A Schym research programme / IPCC AR6
Climate Change Data Stories
What is changing, who is exposed, and which responses are working? Twenty-five questions, grounded in the IPCC and tested against newer evidence.
NASA/GSFC/Michael Studinger. The calving front of Gyldenlove Glacier in southeast Greenland, photographed during Operation IceBridge in 2011. Contextual image; not used to estimate a trend. Image credits.
- Scientific frame
- IPCC AR6 / 2023
- Research programme
- 25 questions / 3 sections
- Evidence ledger
- 1 data study / 24 primers
- First source update
- IGCC 2025 / June 2026
The research programme
25 questions for a changing climate.
The IPCC supplies the scientific frame. New evidence tests the individual questions.
25 of 25 questions
CLIM-01What does a cooler year say about warming?
How does an annual temperature change compare with changes between complete decades in the same observational record?
CLIM-02How do CO2 emissions and atmospheric growth differ?
What accounts for the difference between annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions and the annual increase in atmospheric carbon?
CLIM-03Do Arctic and Antarctic sea ice tell the same story?
How do seasonal sea-ice changes differ between hemispheres when months, reference periods and measurement definitions are held consistent?
CLIM-04What does ocean heat reveal that surface temperature misses?
How do changes in ocean heat storage compare with surface-temperature variation over aligned, sufficiently long observation windows?
CLIM-05How is heat exposure changing for vulnerable people in Germany?
Do German heat indicators and age-specific heat exposure describe the same changes when geography and observation periods are aligned?
CLIM-06How does heat change the capacity to work outdoors?
How do modeled heat-related labor-capacity losses differ across sectors and countries with different adaptation-readiness profiles?
CLIM-07Where do European weather losses and insurance gaps coincide?
How do reported economic losses and insured shares differ across European countries, and what remains hidden by national readiness scores?
CLIM-08How do historical emissions compare with present vulnerability?
Do countries' positions change when cumulative fossil CO2, current per-capita emissions and present vulnerability are considered separately?
CLIM-09Where does water stress coincide with food vulnerability?
Which countries combine high baseline water stress with vulnerable food systems, and how stable is that comparison across indicator choices?
CLIM-10Do stronger readiness scores coincide with health adaptation planning?
How do national adaptation-readiness profiles compare with reported health adaptation planning among countries covered by comparable survey rounds?
CLIM-11What does another half-degree mean for European summer heat?
How do regional summer-temperature and heat-extreme projections differ between global warming levels of 1.5, 2 and 3 degC?
CLIM-12Where could changing water stress challenge electricity systems?
Which countries combine projected changes in water stress with electricity mixes that warrant closer examination of water dependence?
CLIM-13Why does coastal planning need more than a 2100 endpoint?
How do observed global sea-level change and assessed longer-term commitment alter the questions asked of coastal infrastructure vulnerability?
CLIM-14Where could summer heat and drying intensify together?
Do Central European regional projections show concurrent shifts in summer heat and moisture conditions across the same models and scenarios?
CLIM-15How much does a remaining carbon budget depend on its assumptions?
How do published remaining-budget estimates vary with temperature limit, likelihood and assumptions about non-CO2 warming?
CLIM-16What pace of emissions reduction do assessed pathways imply?
How do recent global emissions changes compare with the reduction ranges in AR6 Table SPM.1 on a compatible accounting basis?
CLIM-17How does time above a warming level differ across scenarios?
What do compact global scenario trajectories show about the magnitude and duration of warming-level exceedance within their published time horizons?
CLIM-18Is clean electricity displacing fossil generation or meeting new demand?
How much of the change in fossil electricity generation is accounted for by total generation growth and changes in non-fossil output?
CLIM-19Which German sectors account for the emissions change?
How are changes in Germany's reported greenhouse gas emissions distributed across sectors, gases and alternative reference years?
CLIM-20Does clean-energy finance reach the same regions as new capacity?
How does the regional distribution of tracked renewable-energy finance compare with the distribution of wind and solar capacity additions?
CLIM-21How much do headline carbon prices reveal about emissions coverage?
How do published carbon prices, covered emissions shares and sector coverage differ across national and regional pricing instruments?
CLIM-22How large are carbon-pricing revenues beside tracked climate investment?
What is the scale of reported carbon-pricing revenue relative to tracked climate-finance flows over genuinely comparable periods?
CLIM-23Does cleaner electricity coincide with lower air-pollution health burdens?
How do changes in fossil electricity generation compare with published air-pollution mortality estimates across a fixed country panel?
CLIM-24Does adaptation finance reach the most vulnerable regions?
How does the regional distribution of tracked adaptation finance compare with the distribution of country vulnerability within those regions?
CLIM-25What does the grant-and-debt mix reveal about adaptation finance?
How do the financial instruments used for tracked adaptation finance vary across reporting regions and their readiness profiles?
The scientific frame
Three different kinds of question.
An observation is not a projection. Exposure is not vulnerability, and an emissions inventory is not a measure of historical responsibility. The programme preserves those distinctions before comparing the numbers.
- SPM.A / Current Status and Trends
- Observed change, impacts, and the gaps in adaptation and mitigation.
- SPM.B / Future Climate Change, Risks and Long-Term Responses
- Warming levels, carbon budgets, irreversibility, and conditional pathways.
- SPM.C / Responses in the Near Term
- Technology, policy, equity, adaptation, and the finance that enables action.