Misplaced Pages

This is an article of notable issues relating to the terrestrial environment of Earth in 2020. They relate to environmental events such as natural disasters, environmental sciences such as ecology and geoscience with a known relevance to contemporary influence of humanity on Earth, environmental law, conservation, environmentalism with major worldwide impact and environmental issues.

Events

Environmental policies approved

• From 1 January 2020, ships will only be permitted to use fuel oil with a very low sulfur content. The International Maritime Organization estimates that the new limit of 0.5% sulfur content, down from 3.5%, will cut sulfur dioxide emissions from ships by about 8.5 million tonnes.
• The Pacific nation of Palau bans sun cream that is harmful to corals and sea life in January 2020.

Environmental disasters

Pollution events

Environmental sciences

Date / period	Type	Description	Topics	Image
January 8	Mechanics, Projections	Scientists publish evidence from Siberian caves suggesting that summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean plays an essential role in stabilising permafrost and its large store of carbon.
January 13	Statistics / records	A study finds that ocean temperatures were at a record high in 2019 and underwent the largest single-year increase of the decade.
January 21	Observation	A study finds record high emissions of the potent greenhouse gas, HFC-23.
January 21	Analysis	Researchers present evidence that the platypus is at risk of extinction, due to a combination of water resource development, land clearing, climate change and increasingly severe periods of drought.
January 21	Assessment	A study finds that man-made ozone-depleting substances (ODS) caused the largest share of Arctic warming, one-third of global warming and roughly half of Arctic warming and sea ice loss from 1955 to 2005.	Ozone layer Global warming
January 28	Analysis	A new study finds that many of Earth's biodiverse ecosystems are in danger of collapse. The study mapped over 100 high-risk ecosystems and habitats in specific locations, and noted the highly detrimental patterns in each one that result from climate change and local human activities.
February 5	Ecological engineering	In a study researchers assess that Extant-Native Trophic (ENT), a trophic rewilding approach which restores lost species to ecosystems, can help mitigate climate change. This form of rewilding would restore large-bodied herbivore and carnivore guilds which could reduce methane emissions and according to the study could be an "important complementary strategy to natural climate solutions to ensure other nature-based benefits to biodiversity conservation and society are also delivered".
February 6	Statistics / records	A record-breaking 18.3 °C (64.9 °F) temperature is recorded at an Argentine weather base on the northern tip of Antarctica, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The previous record was 17.5 °C (63.5 °F) in March 2015. On February 9 another Antarctic weather research station, located on Seymour Island registered a temperature of 20.75 Celsius, considered to be a "likely record" and requiring some open questions to be answered before being confirmed.
February 10	Mechanics, Mapping	Scientists of NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) publish conclusions from mapped methane hotspots of an Arctic 30,000-km study domain. They used the AVIRIS—NG instrument on flights over the Arctic to map the hotspots and quantified a power law dependence of the emissions on distance to nearest standing water.
February 11	Projections	Researchers report that their projections show that the number of compound hot extremes that combine daytime and nighttime heat could quadruple by 2100 in the Northern Hemisphere even if emissions are brought down to meet the Paris climate deal goals.
February 18	Projections	Scientists report warning signs of flank instability of the Ecuadorian Tungurahua volcano. A potential collapse of the western flank could result in a large landslide.
February 24	Assessment, Statistics / records	A study of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, published in Nature, finds that 21% of Australia's forests (excluding Tasmania) have burnt down, an amount described in the journal as "unprecedented" and "greatly exceed previous fires both within Australia and globally" in terms of scale within the last 20 years. Other characteristics that distinguish the fires from similar ones include that they happened in populated areas instead of remote areas in e.g. Siberia – due to which a large number of people were affected by smoke of the fires – and their intensity and geographical spread across the country.
March 4	Attribution	Scientists of the international World Weather Attribution project publicize a study which found that human-caused climate change had an influence on the 2019-20 Australian wildfires by causing high-risk conditions that made widespread burning at least 30 percent more likely. They comment on the results, stating that climate change probably had more effects on the fires which couldn't be attributed using their climate simulations and that not all drivers of the fires showed imprints of anthropogenic climate change.
March 4	Analysis, Projections	A global scientific collaboration of ca. 100 institutions publishes their analysis of three decades of tree growth and death in 565 undisturbed tropical forests across Africa and the Amazon. The researchers found that the overall uptake of carbon into Earth's intact tropical forests peaked in the 1990s, dropped by one-third on average by the 2010s and may have started a downward trend. While extra carbon dioxide boosts tree growth, the effect is countered by negative impacts of higher temperatures and droughts which slow growth and can kill trees. Their models project a long-term decline in the African carbon sink and the Amazonas likely becoming a carbon source, rather than sink, in the mid-2030s.
March 10	Mechanics, Analysis, Projections	Scientists publish evidence that even large ecosystems can collapse on relatively short timescales. Their paper suggests that once a 'point of no return' is reached, the Amazon rainforest could shift to a savannah-type mixture of trees and grass within 50 years.
March 10	Analysis, Assessment	Researchers show when, where, and how mangrove forests reduce risks of flooding at coastlines worldwide, evaluate the economic value thereof and illustrate ways to fund mangrove protection with economic incentives, insurance, and climate risk financing.
March 16	Analysis, Assessment	Researchers publish a paper in which they evaluate the potential for carbon sequestration in soils and found that properly managed soils would be a natural climate solution which could contribute a quarter of absorption on land – 5.5 billion tonnes annually. Roughly 40 percent of this absorption could be achieved by preserving existing soil instead of using it for agriculture and plantation growth. The researchers recommend strategies for slowing or halting ongoing expansion of such land-use and shifting incentive structures in agriculture towards payments for ecosystem-related services.
March 19	Observation	Satellite data show that air pollution was reduced significantly in countries worldwide after lockdowns and other interventions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden shift has been called the "largest scale experiment ever" in terms of the reduction of industrial emissions.
March 26	Observation	A third mass coral bleaching event in five years is recorded at the Great Barrier Reef.
April 1	Analysis, Assessment, Attribution	A scientific review finds that substantial recovery for most components of marine ecosystems within two to three decades can be achieved if climate change is addressed adequately and efficient interventions are deployed at large scale. It documents the recovery of marine populations, habitats and ecosystems following past conservation interventions, identifies nine components integral to conservation and recovery and recommend actions along with opportunities, benefits, possible roadblocks and remedial actions. The researchers caution about a narrow window of opportunity in which decisions can choose between "a legacy of a resilient and vibrant ocean or an irreversibly disrupted ocean". They assess the goal 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations to be a "doable Grand Challenge for humanity, an ethical obligation and a smart economic objective to achieve a sustainable future".
April 6	Observation	Scientists using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite report a "mini-hole" in the ozone layer over the Arctic, likely caused by unusual atmospheric conditions, including freezing temperatures in the stratosphere.
April 7	Observation	Scientists report the results of a survey of the Great Barrier Reef. For the first time, all its three regions experienced severe bleaching. On March 25 – day three of the nine-day survey – they reported its third mass bleaching event within five years.
April 13	Observation	A study which included aircraft measurements of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas platforms collected over the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in January 2018 indicates that the United States via the Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI) underestimated methane emissions at the time from these sites by a factor of 2. They attribute the discrepancy between regional airborne estimates and their data as well as their estimations for total methane emissions from these sites and the GHGI estimations adjusted for 2018 to incomplete platform counts and emission factors that underestimate emissions for shallow water platforms and don't account for disproportionately high emissions from large shallow water facilities.
April 15	Observation, Statistics / records	Scientists report that the Greenland ice sheet lost around 600 billion tonnes of water in 2019, which would raise sea levels by about 1.5 millimetres and make up ca. 40% of the year's total sea level rise. The runoff ranked second only after the exceptional year 2012. The study affirms the exceptional nature of the 2019 season and shows that high-pressure atmospheric conditions over Greenland due to changing atmospheric circulation patterns – which have become more frequent due to climate change – were a cause of the melting next to the warmer temperatures. This suggests that scientists may be underestimating the melting of Greenland's ice – likely by a factor of two according to co-author Xavier Fettweis.
April 16	Meta	Australia's Morrison government announces the launch of the research and development phase of its Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program after a two-year feasibility study. The selected 43 strategies of the program include climate engineering concepts such as brightening clouds with salt crystals, technologies to increase survival rate of coral larvae, coral seeding strategies and methods to facilitate faster recovery of coral reefs. The Australian Marine Conservation Society welcomed the work but remarked that policies which address global warming – the main cause of increasingly severe and frequent mass coral bleaching events – should be prioritised, that the projects could take years or decades to develop and that solutions to climate change – such as renewable energies – are already available.
April 17	Statistics / records, Assessment	Researchers report that the 2000–2018 Southwestern North American drought was the second driest 19-year period since 800 CE, exceeded only by a late-1500s megadrought and that anthropogenic trends in temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation estimated from 31 climate models account for approximately 47% of the 2000–2018 drought severity.
April 19	Projections	Researchers report that the Arctic Ocean will likely be occasionally sea-ice free in summers before 2050 in scenarios where global warming is kept below 2 °C.
April 20	Analysis, Assessment	Researchers report that by the end of the 21st century people could be exposed to avoidable indoor CO2 levels of up to 1400 ppm, which would be triple the amount commonly experienced outdoors today and, according to the authors, may cut humans' basic decision-making ability by ~25% and complex strategic thinking by ~50%.
April 22	Observation	Microplastic pollution is recorded in Antarctic sea ice for the first time.
April 22	Mechanics	After studying the 2018 Kīlauea volcano eruption researchers report that extreme rainfall can modulate volcanic activity.
April 22	Observation	A study using satellite data shows that oil and gas operations in the United States' Permian Basin are releasing the greenhouse gas methane at twice the average rate found in earlier studies of 11 other major oil and gas regions of the United States. According to the authors insufficient infrastructure to process and transport natural gas may be one cause of the high rate.
April 30	Analysis	The first results from ice-monitoring satellite ICESat-2 are published, showing that melting in Antarctica and Greenland has contributed 14 mm (0.55 in) of global sea level rise since 2003.
April 30	Projections	Scientists report that one of the climate models – the CMIP6 model CESM2 – is not supported by paleoclimate records. Comparing simulations of this model with geological evidence suggests that its climate sensitivity is too high. This indicates that this model may not perform realistically at high CO2 concentrations, overestimating global warming at high levels of CO2 where its equilibrium climate sensitivity is 5.3 °C and modelled tropical land temperature exceeds 55 °C. They recommend using paleoclimate constraints of past warm and cold climates to benchmark the performance of CMIP6 climate models.
May 4	Projections	Researchers project that regions inhabited by a third of the human population could become as hot as the hottest parts of the Sahara within 50 years without a change in patterns of population growth and without migration, unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. The projected annual average temperature of above 29 °C for these regions would be outside the "human temperature niche" and the most affected regions have little adaptive capacity as of 2020.
May 5	Mechanics, Projections	Researchers report that the North Magnetic Pole is moving due to elongation of one of two lobes of negative magnetic flux on Earth's core-mantle boundary alongside magnetic changes and that it will likely move 390–660 km further on its current trajectory, on which it is accelerating, towards Siberia over the next decade.
May 8	Observation, Projections	Researchers show that wet-bulb temperatures (TW) above the upper physiological limit of humans have already occurred in some coastal subtropical locations despite climate models projecting such to occur only by the mid-21st century. These combinations of humidity and heat above a TW of 35 °C are likely to be fatal even to fit and healthy people when exposure is sustained and have more than doubled in frequency since 1979 overall, weather station data shows.
May 13	Ecological engineering	Scientists report to have evolved 10 clonal strains of a common coral microalgal endosymbionts at elevated temperatures for 4 years, increasing their thermal tolerance for climate resilience. Three of the strains increased the corals' bleaching tolerance after reintroduction into coral host larvae. Their strains and findings may potentially be relevant for the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change and further tests of algal strains in adult colonies across a range of coral species are planned.
May 19	Observation	Researchers report a temporary 17% drop in daily global CO2 emissions by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels during the COVID-19 forced confinements. At the peak of the interventions, where 89% of global emissions were in areas under some confinement, emissions in individual countries decreased by –26% on average. Estimations on the impact on 2020 annual emissions are between -2% and -13%. The largest reductions were due to reductions of surface transport. Despite this on May 4 UN Climate Change reports that the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reached an all-time daily high of the ca. 60-year record on May 3.
May 20	Analysis, Projections	Researchers report estimations of green snow algae community biomass and distribution along the Antarctic Peninsula and project a net increase in their extent and biomass and coastal Antarctica turning more green due to climate change.
June 1	Analysis, Assessment, Mechanics	Researchers publish a study using data on vertebrates on the brink to extinction and on vertebrates that recently became extinct, in which they conclude that a human-caused potential sixth mass extinction, which was claimed to be emerging by researchers of the study in 2015, is likely accelerating and suggest a number of reasons for that including extinctions causing further extinctions. They reemphasize "extreme urgency of taking much-expanded worldwide actions".
June 8	Attribution	Researchers report results consistent with the hypothesis that pesticides contribute to monarch butterfly declines in the western United States.
June 13	Projections	Scientists report that early supercomputer climate modelling results that are being compiled for the sixth assessment by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by more than 20 institutions due to be released in 2021 suggest a higher climate sensitivity than previously believed with 25% of the models showing a sharp upward shift from 3 °C to 5 °C in climate sensitivity supporting or revising worst-case projections of over 5 °C of global warming. The projections of more future warming may be due to a role of clouds. According to a study published on 24 June cloud feedbacks and cloud-aerosol interactions are the most likely contributors to the high values and increased range of equilibrium climate sensitivity in the CMIP6 model.
June 17	Projections	Results of a study indicate greater regional anthropogenic carbon storage in and ocean acidification of the Arctic Ocean than previously projected.
June 19	Analysis, Assessment, Mechanics, Economic engineering	Scientists, as part of a World Scientists' Warning to Humanity-associated series, warn that worldwide growth in affluence has increased resource use and pollutant emissions with affluent citizens of the world – in terms of e.g. resource-intensive consumption – being responsible for most negative environmental impacts and central to a transition to safer, sustainable conditions. They summarise evidence, present solution approaches and state that far-reaching lifestyle changes need to complement technological advancements and that existing societies, economies and cultures incite consumption expansion and that the structural imperative for growth in competitive market economies inhibits societal change.
June 23	Statistics / records	The World Meteorological Organization announces a possible new temperature-record of 38 °C north of the Arctic Circle, which it seeks to verify and assess. It was reported on 20 June in Verkhoyansk, Russia amid a prolonged Siberian heatwave and an increase in wildfire activity.
July 6	Observations, Analysis, Statistics / records	Scientists report that analysis of simulations and a recent observational field model show that maximum rates of directional change of Earth's magnetic field reached ~10° per year – almost 100 times faster than current changes and ~10 times faster than previously thought.
July 3	Analysis	Via analysis of satellite images, scientists show that certified "sustainable" palm oil production resulted in deforestation of tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo and endangered mammals' habitat degradation in the last 30 years.	Palm oil
July 8	Assessment	The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) announces that it assesses a 20% chance that global warming compared to pre-industrial levels will exceed 1.5 °C in at least one year within the five years of 2020–2024. 1.5 °C is often considered to be a key threshold of global warming and nations have agreed to attempt limiting contemporary climate change to it under the Paris Agreement.
July 10	Observation, Projections	Scientists report that phytoplankton primary production in the Arctic Ocean increased by 57% between 1998 and 2018 due to higher concentrations, suggesting the ocean may be able to support higher trophic level production and additional carbon fixation in the future.
July 15	Analysis, Visualization	In two studies researchers of the Global Carbon Project summarise and analyse new estimates of the global methane budget and provide data and insights on sources and sinks for the geographical regions and economic sectors where the rising anthropogenic methane emissions have changed the most over recent decades. According to the studies, global methane emissions for the 2008 to 2017 decade increased by almost 10 percent compared to the previous decade.
July 22	Observation, Mechanics	Scientists confirm the first active leak of sea-bed methane in Antarctica and report that "the rate of microbial succession may have an unrealized impact on greenhouse gas emission from marine methane reservoirs".
July 22	Observation	Scientists report results of a survey of 371 reefs in 58 nations estimating the conservation status of reef sharks globally. No sharks have been observed on almost 20% of the surveyed reefs and shark depletion was strongly associated with both socio-economic conditions and conservation measures. Sharks are considered to be a vital part of the ocean ecosystem.
July 31	Projections, Observation	Two ice caps in Nunavut, Canada have disappeared completely, confirming predictions of a study published in 2017 that they would melt completely within five years.
August 1	Observation	Brazil's National Institute for Space Research reports that satellite data shows that the number of fires in the Amazon increased by 28% to ~6,800 fires in July compared to the ~5,300 wildfires in July 2019. This indicates a, potentially worsened, repeat of 2019's accelerated destruction of one of the world's largest protectable buffers against global warming.
August 5	Observation, Analysis	The British Antarctic Survey reports that emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica are nearly 20% more numerous than previously thought, with new discoveries made using satellite mapping technology.
August 5	Assessment, Statistics / records	New Guinea is determined to be the world's most floristically diverse island with well over 13,000 confirmed species of vascular plants recorded thus far, surpassing that of Madagascar.
August 6	Observation	The Canadian Ice Service reports that the Milne Ice Shelf, the last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic, has collapsed after losing more than 40% of its area in just two days.
August 7	Analysis, Assessment, Projections, Policy, Economic engineering	A study concludes that the direct effect of the response to the pandemic on global warming will likely be negligible, with an estimated cooling of around 0.01 ±0.005 °C by 2030 and that a well-designed economic recovery could avoid future warming of 0.3 °C by 2050. The study indicates that systemic change for "decarbonization" of humanity's economic structures is required for a substantial impact on global warming.
August 12	Statistics / records	The latest State of the Climate report finds that 2010 to 2019 was the hottest decade on record globally, with an increase of 0.39 °C (0.7 °F) above the long-term average, and 2019 either the second or third warmest year on record.
August 12	Observation	Scientists report that bacteria that feed on air discovered 2017 in Antarctica are likely not limited to Antarctica after discovering the two genes previously linked to their "atmospheric chemosynthesis" in soil of two other similar cold desert sites, which provides further information on this carbon sink and further strengthens the extremophile evidence that supports the potential existence of microbial life on alien planets.
August 13	Statistics / records	July 2020 is tied as the second-warmest July on record, with a record low Arctic sea ice extent for the month, in a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
August 13	Analysis, Assessment	Melting of the Greenland ice sheet is shown to have passed the point of no return, based on 40 years of satellite data, by scientists at Ohio State University. The switch to a dynamic state of sustained mass loss resulted from widespread retreat in 2000–2005.
August 19	Analysis, Projections	An analysis indicates that sustainable seafood could increase by 36–74% by 2050 compared to current yields and that whether or not these production potentials are realized sustainably depends on a number of factors.
August 19	Analysis, Attribution	Researchers report that widespread declines in Pacific salmon size resulted in substantial losses to ecosystems and people, which they estimate, and are associated with factors that include climate change and competition with growing numbers of wild and hatchery salmon.
August 19	Mechanics	Researchers provide explanations for variations in the rate of global mean sea-level rise since 1900 and report that dam building in the 20th century offset factors that would have led to a higher rate during the 1970s, implying that no additional processes are required to explain the observed major variations.
August 20	Observation, Analysis, Statistics / records, Mechanics	Scientists report that the Greenland ice sheet lost a record amount of 532 billion metric tons of ice during 2019, surpassing the old record of 464 billion metric tons in 2012 and returning to high melt rates, and provide explanations for the reduced ice loss in 2017 and 2018.
August 24	Analysis, Assessment	A study finds that almost 300 million people live on tropical forest restoration opportunity land in the Global South, constituting a large share of low-income countries' populations, and argues for prioritized inclusion of "local communities" in forest restoration projects.
August 24	Analysis, Assessment, Projections	Researchers assess potential global soil erosion rates by water due to projected climate- and land use-change for multiple SSP-RCP scenarios, indicating that global soil erosion by water may increase 30-66% between 2015 and 2070 and that the greatest increases will occur in areas with tropical climates, which could inform strategies for soil conservation.
August 31	Observation, Analysis	Scientists report that New Guinea singing dogs, known for their characteristic vocalization, are not extinct in the wild as was previously commonly believed after analyzing blood samples of specimens found in highlands of New Guinea.
August 31	Observations, Projections	Scientists report that observed ice-sheet losses in Greenland and Antarctica track worst-case scenarios of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report's sea-level rise projections.
September 1	Analysis, Projections	Researchers report that mining for renewable energy production will increase threats to biodiversity and publish a map of areas that contain needed materials as well as estimations of their overlaps with "Key Biodiversity Areas", "Remaining Wilderness" and "Protected Areas". The authors assess that careful strategic planning is needed.
September 2	Mechanics	Researchers in China demonstrate how microplastic pollution contaminates the soil and harms the abundance of common species, such as microarthropods and nematodes, as well as disrupting carbon and nutrient cycling.
September 2	Mechanics	Scientists report that asphalt currently is a significant and largely overlooked source of air pollution in urban areas, especially during hot and sunny periods.
September 3	Mechanics	A study highlights the importance of old bulls in African savannah elephants and, according to the study, raises concerns over the removal of old bulls as currently occurring in both legal trophy hunting and illegal poaching.
September 4	Analysis, Assessment	Scientists publish a map of terrestrial areas where some level of protection or sustainable management as a "Global Safety Net" could achieve various climate and conservation goals.
September 4	Mechanics	Scientists report that their results indicate that ocean carbon uptake has been underestimated in most ocean models, which may be beneficial in terms of climate change mitigation but problematic in terms of ocean acidification.
September 4	Mechanics, Analysis, Projections	After investigating how mammalian extinction rates have changed over the past 126,000 years, scientists report that mainly (about 96% prediction accuracy) human population size and/or specific human activities, not climate change, cause global mammal extinctions and predict a near future "rate escalation of unprecedented magnitude".
September 7	Review, Analysis	A scientific review by German and Luxembourgian NGOs shows that electromagnetic radiation – such as mobile phone and Wi-Fi radiation – likely has a negative impact on, declining, insects, with 72 of 83 analyzed studies finding an effect.
September 7	Analysis, Assessment, Projections	Researchers report the magnitudes of climate change mitigation effects of shifting global food production and consumption to plant-based diets which are mainly composed of foods that require only a small fraction of the land and CO2 emissions required for meat and dairy. They conclude that such changes could offset CO2 emissions equal to the past 9 to 16 years of fossil fuel emissions in nations, they grouped into 4 types, and provide a map of regional opportunities.
September 10	Analysis, Assessment	Scientists show that "immediate efforts, consistent with the broader sustainability agenda but of unprecedented ambition and coordination, could enable the provision of food for the growing human population while reversing the global terrestrial biodiversity trends caused by habitat conversion" and recommend measures such as addressing drivers of land-use change, and for increasing the extent of land under conservation management and shares of plant-based diets.
September 11	Observations	INPE reports that 1,359 km of the Brazilian Amazon have burned off in August, which may put the effectiveness of the contemporary response against the deforestation – such as considerations of economic interventions and the current military operation – into question. On 13 September preliminary data based on satellite images, indicate that 1.5 million hectares have burned in the Pantanal region since the start of August, surpassing the previous fire season record from 2005. On September 15 it was reported that 23,500 km – ~12% of the Pantanal – have burned off in 2020. The 6,087 km of lost Amazon rainforest in 2020 as of early September – ~95% of the period in 2019 – is about the size of Palestine.
September 22	Meta, Analysis	Researchers report that over half of endangered species' proposed recovery plan budgets are allocated to research and monitoring (R&M), that species with higher proportions of such budgets have poorer recovery outcomes and provide recommendations for ensuring that "conservation programs emphasize action or that directly informs action".
September 28	Observations, Analysis, Assessment	Scientists warn that an "international effort is needed to manage a changing fire regime in the vulnerable Arctic", reporting that satellite data shows how the Arctic fire regime is changing. On 3 September EU institutions reported that, according to satellite data, the Arctic fires already far surpassed the total of CO2 emissions for the 2019 season.
October 5	Observation, Analysis	Scientist publish what may be the first scientific estimate of how much microplastic currently resides in Earth's seafloor, after investigating six areas of ~3 km depth ~300 km off the Australian coast. They found the highly variable microplastic counts to be proportionate to plastic on the surface and the angle of the seafloor slope. By averaging the microplastic mass per cm, they estimated that Earth's seafloor contains ~14 million tons of microplastic – about double the amount they estimated based on data from earlier studies – despite calling both estimates "conservative" as coastal areas are known to contain much more microplastic. These estimates are about one to two times the amount of plastic thought – per Jambeck et al., 2015 – to currently enter the oceans annually.
October 7	Analysis, Visualization	Scientists of the Global Carbon Project publish a comprehensive quantification of global sources and sinks of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, N2O and report that human-induced emissions increased by 30% over the past four decades and is the main cause of the increase in atmospheric concentrations, with recent growth exceeding some of the highest projected emission scenarios.
October 14	Analysis, Assessment	Researchers develop and apply a multicriteria optimization to prioritize areas for restoration. Their estimated cost-benefit ratio is based on contemporary assignments of value for labor, material input, and yield losses – such as of beef – on the costs-side and biodiversity conservation, local nature benefits, poverty-reduction, and climate-stabilization on the benefits-side. Restoration of degraded terrestrial ecosystems is shown to be 13 times more effective when applied in the highest priority locations, with major improvements in terms of biodiversity, climate and food security goals, at low cost. They note that gains are highest when restoration is combined with protection of remaining ecosystems.
October 14	Observation, Analysis	A study reports major shifts in the colony size structure – the demographics – of the Great Barrier Reef's coral populations compared to 1995/1996. The reef is known to have lost more than half of its overall coral cover since then.
October 14	Observation, Analysis	Scientists report, based on near-real-time activity data, an 'unprecedented' abrupt 8.8% decrease in global CO2 emissions in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, larger than during previous economic downturns and World War II. Authors note that such decreases of human activities "cannot be the answer" and that structural and transformational changes in human economic management and behaviour systems are needed.
November 6	Analysis	Scientists report that reducing emissions from the global food system is critical to achieving the Paris Agreement's climate goals.
November 12	Development	Scientists report the development of a microalgae-based fish-free aquaculture feed with substantial gains in sustainability, performance, economic viability, and human health.
November 23	Analysis, Attribution	Scientists publish an analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected US fisheries and seafood consumption. Imports and exports of fresh seafood dropped around 40% early during the pandemic. Restaurant demand for seafood also declined whereas seafood takeout and delivery increased.
November 25	Development	Scientists report the development of micro-droplets for algal cells or synergistic algal-bacterial multicellular spheroid microbial reactors capable of producing oxygen as well as hydrogen via photosynthesis in daylight under air, which may be useful as a hydrogen economy biotechnology.
December 1	Development	The Chinese experimental nuclear fusion reactor HL-2M is turned on for the first time, achieving its first plasma discharge.
December 2	Statistics / records	The World Meteorological Organization reports that 2020 is likely among the three warmest years on record globally, at 1.2 °C above the pre-industrial level. The ten years from 2011 to 2020 are also reported to be the warmest decade on record.
December 2	Observation	Scientists report finding microplastics in the placentas of women with unborn babies for the first time. These may have negative effects on the foetus development.
December 2	Development	The world's first regulatory approval for a cultivated meat product is awarded by the Government of Singapore. The chicken meat was grown in a bioreactor in a fluid of amino acids, sugar, and salt. The chicken nuggets food products are ~70% lab-grown meat, while the remainder is made from mung bean proteins and other ingredients. The company pledged to strive for price parity with premium "restaurant" chicken servings.
December 15	Analysis	An analysis of external climate costs of foods indicates that external greenhouse gas costs are typically highest for animal-based products – conventional and organic to about the same extent within that ecosystem subdomain – followed by conventional dairy products and lowest for organic plant-based foods and concludes contemporary monetary evaluations to be "inadequate" and policy-making that lead to reductions of these costs to be possible, appropriate and urgent.
December 18	Observation	Ecologists report that the driest and warmest sites of 32 tracked Brazilian non-Amazon tropical forests have moved from carbon sinks to carbon sources ~2013.
December 21	Projections / assessment	Researchers publish projections and models of potential impacts of policy-dependent modulation of how, where, and what food is produced.

Geosciences, biotechnology, anthropology and geoengineering

Date / period	Type	Description	Topics	Image
April 1	Paleoclimatology, Paleontology	Researchers report to have discovered and analysed fossil roots embedded in a mudstone matrix containing diverse pollen and spores which indicate that rainforests existed near the South Pole ca. 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. Their findings suggest that the climate was exceptionally warm at the time and that the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were substantially higher than expected during the mid-Cretaceous period, 115-80 million years ago.
April 20	Paleontology, Mechanics	Researchers report that Eurasian ice sheet collapse was a major source meltwater pulse 1A sea level rise 14,600 years ago, causing up to half of the ca. 16 meter rise.
July 8	Geo-engineering, Assessment	Scientists assess that the geoengineering technique of enhanced rock weathering – spreading finely crushed basalt on fields – has potential use for carbon dioxide removal by nations, identifying costs, opportunities and engineering challenges.
August 26	Paleoclimatology	Scientists report that the average global temperature of the last ice age, or Last Glacial Maximum, was ~6.1 °C cooler than today and that the equilibrium climate sensitivity was 3.4 °C, consistent with the established consensus range of 2–4.5 °C.
September 11	Paleoclimatology, Data-integration, Analysis	Scientists publish a continuous, high-fidelity record of variations in Earth's climate during the past 66 million years and identify four climate states, separated by transitions that include changing greenhouse gas levels and polar ice sheets volumes.
September 28	Biotechnology	Biotechnologists report the genetically engineered refinement and mechanical description of synergistic enzymes – PETase, first discovered in 2016, and MHETase of Ideonella sakaiensis – for faster depolymerization of PET as well as of PEF, which may be useful for depollution, recycling and upcycling of mixed plastics.
October 15	Anthropology	Researchers report that two Homo species lost more than half of their climate niche space just before extinction and that climate change played a substantial role in extinctions of past Homo species.
October 19	Paleontology	Scientists reconstruct the mechanisms, integrating them in a biogeochemical model, that lead to the Permian–Triassic extinction event 252 Mya, and report that it can be traced back to volcanic CO2 emissions.
November 4	Paleontology	Further evidence – based on paired coronene-mercury spikes – for a volcanic combustion cause of the largest known mass extinction of life 252 Mya is published.
December 11	Simulation	A supercomputer simulation of planetary climate feedbacks vaguely suggests that chance – in terms of likeliness after known initial conditions – played a substantial role in Earth's thermal habitability lasting over 3 bn years.

COVID-19 pandemic

In February - March 2020 campaigners say that governments should act with the same urgency on climate as on the coronavirus. The health crisis is reducing carbon emissions more than any policy.

• Global air traffic decreased by 4.3% in February 2020 with cancellations of tens of thousands of flights to affected areas.
• Chinese measures against coronavirus in Feb 2020 reduced coal consumption at power plants 36%, oil refining capacity 34% and satellite-based NO2 levels 37%.
• US seafood imports and exports for fresh products dropped during the pandemic while frozen products were less affected. Demand for seafood at restaurants also dropped but there were increases in seafood delivery and takeout.

For further information see the tag above.

Predicted and scheduled events

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2021)

International goals

A list of − mostly self-imposed and legally voluntary or unenforceable − goals due by 2020 as decided by multinational corporate associations and international governance entities and their status:

Entity	Agreement	Goal	Status
European Union	Amsterdam Call for Action on Open Science	All published scientific papers publicly funded by E.U. member states should be made free to access by 2020	Not achieved
Paris Agreement	Paris Agreement	Developed countries reaffirmed the commitment to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020, and agreed to continue mobilizing finance at the level of $100 billion a year until 2025.
United Nations	Aichi Biodiversity Targets	Goals to reduce pressures on biodiversity, restore ecosystems and sustainable use of biological resources, agreed to by almost 200 governments at a 2010 UN Convention on Biological Diversity	Not achieved (6 partially of 20)
80 brands	"Detox challenge"	A campaign that challenges big clothing brands from all sectors to voluntarily reform their manufacturing supply chains to commit to achieve zero discharges of hazardous chemicals by 2020	Unclear/not achieved
United Nations	SDG 2.5
United Nations	SDG 3.6		Unclear/not achieved
United Nations	SDG 4b		Unclear
United Nations	SDG 6.6		Unclear
United Nations	SDG 9c		Not achieved
United Nations	SDG 11.b		Unclear
United Nations	SDG 12.4	"achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment"	Unclear
United Nations	SDG 13.a
United Nations	SDG 14.2
United Nations	SDG 14.4
United Nations	SDG 14.5
United Nations	SDG 14.6
United Nations	SDG 15.1
United Nations	SDG 15.2
United Nations	SDG 15.5
United Nations	SDG 15.8
United Nations	SDG 15.9
United Nations	SDG 17.18

See also

• 2020s in environmental history
• 2020 in climate change
• List of large volcanic eruptions in the 21st century
• Energy development
• Timeline of solar cells#2020
• 2020 in space
• Lists of extinct animals#Recent extinction
• Category:Species described in 2020
• Category:Protected areas established in 2020
• Human impact on the environment
• List of environmental issues
• Outline of environmental studies

v t e Environmental science
Main fields	Atmospheric science Biogeochemistry Ecology Environmental chemistry Geosciences Hydrology Limnology Oceanography Soil science
Related fields	Biology Chemistry green Ecological economics Environmental design Environmental economics Environmental engineering Environmental health epidemiology Environmental studies Environmental humanities Environmental statistics Environmental toxicology Geodesy Physics Radioecology Sustainability science Systems ecology Urban ecology
Applications	Energy conservation Environmental technology Natural resource management Pollution control Public transport encouragement Recycling Remediation Renewable energy Road ecology Sewage treatment Urban metabolism Water purification Waste management
Lists	Degrees Journals Research institutes Glossary Environment by year
See also	Human impact on the environment Sustainability Technogaianism
Category scientists Commons Environment portal WikiProject

References

1. "Global Forest Resource Assessment 2020". www.fao.org. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
2. UN draft plan sets 2030 target to avert Earth's sixth mass extinction The Guardian 15 Jan 2020
3. Guardian 21 Feb 2020
4. The five: things you need to know about locusts Guardian 15 Feb 2020
5. "World Oceans Day 2020: History, significance & this year's theme". 8 June 2020.
6. Nichols, Michelle (July 15, 2020). "Tanker off Yemen risks spilling four times as much oil as Exxon Valdez - U.N." Reuters – via www.reuters.com.
7. "Earth Overshoot Day June Press Release". overshootday.org. Global Footprint Network. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
8. Braun, Stuart (21 August 2020). "Coronavirus Pandemic Delays 2020 Earth Overshoot Day by Three Weeks, But It's Not Sustainable". Deutsche Welle. Ecowatch. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
9. Abnett, Kate (8 September 2020). "One in eight deaths in Europe linked to pollution, environment, EU says". Reuters. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
10. "UN report: Covid crisis does little to slow climate change". BBC News. 9 September 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
11. "United in Science 2020". World Meteorological Organization. 19 September 2019. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
12. Greenfield, Patrick (September 9, 2020). "Humans exploiting and destroying nature on unprecedented scale – report". The Guardian. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
13. Woodyatt, Amy (September 10, 2020). "Human activity has wiped out two-thirds of world's wildlife since 1970, landmark report says". CNN. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
14. "Living Planet Report 2020" (PDF). Retrieved 30 September 2020.
15. ^ "Great Barrier Reef: Scientists find reef taller than Empire State Building". BBC News. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
16. "Scientists discover 500-meter-tall coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef, the first to be discovered in over 120 years". phys.org. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
17. Lu, Donna. "Biobank to house 800 coral species so we can restore reefs in future". New Scientist. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
18. "Sentinel-6: 'Dog kennel' satellite blasts off on ocean mission". BBC News. 21 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
19. Shipping fuel regulation to cut sulfur levels comes into force. New rules introduced by International Maritime Organization expected to reduce certain forms of air pollution The Guardian 1 Jan 2020
20. Palau is first country to ban 'reef toxic' sun cream The Guardian 1 Jan 2020
21. Tens of thousands flee in mass bushfire evacuation – as it happened before Guardian 3 Jan 2020
22. Australian bushfires to contribute to huge annual increase in global carbon dioxide The Guardian 24 Jan 2020
23. Storm Gloria floods major river delta in eastern Spain BBC 22 Jan 2020
24. Multiple fatalities after earthquake hits eastern Turkey The Guardian 25 Jan 2020
25. Amazon deforestation for January hits record Feb 8, 2020
26. Turner, I.M. (2001). The ecology of trees in the tropical rain forest. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-80183-4
27. In pictures: Storm Ciara batters north-western Europe BBC 10 February 2020
28. Storm Ciara helps plane beat transatlantic flight record BBC 9 February 2020
29. Great Barrier Reef could face 'most extensive coral bleaching ever', scientists say Guardian 21 Feb 2020
30. torm Dennis: flood-hit communities brace for more heavy rain Rivers Severn, Teme and Wye will remain high as rain builds up again from Wednesday morning Guardian 21 Feb 2020
31. "Diesel fuel spill in Norilsk in Russia's Arctic contained". TASS. Moscow, Russia. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
32. Max Seddon (4 June 2020), "Siberia fuel spill threatens Moscow's Arctic ambitions", Financial Times
33. "Putin orders state of emergency after huge fuel spill inside Arctic Circle". The Guardian. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
34. "Putin slams mining company over massive Siberian diesel leak, declares state of emergency". RTÉ. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. AFP. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
35. Ivan Nechepurenko (5 June 2020), "Russia Declares Emergency After Arctic Oil Spill", New York Times
36. "Capesize bulk carrier aground, Indian ocean". FleetMon.com. 26 July 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
37. "Japanese ship involved in Mauritius oil spill breaks apart". Reuters. 2020-08-16. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
38. "Sea-ice-free Arctic makes permafrost vulnerable to thawing". Science Daily. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
39. Vaks, A.; Mason, A. J.; Breitenbach, S. F. M.; Kononov, A. M.; Osinzev, A. V.; Rosensaft, M.; Borshevsky, A.; Gutareva, O. S.; Henderson, G. M. (January 2020). "Palaeoclimate evidence of vulnerable permafrost during times of low sea ice" (PDF). Nature. 577 (7789): 221–225. Bibcode:2020Natur.577..221V. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1880-1. PMID 31915398. S2CID 210118901.
40. "Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates". The Guardian. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
41. "Record-setting ocean warmth continued in 2019". EurekAlert!. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
42. Cheng, Lijing; Abraham, John; Zhu, Jiang; Trenberth, Kevin E.; Fasullo, John; Boyer, Tim; Locarnini, Ricardo; Zhang, Bin; Yu, Fujiang; Wan, Liying; Chen, Xingrong; Song, Xiangzhou; Liu, Yulong; Mann, Michael E. (13 January 2020). "Record-Setting Ocean Warmth Continued in 2019". Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. 37 (2): 137–142. Bibcode:2020AdAtS..37..137C. doi:10.1007/s00376-020-9283-7.
43. "Emissions of potent greenhouse gas have grown, contradicting reports of huge reductions". University of Bristol. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
44. "Study finds shock rise in levels of potent greenhouse gas". The Guardian. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
45. Stanley, K. M.; Say, D.; Mühle, J.; Harth, C. M.; Krummel, P. B.; Young, D.; O'Doherty, S. J.; Salameh, P. K.; Simmonds, P. G.; Weiss, R. F.; Prinn, R. G.; Fraser, P. J.; Rigby, M. (21 January 2020). "Increase in global emissions of HFC-23 despite near-total expected reductions". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 397. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11..397S. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13899-4. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 6972758. PMID 31964859.
46. "Platypus on brink of extinction". EurekAlert!. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
47. Bino, Gilad; Kingsford, Richard T.; Wintle, Brendan A. (1 February 2020). "A stitch in time – Synergistic impacts to platypus metapopulation extinction risk". Biological Conservation. 242: 108399. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108399. ISSN 0006-3207. S2CID 213833757. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
48. "Closing the Ozone Hole Helped Slow Arctic Warming". Scientific American. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
49. Polvani, L. M.; Previdi, M.; England, M. R.; Chiodo, G.; Smith, K. L. (February 2020). "Substantial twentieth-century Arctic warming caused by ozone-depleting substances". Nature Climate Change. 10 (2): 130–133. Bibcode:2020NatCC..10..130P. doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0677-4. S2CID 210835010.
50. New study says Earth's most biodiverse ecosystems facing collapse. A new study mapped more than 100 locations where extreme weather events have affected forests and coral reefs. By Joseph Guzman, thehill.com, Jan 28, 2020.
51. Climate change, heatwaves and humans are 'sparking a collapse in reefs and forests', by Rob Waugh, January 27, 2020, Yahoo News.
52. França, Filipe M.; Benkwitt, Cassandra E.; Peralta, Guadalupe; Robinson, James P. W.; Graham, Nicholas A. J.; Tylianakis, Jason M.; Berenguer, Erika; Lees, Alexander C.; Ferreira, Joice; Louzada, Júlio; Barlow, Jos (16 March 2020). "Climatic and local stressor interactions threaten tropical forests and coral reefs" (PDF). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 375 (1794): 20190116. doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0116. PMC 7017775. PMID 31983328.
53. "Rewilding can mitigate climate change, researchers report after global assessment". phys.org. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
54. Sandom, Christopher J.; Middleton, Owen; Lundgren, Erick; Rowan, John; Schowanek, Simon D.; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Faurby, Søren (16 March 2020). "Trophic rewilding presents regionally specific opportunities for mitigating climate change". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 375 (1794): 20190125. doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0125. PMC 7017765. PMID 31983340.
55. "An Antarctic base recorded a temperature of 64.9 degrees F. If confirmed, it's a record high". NBC News. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
56. Freedman, Andrew (14 February 2020). "Temperature in Antarctica soars to near 70 degrees, appearing to topple continental record set days earlier". Washington Post. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
57. "NASA flights detect millions of Arctic methane hotspots". phys.org. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
58. "Northern Hemisphere faces 4-fold rise in extreme heat periods: study". phys.org. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
59. Wang, Jun; Chen, Yang; Tett, Simon F. B.; Yan, Zhongwei; Zhai, Panmao; Feng, Jinming; Xia, Jiangjiang (11 February 2020). "Anthropogenically-driven increases in the risks of summertime compound hot extremes". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 528. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11..528W. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-14233-8. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7012878. PMID 32047147.
60. "South American volcano showing early warning signs of 'potential collapse,' research shows". phys.org. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
61. Rice, Doyle. "Ecuador's 'throat of fire' volcano showing signs of 'potential collapse,' study shows". USA TODAY. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
62. Hickey, James; Lloyd, Ryan; Biggs, Juliet; Arnold, David; Mothes, Patricia; Muller, Cyril (15 March 2020). "Rapid localized flank inflation and implications for potential slope instability at Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 534: 116104. Bibcode:2020E&PSL.53416104H. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116104. hdl:10871/40425. ISSN 0012-821X.
63. "'Unprecedented' globally: more than 20% of Australia's forests burnt in bushfires". The Guardian. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
64. "In the line of fire". Nature. 10 (3): 169. 24 February 2020. Bibcode:2020NatCC..10..169.. doi:10.1038/s41558-020-0720-5.
65. Tarabay, Jamie (21 January 2020). "Why These Australia Fires Are Like Nothing We've Seen Before". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
66. Morton, Adam; Evershed, Nick; Readfearn, Graham (22 November 2019). "Australia bushfires factcheck: are this year's fires unprecedented?". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
67. Fountain, Henry (4 March 2020). "Climate Change Affected Australia's Wildfires, Scientists Confirm". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
68. Oldenborgh, Geert Jan van; Krikken, Folmer; Lewis, Sophie; Leach, Nicholas J.; Lehner, Flavio; Saunders, Kate R.; Weele, Michiel van; Haustein, Karsten; Li, Sihan; Wallom, David; Sparrow, Sarah; Arrighi, Julie; Singh, Roop P.; Aalst, Maarten K. van; Philip, Sjoukje Y.; Vautard, Robert; Otto, Friederike E. L. (11 March 2020). "Attribution of the Australian bushfire risk to anthropogenic climate change". Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions: 1–46. doi:10.5194/nhess-2020-69. hdl:20.500.11850/475524. ISSN 1561-8633. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
69. "Tropical forests' carbon sink is already rapidly weakening". phys.org. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
70. Harvey, Fiona (4 March 2020). "Tropical forests losing their ability to absorb carbon, study finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
71. Hubau, Wannes; Lewis, Simon L.; Phillips, Oliver L.; Affum-Baffoe, Kofi; Beeckman, Hans; Cuní-Sanchez, Aida; Daniels, Armandu K.; Ewango, Corneille E. N.; Fauset, Sophie; Mukinzi, Jacques M.; Sheil, Douglas; Sonké, Bonaventure; Sullivan, Martin J. P.; Sunderland, Terry C. H.; Taedoumg, Hermann; Thomas, Sean C.; White, Lee J. T.; Abernethy, Katharine A.; Adu-Bredu, Stephen; Amani, Christian A.; Baker, Timothy R.; Banin, Lindsay F.; Baya, Fidèle; Begne, Serge K.; Bennett, Amy C.; Benedet, Fabrice; Bitariho, Robert; Bocko, Yannick E.; Boeckx, Pascal; et al. (March 2020). "Asynchronous carbon sink saturation in African and Amazonian tropical forests". Nature. 579 (7797): 80–87. Bibcode:2020Natur.579...80H. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2035-0. hdl:1854/LU-8655832. PMID 32132693. S2CID 212406428. Archived from the original on 8 March 2020. Alt URL
72. "Ecosystems the size of Amazon 'can collapse within decades'". The Guardian. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
73. "Amazon rainforest could be gone within a lifetime". EurekAlert!. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
74. "Ecosystems the size of Amazon 'can collapse within decades'". The Guardian. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
75. Cooper, Gregory S.; Willcock, Simon; Dearing, John A. (10 March 2020). "Regime shifts occur disproportionately faster in larger ecosystems". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 1175. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.1175C. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15029-x. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7064493. PMID 32157098.
76. "Research shows mangrove conservation can pay for itself in flood protection". phys.org. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
77. Menéndez, Pelayo; Losada, Iñigo J.; Torres-Ortega, Saul; Narayan, Siddharth; Beck, Michael W. (10 March 2020). "The Global Flood Protection Benefits of Mangroves". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 4404. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10.4404M. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61136-6. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7064529. PMID 32157114.
78. "Restore soil to absorb billions of tonnes of carbon: study". phys.org. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
79. Bossio, D. A.; Cook-Patton, S. C.; Ellis, P. W.; Fargione, J.; Sanderman, J.; Smith, P.; Wood, S.; Zomer, R. J.; von Unger, M.; Emmer, I. M.; Griscom, B. W. (16 March 2020). "The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions". Nature Sustainability. 3 (5): 391–398. doi:10.1038/s41893-020-0491-z. hdl:2164/15138. S2CID 212732637.
80. Watts, Jonathan; Kommenda, Niko (23 March 2020). "Coronavirus pandemic leading to huge drop in air pollution". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
81. "Satellite animation shows air pollution in China and Italy clearing amid coronavirus lockdowns". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
82. "Great Barrier Reef suffers third mass bleaching in five years". BBC News. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
83. "Statement: coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef". GBRMPA. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
84. "Wrecked sea life could be largely revived in 30 years under action plan, say scientists". The Independent. 2 April 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-04-04. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
85. "Landmark study concludes marine life can be rebuilt by 2050". phys.org. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
86. Carrington, Damian (1 April 2020). "Oceans can be restored to former glory within 30 years, say scientists". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
87. Duarte, Carlos M.; Agusti, Susana; Barbier, Edward; Britten, Gregory L.; Castilla, Juan Carlos; Gattuso, Jean-Pierre; Fulweiler, Robinson W.; Hughes, Terry P.; Knowlton, Nancy; Lovelock, Catherine E.; Lotze, Heike K.; Predragovic, Milica; Poloczanska, Elvira; Roberts, Callum; Worm, Boris (April 2020). "Rebuilding marine life" (PDF). Nature. 580 (7801): 39–51. Bibcode:2020Natur.580...39D. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2146-7. PMID 32238939. S2CID 214736503.
88. "In not so good news for earth, unusual mini-ozone hole opens over Arctic". The Tribune India. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
89. "Unusual ozone hole opens over the Arctic". www.esa.int. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
90. "Climate change triggers Great Barrier Reef bleaching – ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies". www.coralcoe.org.au. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
91. "Great Barrier Reef suffers third mass coral bleaching event in five years". The Guardian. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
92. "U.S. underestimates methane emissions from offshore oil industry -study". Reuters. 13 April 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
93. "Offshore oil and gas platforms release more methane than previously estimated". University of Michigan News. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
94. "Offshore oil platforms spew lots of methane". Futurity. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
95. "Offshore oil and gas platforms release more methane than previously estimated". phys.org. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
96. Gorchov Negron, Alan M.; Kort, Eric A.; Conley, Stephen A.; Smith, Mackenzie L. (21 April 2020). "Airborne Assessment of Methane Emissions from Offshore Platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico". Environmental Science & Technology. 54 (8): 5112–5120. Bibcode:2020EnST...54.5112G. doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c00179. ISSN 0013-936X. PMID 32281379.
97. "Alarms ring as Greenland ice loss causes 40% of 2019 sea level rise". phys.org. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
98. "Greenland ice sheet shrinks by record amount: climate study". Reuters. 15 April 2020. Archived from the original on April 15, 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
99. Tedesco, Marco; Fettweis, Xavier (15 April 2020). "Unprecedented atmospheric conditions (1948–2019) drive the 2019 exceptional melting season over the Greenland ice sheet". The Cryosphere. 14 (4): 1209–1223. Bibcode:2020TCry...14.1209T. doi:10.5194/tc-14-1209-2020. ISSN 1994-0416. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
100. Readfearn, Graham (15 April 2020). "Artificial fog and breeding coral: study picks best Great Barrier Reef rescue ideas". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
101. "Joint Media Release: $150 million to drive innovations to boost Reef resilience | Ministers". minister.awe.gov.au. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
102. "Fight to save Great Barrier Reef after third bleaching event". NewsComAu. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
103. "Climate-driven megadrought is emerging in western US, study says". phys.org. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
104. Fountain, Henry (16 April 2020). "Southwest Drought Rivals Those of Centuries Ago, Thanks to Climate Change". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
105. Freedman, Andrew; Fears, Darryl (16 April 2020). "The western U.S. is locked in the grips of the first human-caused megadrought, study finds". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
106. Williams, A. Park; Cook, Edward R.; Smerdon, Jason E.; Cook, Benjamin I.; Abatzoglou, John T.; Bolles, Kasey; Baek, Seung H.; Badger, Andrew M.; Livneh, Ben (17 April 2020). "Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought". Science. 368 (6488): 314–318. Bibcode:2020Sci...368..314W. doi:10.1126/science.aaz9600. PMID 32299953. S2CID 215789824.
107. "North Pole soon to be ice free in summer". phys.org. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
108. SIMIP Community (2020). "Arctic Sea Ice in CMIP6". Geophysical Research Letters. 47 (10): e2019GL086749. Bibcode:2020GeoRL..4786749C. doi:10.1029/2019GL086749. hdl:21.11116/0000-0006-69A7-8.
109. "Rising carbon dioxide levels will make us stupider". Nature. 580 (7805): 567. 20 April 2020. Bibcode:2020Natur.580Q.567.. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01134-w. PMID 32317783. S2CID 216075495.
110. "Rising CO2 causes more than a climate crisis—it may directly harm our ability to think". phys.org. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
111. Karnauskas, Kristopher B.; Miller, Shelly L.; Schapiro, Anna C. (2020). "Fossil Fuel Combustion Is Driving Indoor CO2 Toward Levels Harmful to Human Cognition". GeoHealth. 4 (5): e2019GH000237. Bibcode:2020GHeal...4..237K. doi:10.1029/2019GH000237. PMC 7229519. PMID 32426622.
112. "Microplastics found for first time in Antarctic ice where krill source food". The Guardian. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
113. "Microplastic pollution recorded for first time in Antarctic sea ice". University of Tasmania. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
114. "Excessive rain triggered 2018 Kīlauea volcano eruption, study finds". phys.org. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
115. Farquharson, Jamie I.; Amelung, Falk (April 2020). "Extreme rainfall triggered the 2018 rift eruption at Kīlauea Volcano". Nature. 580 (7804): 491–495. Bibcode:2020Natur.580..491F. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2172-5. PMID 32322079. S2CID 216076767.
116. "Satellite data show 'highest emissions ever measured' from U.S. oil and gas operations". phys.org. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
117. Zhang, Yuzhong; Gautam, Ritesh; Pandey, Sudhanshu; Omara, Mark; Maasakkers, Joannes D.; Sadavarte, Pankaj; Lyon, David; Nesser, Hannah; Sulprizio, Melissa P.; Varon, Daniel J.; Zhang, Ruixiong; Houweling, Sander; Zavala-Araiza, Daniel; Alvarez, Ramon A.; Lorente, Alba; Hamburg, Steven P.; Aben, Ilse; Jacob, Daniel J. (1 April 2020). "Quantifying methane emissions from the largest oil-producing basin in the United States from space". Science Advances. 6 (17): eaaz5120. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.5120Z. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz5120. PMC 7176423. PMID 32494644.
118. "First results from NASA's ICESat-2 mission map 16 years of melting ice sheets". EurekAlert!. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
119. "Some of the latest climate models provide unrealistically high projections of future warming". phys.org. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
120. Zhu, Jiang; Poulsen, Christopher J.; Otto-Bliesner, Bette L. (May 2020). "High climate sensitivity in CMIP6 model not supported by paleoclimate". Nature Climate Change. 10 (5): 378–379. Bibcode:2020NatCC..10..378Z. doi:10.1038/s41558-020-0764-6. S2CID 217167140.
121. "Climate change: More than 3bn could live in extreme heat by 2070". BBC News. 5 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
122. "'Near-unlivable' heat for one-third of humans within 50 years if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut". University of Exeter. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
123. "Billions projected to suffer nearly unlivable heat in 2070". Phys.org. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
124. Xu, Chi; Kohler, Timothy A.; Lenton, Timothy M.; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Scheffer, Marten (26 May 2020). "Future of the human climate niche". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (21): 11350–11355. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11711350X. doi:10.1073/pnas.1910114117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7260949. PMID 32366654.
125. "A possible explanation for the Earth's North magnetic pole moving toward Russia". phys.org. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
126. Amos, Jonathan (6 May 2020). "Scientists explain magnetic pole's wanderings". BBC News. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
127. Livermore, Philip W.; Finlay, Christopher C.; Bayliff, Matthew (2020). "Recent north magnetic pole acceleration towards Siberia caused by flux lobe elongation". Nature Geoscience. 13 (5): 387–391. arXiv:2010.11033. Bibcode:2020NatGe..13..387L. doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0570-9. S2CID 218513160.
128. Thompson, Andrea. "Heat and Humidity Are Already Reaching the Limits of Human Tolerance". Scientific American. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
129. "Potentially fatal combinations of humidity and heat are emerging across the globe". phys.org. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
130. "Dangerous humid heat extremes occurring decades before expected - Welcome to NOAA Research". research.noaa.gov. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
131. Raymond, Colin; Matthews, Tom; Horton, Radley M. (1 May 2020). "The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance". Science Advances. 6 (19): eaaw1838. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.1838R. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw1838. PMC 7209987. PMID 32494693.
132. "Scientists successfully develop 'heat resistant' coral to fight bleaching". phys.org. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
133. Cornwall, Warren (13 May 2020). "Lab-evolved algae could protect coral reefs". Science. doi:10.1126/science.abc7842. S2CID 219408415.
134. Buerger, P.; Alvarez-Roa, C.; Coppin, C. W.; Pearce, S. L.; Chakravarti, L. J.; Oakeshott, J. G.; Edwards, O. R.; Oppen, M. J. H. van (1 May 2020). "Heat-evolved microalgal symbionts increase coral bleaching tolerance". Science Advances. 6 (20): eaba2498. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.2498B. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aba2498. PMC 7220355. PMID 32426508.
135. "Carbon emissions fall 17% worldwide under coronavirus lockdowns, study finds". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
136. "COVID-19 crisis causes 17% drop in global carbon emissions: study". phys.org. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
137. Le Quéré, Corinne; Jackson, Robert B.; Jones, Matthew W.; Smith, Adam J. P.; Abernethy, Sam; Andrew, Robbie M.; De-Gol, Anthony J.; Willis, David R.; Shan, Yuli; Canadell, Josep G.; Friedlingstein, Pierre; Creutzig, Felix; Peters, Glen P. (19 May 2020). "Temporary reduction in daily global CO 2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement". Nature Climate Change. 10 (7): 647–653. Bibcode:2020NatCC..10..647L. doi:10.1038/s41558-020-0797-x.
138. Calma, Justine (7 May 2020). "Even with people staying in, carbon dioxide is breaking records". The Verge. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
139. Watts, Jonathan (20 May 2020). "Climate change is turning parts of Antarctica green, say scientists". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
140. "Climate change will turn coastal Antarctica green, say scientists". phys.org. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
141. Gray, Andrew; Krolikowski, Monika; Fretwell, Peter; Convey, Peter; Peck, Lloyd S.; Mendelova, Monika; Smith, Alison G.; Davey, Matthew P. (20 May 2020). "Remote sensing reveals Antarctic green snow algae as important terrestrial carbon sink". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 2527. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.2527G. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16018-w. PMC 7239900. PMID 32433543.
142. Nuwer, Rachel (1 June 2020). "Mass Extinctions Are Accelerating, Scientists Report". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
143. "Study finds sixth mass extinction accelerating at unprecedented rate". New Atlas. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
144. Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R.; Raven, Peter H. (16 June 2020). "Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (24): 13596–13602. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11713596C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1922686117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7306750. PMID 32482862.
145. "Milkweed, only food source for monarch caterpillars, ubiquitously contaminated". phys.org. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
146. Halsch, Christopher A.; Code, Aimee; Hoyle, Sarah M.; Fordyce, James A.; Baert, Nicolas; Forister, Matthew L. (2020). "Pesticide Contamination of Milkweeds Across the Agricultural, Urban, and Open Spaces of Low-Elevation Northern California". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 8. doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.00162. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
147. "Clouds May Be the Key to a Climate Modeling Mystery". Scientific American. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
148. "Climate worst-case scenarios may not go far enough, cloud data shows". The Guardian. 13 June 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
149. Meehl, Gerald A.; Senior, Catherine A.; Eyring, Veronika; Flato, Gregory; Lamarque, Jean-Francois; Stouffer, Ronald J.; Taylor, Karl E.; Schlund, Manuel (1 June 2020). "Context for interpreting equilibrium climate sensitivity and transient climate response from the CMIP6 Earth system models". Science Advances. 6 (26): eaba1981. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.1981M. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aba1981. PMC 7314520. PMID 32637602.
150. "Arctic Ocean acidification worse than expected". phys.org. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
151. Terhaar, Jens; Kwiatkowski, Lester; Bopp, Laurent (June 2020). "Emergent constraint on Arctic Ocean acidification in the twenty-first century" (PDF). Nature. 582 (7812): 379–383. Bibcode:2020Natur.582..379T. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2360-3. PMID 32555488. S2CID 219729997.
152. "Affluence is killing the planet, warn scientists". phys.org. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
153. "Overconsumption and growth economy key drivers of environmental crises". phys.org. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
154. Thomas Wiedmann; Manfred Lenzen; Lorenz T. Keyßer; Julia Steinberger (19 June 2020). "Scientists' warning on affluence". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 3107. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.3107W. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16941-y. PMC 7305220. PMID 32561753. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
155. "The Arctic is on fire: Siberian heat wave alarms scientists". phys.org. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
156. "Temperature hits 100 F degrees in Arctic Russian town". AP NEWS. 21 June 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
157. "Reported new record temperature of 38 °C north of Arctic Circle". WMO. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
158. "Simulations show magnetic field can change ~10 times faster than previously thought". phys.org. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
159. Davies, Christopher J.; Constable, Catherine G. (6 July 2020). "Rapid geomagnetic changes inferred from Earth observations and numerical simulations". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 3371. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.3371D. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16888-0. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7338531. PMID 32632222. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
160. "Certified 'sustainable' palm oil fields endanger mammal habitats and biodiverse tropical forests over 30 years". phys.org. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
161. Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto; Velichevskaya, Alena (10 November 2020). "Certified "sustainable" palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years". Science of the Total Environment. 742: 140712. Bibcode:2020ScTEn.742n0712C. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712. ISSN 0048-9697. PMID 32721759. S2CID 220852123. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
162. Woodyatt, Amy. "Global temperatures could exceed crucial 1.5 C target in the next five years". CNN. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
163. "New climate predictions assess global temperatures in coming five years". World Meteorological Organization. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
164. "A 'regime shift' is happening in the Arctic Ocean, scientists say". phys.org. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
165. Lewis, K. M.; Dijken, G. L. van; Arrigo, K. R. (10 July 2020). "Changes in phytoplankton concentration now drive increased Arctic Ocean primary production". Science. 369 (6500): 198–202. doi:10.1126/science.aay8380. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 32647002. S2CID 220433818. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
166. "Global methane emissions soar to record high". phys.org. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
167. "Methane Emissions Continue to Rise". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
168. Jackson, R B; Saunois, M; Bousquet, P; Canadell, J G; Poulter, B; Stavert, A R; Bergamaschi, P; Niwa, Y; Segers, A; Tsuruta, A (14 July 2020). "Increasing anthropogenic methane emissions arise equally from agricultural and fossil fuel sources". Environmental Research Letters. 15 (7): 071002. Bibcode:2020ERL....15g1002J. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab9ed2. ISSN 1748-9326. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
169. Saunois, Marielle; Stavert, Ann R.; Poulter, Ben; Bousquet, Philippe; Canadell, Josep G.; Jackson, Robert B.; Raymond, Peter A.; Dlugokencky, Edward J.; Houweling, Sander; Patra, Prabir K.; Ciais, Philippe; Arora, Vivek K.; Bastviken, David; Bergamaschi, Peter; Blake, Donald R.; Brailsford, Gordon; Bruhwiler, Lori; Carlson, Kimberly M.; Carrol, Mark; Castaldi, Simona; Chandra, Naveen; Crevoisier, Cyril; Crill, Patrick M.; Covey, Kristofer; Curry, Charles L.; Etiope, Giuseppe; Frankenberg, Christian; Gedney, Nicola; Hegglin, Michaela I.; et al. (15 July 2020). "The Global Methane Budget 2000–2017". Earth System Science Data. 12 (3): 1561–1623. Bibcode:2020ESSD...12.1561S. doi:10.5194/essd-12-1561-2020. hdl:1721.1/124698. ISSN 1866-3508. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
170. Carrington, Damian (21 July 2020). "First active leak of sea-bed methane discovered in Antarctica". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
171. Thurber, Andrew R.; Seabrook, Sarah; Welsh, Rory M. (29 July 2020). "Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 287 (1931): 20201134. doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.1134. PMC 7423672. PMID 32693727. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
172. "Sharks almost gone from many reefs". phys.org. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
173. MacNeil, M. Aaron; Chapman, Demian D.; Heupel, Michelle; Simpfendorfer, Colin A.; Heithaus, Michael; Meekan, Mark; Harvey, Euan; Goetze, Jordan; Kiszka, Jeremy; Bond, Mark E.; Currey-Randall, Leanne M.; Speed, Conrad W.; Sherman, C. Samantha; Rees, Matthew J.; Udyawer, Vinay; Flowers, Kathryn I.; Clementi, Gina; Valentin-Albanese, Jasmine; Gorham, Taylor; Adam, M. Shiham; Ali, Khadeeja; Pina-Amargós, Fabián; Angulo-Valdés, Jorge A.; Asher, Jacob; Barcia, Laura García; Beaufort, Océane; Benjamin, Cecilie; Bernard, Anthony T. F.; Berumen, Michael L.; et al. (July 2020). "Global status and conservation potential of reef sharks". Nature. 583 (7818): 801–806. Bibcode:2020Natur.583..801M. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2519-y. hdl:10754/664495. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32699418. S2CID 220696105. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
174. "Canadian ice caps disappear, confirming 2017 scientific prediction". phys.org. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
175. "Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest surge in July, worst in recent days". Reuters. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
176. "Brazilian Amazon protected areas 'in flames' as land-grabbers invade". Mongabay Environmental News. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
177. Pedroso, Rodrigo; Reverdosa, Marcia. "Bolsonaro says reports of Amazon fires are a 'lie.' Evidence says otherwise". CNN. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
178. "Throng of new penguin colonies in Antarctica spotted from space". The Guardian. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
179. "Scientists discover new penguin colonies from space". British Antarctic Survey. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
180. Weston, Phoebe (5 August 2020). "New Guinea has greatest plant diversity of any island in the world, study reveals". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
181. Cámara-Leret, Rodrigo; Frodin, David G.; Adema, Frits; Anderson, Christiane; Appelhans, Marc S.; Argent, George; Arias Guerrero, Susana; Ashton, Peter; Baker, William J.; Barfod, Anders S.; Barrington, David (August 2020). "New Guinea has the world's richest island flora". Nature. 584 (7822): 579–583. Bibcode:2020Natur.584..579C. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2549-5. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32760001. S2CID 220980697.
182. Warburton, Moira (6 August 2020). "Canada's last fully intact Arctic ice shelf collapses". Reuters. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
183. "Canada's last fully intact Arctic ice shelf collapses". Arctic Today. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
184. "Lockdown emissions fall will have 'no effect' on climate". phys.org. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
185. Forster, Piers M.; Forster, Harriet I.; Evans, Mat J.; Gidden, Matthew J.; Jones, Chris D.; Keller, Christoph A.; Lamboll, Robin D.; Quéré, Corinne Le; Rogelj, Joeri; Rosen, Deborah; Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich; Richardson, Thomas B.; Smith, Christopher J.; Turnock, Steven T. (7 August 2020). "Current and future global climate impacts resulting from COVID-19". Nature Climate Change. 10 (10): 913–919. Bibcode:2020NatCC..10..913F. doi:10.1038/s41558-020-0883-0. ISSN 1758-6798. S2CID 221019148.
186. "Last decade was Earth's hottest on record as climate crisis accelerates". The Guardian. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
187. "State of the Climate". American Meteorological Society. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
188. "Microbes living on air a global phenomenon". phys.org. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
189. "Bacteria that "eat" only air found in cold deserts around the world". New Atlas. 19 August 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
190. Ray, Angelique E.; Zhang, Eden; Terauds, Aleks; Ji, Mukan; Kong, Weidong; Ferrari, Belinda C. (2020). "Soil Microbiomes With the Genetic Capacity for Atmospheric Chemosynthesis Are Widespread Across the Poles and Are Associated With Moisture, Carbon, and Nitrogen Limitation". Frontiers in Microbiology. 11: 1936. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.01936. ISSN 1664-302X. PMC 7437527. PMID 32903524. S2CID 221105556. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
191. "Assessing the Global Climate in July 2020". NOAA. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
192. "Warming Greenland ice sheet passes point of no return". EurekAlert!. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
193. "Warming Greenland ice sheet passes point of no return". Ohio State University. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
194. King, Michalea D.; Howat, Ian M.; Candela, Salvatore G.; Noh, Myoung J.; Jeong, Seongsu; Noël, Brice P. Y.; van den Broeke, Michiel R.; Wouters, Bert; Negrete, Adelaide (13 August 2020). "Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat". Communications Earth & Environment. 1 (1): 1–7. Bibcode:2020ComEE...1....1K. doi:10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2. ISSN 2662-4435. S2CID 221129437. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
195. "Food from the sea: Sustainably managed fisheries and the future". phys.org. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
196. Costello, Christopher; Cao, Ling; Gelcich, Stefan; Cisneros-Mata, Miguel Á; Free, Christopher M.; Froehlich, Halley E.; Golden, Christopher D.; Ishimura, Gakushi; Maier, Jason; Macadam-Somer, Ilan; Mangin, Tracey; Melnychuk, Michael C.; Miyahara, Masanori; de Moor, Carryn L.; Naylor, Rosamond; Nøstbakken, Linda; Ojea, Elena; O'Reilly, Erin; Parma, Ana M.; Plantinga, Andrew J.; Thilsted, Shakuntala H.; Lubchenco, Jane (19 August 2020). "The future of food from the sea". Nature. 588 (7836): 95–100. Bibcode:2020Natur.588...95C. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2616-y. hdl:11093/1616. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32814903. S2CID 221179212.
197. "Alaska's salmon are getting smaller, affecting people and ecosystems". phys.org. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
198. Oke, K. B.; Cunningham, C. J.; Westley, P. a. H.; Baskett, M. L.; Carlson, S. M.; Clark, J.; Hendry, A. P.; Karatayev, V. A.; Kendall, N. W.; Kibele, J.; Kindsvater, H. K.; Kobayashi, K. M.; Lewis, B.; Munch, S.; Reynolds, J. D.; Vick, G. K.; Palkovacs, E. P. (19 August 2020). "Recent declines in salmon body size impact ecosystems and fisheries". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 4155. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.4155O. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17726-z. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7438488. PMID 32814776. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
199. McGrath, Matt (19 August 2020). "Dams played key role in limiting sea level rise". BBC News. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
200. "20th century dam building found to have offset sea level rise". phys.org. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
201. Frederikse, Thomas; Landerer, Felix; Caron, Lambert; Adhikari, Surendra; Parkes, David; Humphrey, Vincent W.; Dangendorf, Sönke; Hogarth, Peter; Zanna, Laure; Cheng, Lijing; Wu, Yun-Hao (August 2020). "The causes of sea-level rise since 1900". Nature. 584 (7821): 393–397. Bibcode:2020EGUGA..22.7907F. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2591-3. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32814886. S2CID 221182575. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
202. "Record melt: Greenland lost 586 billion tons of ice in 2019". phys.org. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
203. Sasgen, Ingo; Wouters, Bert; Gardner, Alex S.; King, Michalea D.; Tedesco, Marco; Landerer, Felix W.; Dahle, Christoph; Save, Himanshu; Fettweis, Xavier (20 August 2020). "Return to rapid ice loss in Greenland and record loss in 2019 detected by the GRACE-FO satellites". Communications Earth & Environment. 1 (1): 8. Bibcode:2020ComEE...1....8S. doi:10.1038/s43247-020-0010-1. ISSN 2662-4435. S2CID 221200001. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
204. "Global forest restoration and the importance of empowering local communities". phys.org. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
205. "300 million world over can have their forests restored: study". The Hindu. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
206. Erbaugh, J. T.; Pradhan, N.; Adams, J.; Oldekop, J. A.; Agrawal, A.; Brockington, D.; Pritchard, R.; Chhatre, A. (24 August 2020). "Global forest restoration and the importance of prioritizing local communities". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (11): 1472–1476. doi:10.1038/s41559-020-01282-2. ISSN 2397-334X. PMID 32839542. S2CID 221285189. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
207. "Climate change and land use are accelerating soil erosion by water". phys.org. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
208. "Bodenerosion: Klimawandel und Landnutzung lässt Ackerflächen verschwinden". www.rnd.de (in German). Retrieved 7 September 2020.
209. Borrelli, Pasquale; Robinson, David A.; Panagos, Panos; Lugato, Emanuele; Yang, Jae E.; Alewell, Christine; Wuepper, David; Montanarella, Luca; Ballabio, Cristiano (20 August 2020). "Land use and climate change impacts on global soil erosion by water (2015-2070)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (36): 21994–22001. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11721994B. doi:10.1073/pnas.2001403117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7486701. PMID 32839306. S2CID 221305830. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
210. "Discovery of an ancient dog species may teach us about human vocalization". phys.org. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
211. Gorman, James (31 August 2020). "Singing Dogs Re-emerge From Extinction for Another Tune". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
212. Surbakti, Suriani; Parker, Heidi G.; McIntyre, James K.; Maury, Hendra K.; Cairns, Kylie M.; Selvig, Meagan; Pangau-Adam, Margaretha; Safonpo, Apolo; Numberi, Leonardo; Runtuboi, Dirk Y. P.; Davis, Brian W.; Ostrander, Elaine A. (27 August 2020). "New Guinea highland wild dogs are the original New Guinea singing dogs". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (39): 24369–24376. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11724369S. doi:10.1073/pnas.2007242117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7533868. PMID 32868416.
213. "Sea level rise from ice sheets track worst-case climate change scenario". phys.org. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
214. "Earth's ice sheets tracking worst-case climate scenarios". The Japan Times. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
215. "Ice sheet melt on track with 'worst-case climate scenario'". www.esa.int. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
216. Slater, Thomas; Hogg, Anna E.; Mottram, Ruth (31 August 2020). "Ice-sheet losses track high-end sea-level rise projections". Nature Climate Change. 10 (10): 879–881. Bibcode:2020NatCC..10..879S. doi:10.1038/s41558-020-0893-y. ISSN 1758-6798. S2CID 221381924. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
217. "Mining needed for renewable energy 'could harm biodiversity'". The Guardian. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
218. "Mining for renewable energy could be another threat to the environment". phys.org. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
219. Sonter, Laura J.; Dade, Marie C.; Watson, James E. M.; Valenta, Rick K. (1 September 2020). "Renewable energy production will exacerbate mining threats to biodiversity". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 4174. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.4174S. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17928-5. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7463236. PMID 32873789. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
220. "Microplastic pollution devastating soil species, study finds". The Guardian. 2 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
221. Lin, Dunmei; Yang, Guangrong; Dou, Pengpeng; Qian, Shenhua; Zhao, Liang; Yang, Yongchuan; Fanin, Nicolas (9 September 2020). "Microplastics negatively affect soil fauna but stimulate microbial activity: insights from a field-based microplastic addition experiment". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 287 (1934): 20201268. doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.1268. PMC 7542786. PMID 32873207.
222. "Asphalt adds to air pollution, especially on hot, sunny days". phys.org. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
223. Khare, Peeyush; Machesky, Jo; Soto, Ricardo; He, Megan; Presto, Albert A.; Gentner, Drew R. (1 September 2020). "Asphalt-related emissions are a major missing nontraditional source of secondary organic aerosol precursors". Science Advances. 6 (36): eabb9785. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.9785K. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb9785. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7467703. PMID 32917599.
224. "Old males vital to elephant societies". phys.org. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
225. Allen, Connie R. B.; Brent, Lauren J. N.; Motsentwa, Thatayaone; Weiss, Michael N.; Croft, Darren P. (3 September 2020). "Importance of old bulls: leaders and followers in collective movements of all-male groups in African savannah elephants ( Loxodonta africana )". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 13996. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1013996A. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70682-y. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7471917. PMID 32883968. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
226. "Protecting half the planet could help solve climate change and save species". Science News. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
227. Dinerstein, E.; Joshi, A. R.; Vynne, C.; Lee, A. T. L.; Pharand-Deschênes, F.; França, M.; Fernando, S.; Birch, T.; Burkart, K.; Asner, G. P.; Olson, D. (1 September 2020). "A "Global Safety Net" to reverse biodiversity loss and stabilize Earth's climate". Science Advances. 6 (36): eabb2824. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.2824D. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb2824. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7473742. PMID 32917614.
228. "Ocean carbon uptake widely underestimated". phys.org. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
229. Watson, Andrew J.; Schuster, Ute; Shutler, Jamie D.; Holding, Thomas; Ashton, Ian G. C.; Landschützer, Peter; Woolf, David K.; Goddijn-Murphy, Lonneke (4 September 2020). "Revised estimates of ocean-atmosphere CO 2 flux are consistent with ocean carbon inventory". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 4422. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.4422W. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18203-3. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7474059. PMID 32887875. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
230. "Humans, not climate, have driven rapidly rising mammal extinction rate". phys.org. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
231. Andermann, Tobias; Faurby, Søren; Turvey, Samuel T.; Antonelli, Alexandre; Silvestro, Daniele (1 September 2020). "The past and future human impact on mammalian diversity". Science Advances. 6 (36): eabb2313. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.2313A. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb2313. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7473673. PMID 32917612. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
232. "Mobile phone radiation may be killing insects: German study". phys.org. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
233. "Biological effects of electromagnetic fields on insects". Retrieved 9 October 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
234. "Changing what we eat could offset years of climate-warming emissions, new analysis finds". phys.org. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
235. Hayek, Matthew N.; Harwatt, Helen; Ripple, William J.; Mueller, Nathaniel D. (7 September 2020). "The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land". Nature Sustainability. 4: 21–24. doi:10.1038/s41893-020-00603-4. ISSN 2398-9629. S2CID 221522148. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
236. "Bending the curve of biodiversity loss". phys.org. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
237. Leclère, David; Obersteiner, Michael; Barrett, Mike; Butchart, Stuart H. M.; Chaudhary, Abhishek; De Palma, Adriana; DeClerck, Fabrice A. J.; Di Marco, Moreno; Doelman, Jonathan C.; Dürauer, Martina; Freeman, Robin; Harfoot, Michael; Hasegawa, Tomoko; Hellweg, Stefanie; Hilbers, Jelle P.; Hill, Samantha L. L.; Humpenöder, Florian; Jennings, Nancy; Krisztin, Tamás; Mace, Georgina M.; Ohashi, Haruka; Popp, Alexander; Purvis, Andy; Schipper, Aafke M.; Tabeau, Andrzej; Valin, Hugo; van Meijl, Hans; van Zeist, Willem-Jan; Visconti, Piero; Alkemade, Rob; Almond, Rosamunde; Bunting, Gill; Burgess, Neil D.; Cornell, Sarah E.; Di Fulvio, Fulvio; Ferrier, Simon; Fritz, Steffen; Fujimori, Shinichiro; Grooten, Monique; Harwood, Thomas; Havlík, Petr; Herrero, Mario; Hoskins, Andrew J.; Jung, Martin; Kram, Tom; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Matsui, Tetsuya; Meyer, Carsten; Nel, Deon; Newbold, Tim; Schmidt-Traub, Guido; Stehfest, Elke; Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.; van Vuuren, Detlef P.; Ware, Chris; Watson, James E. M.; Wu, Wenchao; Young, Lucy (September 2020). "Bending the curve of terrestrial biodiversity needs an integrated strategy". Nature. 585 (7826): 551–556. Bibcode:2020Natur.585..551L. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2705-y. hdl:1874/408907. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32908312. S2CID 221624255. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
238. "New worry over August deforestation in Brazilian Amazon". phys.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
239. ^ "Battle on to save Brazil's tropical wetlands from flames". phys.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
240. "Desperate race against fires in world's biggest tropical wetlands". phys.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
241. "Researchers find half of budgets for species conservation is used for monitoring, not protecting". phys.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
242. Buxton, Rachel T.; Avery-Gomm, Stephanie; Lin, Hsein-Yung; Smith, Paul A.; Cooke, Steven J.; Bennett, Joseph R. (22 September 2020). "Half of resources in threatened species conservation plans are allocated to research and monitoring". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 4668. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.4668B. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18486-6. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7508813. PMID 32963244. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
243. "The Arctic is burning in a whole new way". phys.org. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
244. McCarty, Jessica L.; Smith, Thomas E. L.; Turetsky, Merritt R. (October 2020). "Arctic fires re-emerging". Nature Geoscience. 13 (10): 658–660. Bibcode:2020NatGe..13..658M. doi:10.1038/s41561-020-00645-5. ISSN 1752-0908. S2CID 221985747. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
245. "Record CO2 emissions for Arctic wildfires: EU". phys.org. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
246. May, Tiffany (7 October 2020). "Hidden Beneath the Ocean's Surface, Nearly 16 Million Tons of Microplastic". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
247. "14 million tonnes of microplastics on sea floor: Australian study". phys.org. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
248. Barrett, Justine; Chase, Zanna; Zhang, Jing; Holl, Mark M. Banaszak; Willis, Kathryn; Williams, Alan; Hardesty, Britta D.; Wilcox, Chris (2020). "Microplastic Pollution in Deep-Sea Sediments From the Great Australian Bight". Frontiers in Marine Science. 7. doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.576170. ISSN 2296-7745. S2CID 222125532. Available under CC BY 4.0.
249. "Nitrous oxide emissions pose an increasing climate threat, study finds". phys.org. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
250. Tian, Hanqin; Xu, Rongting; Canadell, Josep G.; Thompson, Rona L.; Winiwarter, Wilfried; Suntharalingam, Parvadha; Davidson, Eric A.; Ciais, Philippe; Jackson, Robert B.; Janssens-Maenhout, Greet; et al. (October 2020). "A comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks". Nature. 586 (7828): 248–256. Bibcode:2020Natur.586..248T. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2780-0. hdl:1871.1/c74d4b68-ecf4-4c6d-890d-a1d0aaef01c9. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 33028999. S2CID 222217027. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
251. Lu, Donna. "Rewilding farmland in tropical regions would store vast amounts of CO2". New Scientist. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
252. Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.; Iribarrem, Alvaro; Beyer, Hawthorne L.; Cordeiro, Carlos Leandro; Crouzeilles, Renato; Jakovac, Catarina C.; Braga Junqueira, André; Lacerda, Eduardo; Latawiec, Agnieszka E.; Balmford, Andrew; Brooks, Thomas M. (2020-10-14). "Global priority areas for ecosystem restoration". Nature. 586 (7831): 724–729. Bibcode:2020Natur.586..724S. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2784-9. hdl:11336/137992. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 33057198. S2CID 222350130.
253. De'ath, G.; Fabricius, K. E.; Sweatman, H.; Puotinen, M. (1 October 2012). "The 27-year decline of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef and its causes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109 (44): 17995–17999. doi:10.1073/pnas.1208909109. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3497744. PMID 23027961.
254. "The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its corals". phys.org. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
255. Dietzel, Andreas; Bode, Michael; Connolly, Sean R.; Hughes, Terry P. (14 October 2020). "Long-term shifts in the colony size structure of coral populations along the Great Barrier Reef". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 287 (1936): 20201432. doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.1432. PMC 7657849. PMID 33049171.
256. "Pandemic caused 'unprecedented' emissions drop: study". phys.org. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
257. Liu, Zhu; Ciais, Philippe; Deng; Schellnhuber, Hans; et al. (14 October 2020). "Near-real-time monitoring of global CO₂ emissions reveals the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 5172. arXiv:2004.13614. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.5172L. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18922-7. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7560733. PMID 33057164. Available under CC BY 4.0.
258. "Reducing global food system emissions key to meeting climate goals". phys.org. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
259. Clark, Michael A.; Domingo, Nina G. G.; Colgan, Kimberly; Thakrar, Sumil K.; Tilman, David; Lynch, John; Azevedo, Inês L.; Hill, Jason D. (6 November 2020). "Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2 °C climate change targets". Science. 370 (6517): 705–708. Bibcode:2020Sci...370..705C. doi:10.1126/science.aba7357. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 33154139. S2CID 226254942. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
260. "Research breakthrough achieves fish-free aquaculture feed that raises key standards". phys.org. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
261. Sarker, Pallab K.; Kapuscinski, Anne R.; McKuin, Brandi; Fitzgerald, Devin S.; Nash, Hannah M.; Greenwood, Connor (12 November 2020). "Microalgae-blend tilapia feed eliminates fishmeal and fish oil, improves growth, and is cost viable". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 19328. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1019328S. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75289-x. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7665073. PMID 33184333. Available under CC BY 4.0.
262. "Pandemic has taken a bite out of seafood trade, consumption". PBS NewsHour. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
263. ^ White, Easton R.; Froehlich, Halley E.; Gephart, Jessica A.; Cottrell, Richard S.; Branch, Trevor A.; Bejarano, Rahul Agrawal; Baum, Julia K. (2020). "Early effects of COVID-19 on US fisheries and seafood consumption". Fish and Fisheries. 22 (1): 232–239. doi:10.1111/faf.12525. ISSN 1467-2979. PMC 7753393. PMID 33362433.
264. "Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source". phys.org. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
265. Xu, Zhijun; Wang, Shengliang; Zhao, Chunyu; Li, Shangsong; Liu, Xiaoman; Wang, Lei; Li, Mei; Huang, Xin; Mann, Stephen (25 November 2020). "Photosynthetic hydrogen production by droplet-based microbial micro-reactors under aerobic conditions". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 5985. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.5985X. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19823-5. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7689460. PMID 33239636. Available under CC BY 4.0.
266. "China turns on nuclear-powered 'artificial sun' (Update)". phys.org. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
267. "2020 on track to be one of three warmest years on record". World Meteorological Organization. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
268. "Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies". The Guardian. 22 December 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
269. Ragusa, Antonio; Svelato, Alessandro; Santacroce, Criselda; Catalano, Piera; Notarstefano, Valentina; Carnevali, Oliana; Papa, Fabrizio; Rongioletti, Mauro Ciro Antonio; Baiocco, Federico; Draghi, Simonetta; d'Amore, Elisabetta; Rinaldo, Denise; Matta, Maria; Giorgini, Elisabetta (1 January 2021). "Plasticenta: First evidence of microplastics in human placenta". Environment International. 146: 106274. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.106274. hdl:11566/286406. ISSN 0160-4120. PMID 33395930.
270. Shanker, Deena (October 22, 2019). "These $50 Chicken Nuggets Were Grown in a Lab". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
271. Corbyn, Zoë (January 19, 2020). "Out of the lab and into your frying pan: the advance of cultured meat". The Guardian. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
272. Ives, Mike (2 December 2020). "Singapore Approves a Lab-Grown Meat Product, a Global First". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
273. Carrington, Damian (23 December 2020). "Organic meat production just as bad for climate, study finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
274. "Organic meats found to have approximately the same greenhouse impact as regular meats". phys.org. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
275. Pieper, Maximilian; Michalke, Amelie; Gaugler, Tobias (15 December 2020). "Calculation of external climate costs for food highlights inadequate pricing of animal products". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 6117. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.6117P. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19474-6. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7738510. PMID 33323933. Available under CC BY 4.0.
276. "Brazilian forests found to be transitioning from carbon sinks to carbon sources". phys.org. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
277. Maia, Vinícius Andrade; Santos, Alisson Borges Miranda; Aguiar-Campos, Natália de; Souza, Cléber Rodrigo de; Oliveira, Matheus Coutinho Freitas de; Coelho, Polyanne Aparecida; Morel, Jean Daniel; Costa, Lauana Silva da; Farrapo, Camila Laís; Fagundes, Nathalle Cristine Alencar; Paula, Gabriela Gomes Pires de; Santos, Paola Ferreira; Gianasi, Fernanda Moreira; Silva, Wilder Bento da; Oliveira, Fernanda de; Girardelli, Diego Teixeira; Araújo, Felipe de Carvalho; Vilela, Taynara Andrade; Pereira, Rafaella Tavares; Silva, Lidiany Carolina Arantes da; Menino, Gisele Cristina de Oliveira; Garcia, Paulo Oswaldo; Fontes, Marco Aurélio Leite; Santos, Rubens Manoel dos (1 December 2020). "The carbon sink of tropical seasonal forests in southeastern Brazil can be under threat". Science Advances. 6 (51): eabd4548. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.4548M. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd4548. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 11206208. PMID 33355136.
278. "Global food industry on course to drive rapid habitat loss – research". The Guardian. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
279. "Current food production systems could mean far-reaching habitat loss". phys.org. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
280. Williams, David R.; Clark, Michael; Buchanan, Graeme M.; Ficetola, G. Francesco; Rondinini, Carlo; Tilman, David (21 December 2020). "Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion". Nature Sustainability. 4 (4): 314–322. doi:10.1038/s41893-020-00656-5. ISSN 2398-9629. S2CID 229346085. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
281. "Traces of ancient rainforest in Antarctica point to a warmer prehistoric world". phys.org. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
282. Amos, Jonathan (1 April 2020). "Dinosaurs walked through Antarctic rainforests". BBC News. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
283. Strickland, Ashley. "Evidence of ancient rainforests found in Antarctica". CNN. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
284. Klages, Johann P.; Salzmann, Ulrich; Bickert, Torsten; Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter; Gohl, Karsten; Kuhn, Gerhard; Bohaty, Steven M.; Titschack, Jürgen; Müller, Juliane; Frederichs, Thomas; Bauersachs, Thorsten; Ehrmann, Werner; van de Flierdt, Tina; Pereira, Patric Simões; Larter, Robert D.; Lohmann, Gerrit; Niezgodzki, Igor; Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele; Zundel, Maximilian; Spiegel, Cornelia; Mark, Chris; Chew, David; Francis, Jane E.; Nehrke, Gernot; Schwarz, Florian; Smith, James A.; Freudenthal, Tim; Esper, Oliver; Pälike, Heiko; Ronge, Thomas A.; Dziadek, Ricarda (April 2020). "Temperate rainforests near the South Pole during peak Cretaceous warmth" (PDF). Nature. 580 (7801): 81–86. Bibcode:2020Natur.580...81K. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2148-5. PMID 32238944. S2CID 214736648.
285. Johnson, Scott K. (26 April 2020). "A puzzling past sea level rise might have its missing piece". Ars Technica. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
286. "Eurasian ice sheet collapse raised seas eight metres: study". phys.org. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
287. Brendryen, Jo; Haflidason, Haflidi; Yokoyama, Yusuke; Haaga, Kristian Agasøster; Hannisdal, Bjarte (May 2020). "Eurasian Ice Sheet collapse was a major source of Meltwater Pulse 1A 14,600 years ago". Nature Geoscience. 13 (5): 363–368. Bibcode:2020NatGe..13..363B. doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0567-4. hdl:11250/2755925. S2CID 216031874.
288. "Applying rock dust to croplands could absorb up to 2 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere". phys.org. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
289. Beerling, David J.; Kantzas, Euripides P.; Lomas, Mark R.; Wade, Peter; Eufrasio, Rafael M.; Renforth, Phil; Sarkar, Binoy; Andrews, M. Grace; James, Rachael H.; Pearce, Christopher R.; Mercure, Jean-Francois; Pollitt, Hector; Holden, Philip B.; Edwards, Neil R.; Khanna, Madhu; Koh, Lenny; Quegan, Shaun; Pidgeon, Nick F.; Janssens, Ivan A.; Hansen, James; Banwart, Steven A. (July 2020). "Potential for large-scale CO 2 removal via enhanced rock weathering with croplands". Nature. 583 (7815): 242–248. Bibcode:2020Natur.583..242B. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2448-9. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32641817. S2CID 220417075. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020. Alt URL
290. "How cold was the ice age? Researchers now know". phys.org. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
291. Tierney, Jessica E.; Zhu, Jiang; King, Jonathan; Malevich, Steven B.; Hakim, Gregory J.; Poulsen, Christopher J. (August 2020). "Glacial cooling and climate sensitivity revisited". Nature. 584 (7822): 569–573. Bibcode:2020Natur.584..569T. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2617-x. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32848226. S2CID 221346116. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
292. "High-fidelity record of Earth's climate history puts current changes in context". phys.org. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
293. Westerhold, Thomas; Marwan, Norbert; Drury, Anna Joy; Liebrand, Diederik; Agnini, Claudia; Anagnostou, Eleni; Barnet, James S. K.; Bohaty, Steven M.; Vleeschouwer, David De; Florindo, Fabio; Frederichs, Thomas; Hodell, David A.; Holbourn, Ann E.; Kroon, Dick; Lauretano, Vittoria; Littler, Kate; Lourens, Lucas J.; Lyle, Mitchell; Pälike, Heiko; Röhl, Ursula; Tian, Jun; Wilkens, Roy H.; Wilson, Paul A.; Zachos, James C. (11 September 2020). "An astronomically dated record of Earth's climate and its predictability over the last 66 million years". Science. 369 (6509): 1383–1387. Bibcode:2020Sci...369.1383W. doi:10.1126/science.aba6853. hdl:11577/3351324. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 32913105. S2CID 221593388. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
294. Carrington, Damian (28 September 2020). "New super-enzyme eats plastic bottles six times faster". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
295. "Plastic-eating enzyme 'cocktail' heralds new hope for plastic waste". phys.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
296. Knott, Brandon C.; Erickson, Erika; Allen, Mark D.; Gado, Japheth E.; Graham, Rosie; Kearns, Fiona L.; Pardo, Isabel; Topuzlu, Ece; Anderson, Jared J.; Austin, Harry P.; Dominick, Graham; Johnson, Christopher W.; Rorrer, Nicholas A.; Szostkiewicz, Caralyn J.; Copié, Valérie; Payne, Christina M.; Woodcock, H. Lee; Donohoe, Bryon S.; Beckham, Gregg T.; McGeehan, John E. (24 September 2020). "Characterization and engineering of a two-enzyme system for plastics depolymerization". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (41): 25476–25485. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11725476K. doi:10.1073/pnas.2006753117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7568301. PMID 32989159. Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
297. Padmanaban, Deepa (6 November 2020). "Climate Change May Have Been a Major Driver of Ancient Hominin Extinctions". SAPIENS. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
298. "Climate change likely drove early human species to extinction, modeling study suggests". phys.org. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
299. Raia, Pasquale; Mondanaro, Alessandro; Melchionna, Marina; Febbraro, Mirko Di; Diniz-Filho, Josè A. F.; Rangel, Thiago F.; Holden, Philip B.; Carotenuto, Francesco; Edwards, Neil R.; Lima-Ribeiro, Matheus S.; Profico, Antonio; Maiorano, Luigi; Castiglione, Silvia; Serio, Carmela; Rook, Lorenzo (23 October 2020). "Past Extinctions of Homo Species Coincided with Increased Vulnerability to Climatic Change". One Earth. 3 (4): 480–490. Bibcode:2020OEart...3..480R. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2020.09.007. hdl:2158/1211341. ISSN 2590-3330.
300. "Driver of the largest mass extinction in the history of the Earth identified". phys.org. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
301. Jurikova, Hana; Gutjahr, Marcus; Wallmann, Klaus; Flögel, Sascha; Liebetrau, Volker; Posenato, Renato; Angiolini, Lucia; Garbelli, Claudio; Brand, Uwe; Wiedenbeck, Michael; Eisenhauer, Anton (November 2020). "Permian–Triassic mass extinction pulses driven by major marine carbon cycle perturbations". Nature Geoscience. 13 (11): 745–750. Bibcode:2020NatGe..13..745J. doi:10.1038/s41561-020-00646-4. ISSN 1752-0908. S2CID 224783993. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
302. "Large volcanic eruption caused the largest mass extinction". phys.org. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
303. Kaiho, Kunio; Aftabuzzaman, Md; Jones, David S.; Tian, Li (2020). "Pulsed volcanic combustion events coincident with the end-Permian terrestrial disturbance and the following global crisis". Geology. 49 (3): 289–293. doi:10.1130/G48022.1. Available under CC BY 4.0.
304. "Chance played a major role in keeping Earth fit for life". phys.org. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
305. Tyrrell, Toby (11 December 2020). "Chance played a role in determining whether Earth stayed habitable". Communications Earth & Environment. 1 (1): 61. Bibcode:2020ComEE...1...61T. doi:10.1038/s43247-020-00057-8. ISSN 2662-4435. S2CID 228086341. Available under CC BY 4.0.
306. "Earth Observatory". 28 February 2020. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
307. could cause fall in global CO2 emissions Guardian 10 Mar 2020
308. As China battles one of the most serious virus epidemics of the century, the impacts on the country's energy demand and emissions are only beginning to be felt. Carbon Brief 4 March 2020
309. EnserinkMay. 27, Martin (27 May 2016). "In dramatic statement, European leaders call for 'immediate' open access to all scientific papers by 2020". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 30 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
310. Khomami, Nadia (28 May 2016). "All scientific papers to be free by 2020 under EU proposals". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
311. Thwaites, Joe (18 December 2015). "What Does the Paris Agreement do for Finance?". WRI. WRI. Archived from the original on 10 April 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
312. Noack, Rick. "A decade ago, the world agreed to 20 biodiversity targets. It did not meet any of them". Washington Post. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
313. ^ "Destination Zero: seven years of Detoxing the clothing industry" (PDF). Greenpeace. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
314. "Greenpeace Calls Out Nike, Adidas and Puma for Toxic Clothing". Reuters. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
315. Best, Carlos Iglesias, Dhanaraj Thakur, Michael L. "Are We Losing Momentum?". cacm.acm.org. Retrieved 2020-09-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• 2020 in the environment
• 2020 in science