Let's balance out

It isn't as bad as you think. Or maybe it is.

Another week has passed and we're back with the climate updates! This is "Let's balance out" and you'll read one good news and one bad news about the climate crisis. Shall we begin?

So what do you want first? The good news or the bad news?

2020 may have been the hottest year on record. Despite the fall in fossil fuel burning, the surface temperature was 1.25C higher than 1850-1900.

The heat of 2020 was only matched in 2016, but that year it was the effect of the climate event El Niño. If you take that away, it is likely 2020 would have been the absolute hottest year.
The main places that have registered a growth in temperature were the Arctic and northern Siberia (3C-6C higher).

Even with the cut in emissions due to the lockdown, the CO2 has kept accumulating in the atmosphere, and it will keep doing so until we reach net zero emissions. And it's better to do that in the next 30 years, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C.

You may know that the world of motorsport can be very polluting (the usage of fuel, the fact that they travel a lot etc). Of course in recent years it has made a lot of progress, for example with the Formula E and MotoE championships, in which electric cars and motorbikes compete.

What you probably don't know is that the current Formula 1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton, isn't just the most successful driver of all time, but also a huge climate advocate. And he is now backing Extreme E, a new off-road vehicle racing series.

The plan is to make these cars, completely electric, race in the most extreme places on earth and also in some that already have been affected by the climate crisis, to show how powerful electric vehicles can be and at the same time raise climate awareness all over the world.

From a fan of the sport, it is extremely important to have such a personality who openly shows how real the climate issues are, and who tries to make a difference in their own way.

Illustrations by Gabriela