more rapidly than those to dry-heat, and irrigation can further amplify moist-heat-related health risks. Improving irrigation efficiency a...
www.nature.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
#HurricaneMelissa was made about four times more likely by the #climatecrisis

It's real, it's us, and it's here

www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/res...
Hurricane Melissa
Published October 2025.
www.imperial.ac.uk
October 30, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
A display of pure power from Hurricane Melissa today.

Remarkable satellite imagery.
October 28, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
I am the first Indigenous journalist to exclusively interview UN head António Guterres. How many others will listen?

By Wajã Xipai
#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
I am the first Indigenous journalist to exclusively interview António Guterres. How many others will listen?
A young journalist reflects on the UN leader’s responses, and hopes his messages – about human violence and an increasingly hostile planet – resonated before Cop30
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
6 AM Tuesday morning #HurricaneMelissa approaches Jamaica. Horrifying next 24 hours
says Dr. Shepherd. Pray. Been at this a long-time one of the most horrific, well-formed hurricanes I have ever seen. 175 mph winds and a direct landfall looming
October 28, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Wim Thiery
World’s climate plans fall drastically short of action needed, analysis shows

- Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed

#climatecrisis
Story by @fionaharvey.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
World’s climate plans fall drastically short of action needed, analysis shows
Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:25 AM