Wim Thiery
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wimthiery.bsky.social
Wim Thiery
@wimthiery.bsky.social

Climate scientist modelling extreme events in a changing climate, Full Professor @vubrussel.bsky.social. Previously research fellow @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social and @ethz.ch. Website: https://sites.google.com/site/wimthiery/ .. more

Environmental science 62%
Geography 18%
Pinned
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 Du Toit, Wim Thiery

Electrostate China.
Is climate change responsible for increasingly frequent or severe cold events?

The evidence suggests it is not.

Instead, the impact of climate change is warmer winters and less severe cold events.

@hausfath.bsky.social has a great post on The Climate Brink talking about this.
Fact check: Climate change is not making extreme cold more common
Sometimes it just gets cold
substack.com

In our new paper in GMD @egu.eu by @seppelampe.bsky.social, we present BuRNN v1.0: an open-access, data-driven fire model. BuRNN largely outperforms current-generation process-based fire model across a range of metrics

model: github.com/VUB-HYDR/BuRNN
paper: gmd.copernicus.org/articles/19/...
NEW | India is forging a different #energytransition path to China 🇮🇳⚡

Where China built first on coal and gas, India is taking a shortcut — using cheap solar to meet rising demand, relying far less on fossil fuels, and electrifying transport earlier.

https://loom.ly/UFDLamw
NEW | 2025 was another RECORD-breaking year for the EU’s electricity transition, as wind and solar overtook fossil fuel generation for the first time.

Here’s what happened in the 🇪🇺 power sector last year, all in one thread 👇

🧵 1/9
While Australian heatwaves were some of the very first extreme events attributed to climate change, people still underestimate how much worse they got - killing more people than all other natural hazards combined. New @wwattribution.bsky.social study. www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-chan...
NEW | Wind and solar generated more power than fossil fuels in the EU for the FIRST time ever.

🌪️ and ☀️ made up a RECORD 30% of 🇪🇺 electricity, up from 20% just five years ago.

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/european-electricity-review-2026/

Reposted by Wim Thiery

Last week, @carbonbrief.org listed the top climate papers that were the most featured in the media. Proud to have our paper in #8!
The paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reposted by Wim Thiery

China's December numbers are in, and battery-electric cars made up 35% in December and 33% for the year. Plug-in hybrids made up another 21% for the year for a total "new-energy" share of 54% in 2025.
robbieandrew.github.io/carsales/

Reposted by Wim Thiery

Denmark's December car sales data just released. Battery-electrics reached an incredible 81% in December to make up 68% for the year.
2025 global climate highlights are out:
🌡️ 2025 was 3rd warmest year on record, 1.47ºC above the preindustrial level
📈 2023-2025 is the first three year period above 1.5ºC (according to ERA5)
🌍 The last 11 years have been the warmest 11 years on record

See: climate.copernicus.eu/global-clima...

⚒️🧪🌊
The Trump Administration's announced withdraw from the IPCC is disappointing, but not surprising. US scientists will continue to play key roles in the @ipcc.bsky.social. A statement from the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC:

Reposted by Wim Thiery

Here's the EU's reaction to Trump administration formally pulling the US out of the UNFCCC and IPCC.

But all eyes now on how/whether China chooses to seize this geopolitical gift from the US

Reposted by Wim Thiery

The UNFCCC underpins global climate action. It brings countries together to support climate action, reduce emissions, adapt to climate change, and track progress. The decision by the world’s largest economy and second-largest emitter to retreat from it is regrettable and unfortunate.

With confirmed invited speakers Axel Kleidon and
@anabastos.bsky.social

📅 Official abstract submission deadline is 15 January 2026, 13:00 CET

Convened by Ryan Teuling @w-u-r.bsky.social, @innevanderkelen.bsky.social, Diego Miralles, @soniaseneviratne.bsky.social and myself
📢 Working on land atmosphere-interactions and their role in shaping climate extremes?

🌍 Consider submitting an abstract to our European Geosciences Union (@egu.eu) 2026 session:

Land-atmosphere interactions and climate extremes (CL4.4): www.egu26.eu/session/56763
🚨Professorship at St Andrews🚨

We are recruiting a Professor in Earth Sci (incl atmos, oceans, climate) @earthscista.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Ideal candidate is a leading researcher with interests in impact/outreach. Deadline 23/3/26!

www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672, Earth and Environmental Sciences Salary: Grade 9/Negotiable Start Date: September 2026 , <p style="margin-right: 22.7pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: bl...
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk
2025 goes down as the ~3rd-warmest year on record (based on ERA5).

Like in 2024, every single day this past year was warmer than the average of even the most recent reference period (1991-2020).
Looking back to @wwattribution.bsky.social studies in 2025 showed again, in stark terms, how unfairly the consequences of human-induced climate change are distributed. The world does not have to be like this, we have a lot of agency to make it better. www.worldweatherattribution.org/unequal-evid...

Reposted by Wim Thiery

Forget “Follow your passion.” At the School for Moral Ambition, we say: Follow the Gandalf 🧙

Gandalf didn’t ask Frodo about his passions. He said: “Here’s a world-sized problem. You’re the one to fix it.”

So… which big, solvable, overlooked problem could you be the unlikely hero for?
This is find -dot- gif

Towards the middle of the century, ~4000 glaciers worldwide will disappear every year.
Peak glacier extinction in the mid-twenty-first century - Nature Climate Change
Many mountain glaciers will disappear with warming. Here the authors assess how many glaciers will disappear per year under different warming scenarios, finding that a peak in glacier loss will happen...
www.nature.com

Reposted by Wim Thiery

2025 was 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗴𝗶𝘂𝗺'𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝟭𝟵𝟳𝟲. With 620.9 mm of rain, it follows a record-wet 2024. It is also the 4𝐭𝐡 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, featuring the 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘆 on record (12 Apr.). #Belgium #Climate #Weather | @meteobe.bsky.social
FR: www.meteo.be/fr/infos/act...
NL: www.meteo.be/nl/info/nieu...
Awesome turnout in support of @ncar-ucar.bsky.social at #AGU25. Take a look at how many people use our products!
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.

The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🧪 #AGU25 #climate
Trump team plans to break up ‘global mothership’ of climate science
Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.
www.nature.com
Threatening to dismantle NCAR, our premier weather and climate research institute (apparently) because Colorado refuses to pardon someone accused of tampering with voting machines is a sad example of our current kakistocracy in action… www.nytimes.com/2025...
I know many of you who follow me don't work in climate science, but this is the biggest story in climate right now. Breaking up NCAR makes us all less safe and is another act of self-harm that will take decades to recover from.
Trump administration to dismantle key climate research center
Russell Vought, who directs the White House Office of Management and Budget, announced plans to split up the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, citing concerns about “clima...
wapo.st
Eos @eos.org · Dec 17
Efforts to dissolve the @ncar-ucar.bsky.social, including closing the center’s headquarters in Boulder, will begin immediately, an official told @usatoday.com 🧪

eos.org/research-and...
Trump Administration Plans to Break Up NCAR - Eos
The Trump administration is planning to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, one of the world’s leading climate and Earth science research laboratories, according to a statement fro...
eos.org