Giving Compass' Take:

• Teju Hari Krishna reports how improper adoption of climate impact modeling could leave us ill prepared for even higher temperatures and more frequent heatwaves.

• Why is it important knowledge to curb the effects of global warming? How can donors helps catalyze efforts to address climate change? 

• Here’s more on understanding the consequences of climate change.

Researchers compared two major climate modeling methods: transient climate, where the global temperatures are consistently rising over the next 80 years, and equilibrium climate, where the temperatures rise and reach a steady equilibrium over the course of centuries.

The study in Nature Climate Change finds that, in order to be effective, climate change policies need to take into account the significant differences between transient and equilibrium climate models.

More than 90% of the world’s population would experience higher local temperatures and twice the number of heatwaves as per transient climate modeling compared with equilibrium modeling at the same global temperature.

Globally, emissions and climate change targets, including those set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, are more often based on equilibrium climate models.

It would be more appropriate to also take into account transient modeling to prepare climate change policies for the near future, says lead researcher Andrew King from the University of Melbourne’s School of Earth Sciences.

Read the full article about climate impact modeling by Teju Hari Krishna at Futurity.