Recent Carbon Brief articles by Robert McSweeney

Robert McSweeney is our senior science editor. He holds an MEng in mechanical engineering from the University of Warwick and an MSc in climate change from the University of East Anglia. He previously spent eight years working on climate change projects at the consultancy firm Atkins.

• DeBriefed 16 August 2024: ‘Fire weather’ on the rise; Trump and Musk have ‘dumbest climate conversation of all time’; Hurricane hunting
• DeBriefed 1 March 2024: EU’s ‘flagship’ nature law approved; Glaciers losing their climate ‘memory’; UN environment assembly resolutions
• DeBriefed 2 February 2024: UK’s ‘slowing’ climate ambition; New top US climate diplomat; Surging methane from wetlands
• Analysis: Which countries have sent the most delegates to COP28?
• DeBriefed 25 August 2023: Canada’s wildfires; Ecuador chooses Amazon over oil; Getting angry about climate change
• Analysis: Which countries have sent the most delegates to COP27?
• Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2021
• Analysis: Which countries have sent the most delegates to COP26?
• Analysis: How delegations at COP climate summits have changed over time
• IPCC: How the AR6 WG1 summary for policymakers compares to its predecessor
• Explainer: What the new IPCC report says about extreme weather and climate change
• Recent increase in major Atlantic hurricanes may be ‘rebound’ after 1960-1980s lull
• Pacific north-west heatwave shows climate is heading into ‘uncharted territory’
• Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2020
• Emissions cuts in line with Paris Agreement would see benefits ‘within two decades’
• Scientists concerned by ‘record high’ global methane emissions
• Scientists shed light on human causes of North Atlantic’s ‘cold blob’
• Jet stream: Is climate change causing more ‘blocking’ weather events?
• Explainer: Nine ‘tipping points’ that could be triggered by climate change
• Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2019
• Guest post: The impact of climate change on mental health is impossible to ignore
• Atlantic ‘conveyor belt’ has slowed by 15% since mid-20th century
• Marine heatwaves have become ‘34% more likely’ over past century
• Global warming to date could ‘obliterate’ a third of glacier ice
• Solar geoengineering: Risk of ‘termination shock’ overplayed, study says
• Mangrove deforestation emits as much CO2 as Myanmar each year
• Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2017
• In-depth: Scientists discuss how to improve climate models
• Q&A: How do climate models work?
• El Niño causes West Antarctica’s ice shelves to gain height yet lose mass
• The Carbon Brief Interview: Dr Katharine Hayhoe
• Analysis: Which countries have sent the most delegates to COP23?
• Media reaction: Hurricane Irma and climate change
• Climate change is shifting Kodiak bear feeding habits, study says
• Ecosystems facing ‘double whammy’ due to increasing impacts of drought
• Highlights: Day two at the 1.5C conference on climate change in Oxford
• Highlights: Day one at the 1.5C conference on climate change in Oxford
• Ocean conveyor key to sluggish Antarctic warming, study says
• Arctic sea ice could ‘shrink to record low’ this summer, say scientists
• Met Office forecasts 2016 to be hottest year on record
• AGU 2015: Scientists offer latest update on worsening state of Arctic
• Global temperature rise set to hit 1C of warming this year, Met Office says
• Climate change ‘not a major influence’ on Brazil drought, study says
• Video: Glacier collapse would trigger eventual loss of West Antarctic Ice Sheet
• Southern Ocean carbon sink bounces back with renewed vigour, study says
• New map reveals ‘astronomical’ scale of human impact on forests
• Scientists pinpoint Arctic warming hotspots behind severe northern hemisphere winters
• Warming tropical oceans could see ‘widespread and intense’ species loss, study warns
• Scientists warn of unprecedented damage to forests across the world
• UK butterflies could suffer ‘widespread extinction’ by 2050, study warns
• Rising costs of flood defences could put world’s major deltas at risk
• Geoengineering is ‘no substitute’ for cutting emissions, new studies show
• Emissions cuts using biofuels could worsen water stress in US, study suggests
• Drought stunts tree growth for four years, study says
• Updated: The climate change papers most featured in the media
• Global survey: Where in the world is most and least aware of climate change?
• London imports climate change risks, warns capital’s Economy Committee
• Cool Arctic summer brought brief recovery in sea ice loss in 2013, study suggests
• NOAA State of the Climate report: Which seven records were broken in 2014?
• Global risk of wildfires on the rise as the climate warms, study says
• Analysis: The most ‘cited’ climate change papers
• Chance of a very cold UK winter falls to less than 1% by 2100, new study suggests
• Solar minimum could bring cold winters to Europe and US, but would not hold off climate change
• Climate change attribution studies are asking the wrong questions, study says
• Oxygen is an overlooked factor in past climate, study suggests
• Climate change could cut growing days of plants and crops by 11%
• Warming oceans could mean typhoons are 14% stronger by 2100, study says
• 99% of Mount Everest’ glaciers could be gone by 2100
• Climate change could bring new hay fever misery to the UK
• Satellites reveal rapid acceleration of Antarctic glacier ice loss
• Mountain shape a key factor in species surviving climate change
• Antarctic Larsen-C ice shelf at risk of collapse, study warns
• Ice sheet melt is driving acceleration in sea level rise, study suggests
• Climate change made England’s record hot year in 2014 at least 13-times more likely
• Climate change threatens one in six species with extinction, study finds
• Hydrofluorocarbon emissions up 54% with air conditioning on the rise
• World’s plants and soils to switch from carbon sink to source by 2100, study shows
• Tiny marine plants could amplify Arctic warming by 20%, new study finds
• Darkening ice speeds up Greenland melt, new research suggests
• Britain’s fish ‘n’ chip favourites could dwindle as North Sea warms
• Western Canada’s glaciers could shrink by as much as 95% by 2100, study finds
• Natural variability could slow the pace of Arctic summer sea ice loss, study says
• Antarctic ice shelf thinning is accelerating, reveals new study
• Amazon rainforest is taking up a third less carbon than a decade ago
• Farming Africa’s wet savannahs would have a high climate cost, study warns
• La Niña boosts the odds of tornadoes and hailstorms in the US, study shows
• Earth entering new era of rapid temperature change, study warns
• Leaf-eating insects may limit how much carbon forests absorb, study says
• Scientists discuss the role of climate change in the Syrian civil war
• New study directly measures greenhouse effect at Earth’s surface
• Uncertainty behind climate projections could be cut in half by 2030, study shows
• Reaction: Geoengineering is no substitute for cutting carbon emissions, conclude US researchers
• Aerosols dampen pace of Arctic warming for now, say scientists
• US flooding on the rise in a changing climate, study shows
• What a three-million year fossil record tells us about climate sensitivity
• UK flooding pushes public acceptance of manmade climate change to five-year high
• Warming Arctic to break down barriers between Atlantic and Pacific fish, study finds
• Expect twice as many extreme La Niña events under climate change, study warns
• DNA: How it’s helping scientists understand species’ adaptation to climate change
• Melting glaciers set to release more organic carbon as temperatures climb