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This website gets skeptical about global warming “skepticism”.

WMO confirms 2025 was one of warmest years on record

21 January 2026 @ 8:26 pm

This is a re-post from the WMO Press Office The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has confirmed that 2025 was one of the three warmest years on record, continuing the streak of extraordinary global temperatures. The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest on record, and ocean heating continues unabated. Key messages

Skeptical Science New Research for Week #4 2026

21 January 2026 @ 11:37 am

Open access notables A desk piled high with research reports Mapping Europe’s rooftop photovoltaic potential with a building-level database, Kakoulaki et al., Nature Energy Individual building-level approaches are needed to understand the full potential of rooftop photovoltaics (PV) at national and regional scale. Here we use the European Digital Building Stock Model R2025, an open-access building-level database, to assess rooftop solar potential for each of the 271 million buildings in the European Union. The results show that potential capacity could reach 2.3 TWp (1,822 GWp residential, 519 GWp non-residential), with an annual output of 2,750 TWh based on current PV te

Fact brief - Do solar panels release more emissions than burning fossil fuels?

20 January 2026 @ 3:49 pm

FactBriefSkeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Do solar panels release more emissions than burning fossil fuels? NoSolar panels produce far less emissions than coal or natural gas. “Lifecycle emissions” counts all aspects of raw materials, manufacturing, transport, installation, operation, and disposal. A major National Renewable Energy Laboratory review of thousands of studies found that while so

Keep it in the ground?

19 January 2026 @ 9:04 pm

This is a re-post from The Climate Brink Recently there has been quite a debate online about the extent to which opposing near-term oil and gas infrastructure – pipelines, refineries, new production – is both necessary and politically effective as a strategy to reduce US emissions. These conversations have occurred in the context of a broader pivot toward affordability as a rallying cry of the left in the US, driven by concerns around the rapidly rising cost of housing, energy, and other goods. Matt Yglesias had a provocative piece in the NYT arguing that liberals should be less opposed to oil and gas, arguing that it might help make energy more affordable and win more conservative states and labor (without which there would be no

2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #03

18 January 2026 @ 3:27 pm

A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 11, 2026 thru Sat, January 17, 2026. Stories we promoted this week, by category: Climate Change Impacts (10 articles) As a climate scientist, I know heatwaves in Australia will only get worse. We need to start preparing now "During black summer, my daughters were too young to know what was happening. Now, amid another Australian heatwave, they deserve answers" Comment is Free, The Guardian, Opinion by Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Jan 8, 2026.

Skeptical Science New Research for Week #3 2026

15 January 2026 @ 8:46 pm

Open access notables A desk piled high with research reports Death Valley Illusion: Evidence against the 134°F World Record, Spencer et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society The world record hottest near-surface air temperature of 134°F recorded at Greenland Ranch, Death Valley, California on 10 July 1913 is demonstrated to be approximately 14°F hotter than what likely occurred on that date. Using July data from non–Death Valley stations during 1923–2024, we compute a range of temperature lapse rates diagnosed from the differences between Greenland Ranch station and the average of higher-elevation stations’ maximum temperatures (T MAX) and eleva

Climate Adam - Will 2026 Be The Hottest Year Ever Recorded?

14 January 2026 @ 3:10 pm

This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator and climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Video description Global warming continues to ramp up, with 2025 one of the hottest three years we've ever observed, and probably the hottest in over 100,000 years. With these scorching temperatures, we've seen devastation in the form of natural disasters, like heatwaves, wildfires, floods, storms and droughts. So what will this year bring in terms of climate change? And how are climate scientists able to answer this before the year is even fully underway? Ultimately, though, the biggest questions for a our climate have us much to do with the political as the planetary. Support ClimateAdam on patreon: https://pa

Fact brief - Does clearing trees for solar panels release more CO2 than the solar panels would prevent?

13 January 2026 @ 3:34 pm

FactBriefSkeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does clearing trees for solar panels release more CO2 than the solar panels would prevent? NoClearing trees to build solar farms does not negate their climate change benefits, because one acre of solar panels prevents far more CO2 emissions than an acre of forest absorbs. In the U.S., replacing equivalent natural gas power with one acre of s

Where things stand on climate change in 2026

12 January 2026 @ 8:06 pm

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year that just ended saw numerous records broken on climate and clean energy.  It was the second-hottest year on record at Earth’s surface, behind only 2024. The high temperatures were shocking for a year with a La Niña event. La Niñas draw cold water up to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, and hence are relatively cool years at Earth’s surface, while El Niño events have the opposite effect. 2025 was by far the hottest year with a La Niña event. For perspective, 1998 was a record-shattering hot year at the time because it experi

2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #02

11 January 2026 @ 3:45 pm

A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 4, 2026 thru Sat, January 10, 2026. Stories we promoted this week, by category: Climate Policy and Politics (8 articles) Analysis: UK renewables enjoy record year in 2025 – but gas power still rises Carbon Brief, Simon Evans & Ho Woo Nam, Jan 2, 2025. The Year in Climate: Attacks on Science, the Start of