🌍 Record-breaking global sea surface temperature spike determined as a 1-in-500-year event

Welcome back to the 25th issue of the Sustainability Newsletter by Interesting Engineering. 

Last month, scientists assessed the adaptive capacity of tropical American forests and discovered that species in Mesoamerican cloud forests have been moving uphill since 1979 due to climate change and deforestation. The study determined that lowland forests show greater trait changes than montane forests, with adult trees adapting to drier conditions but new growth lagging and failing to keep pace with climate change.

This month, scientists have determined that the 2023-2024 record-breaking global sea surface temperature anomaly was identified as an exceedingly rare event in a new Nature study. They estimate it to be a 1-in-500-year event associated with the current global warming trajectory.

In another latest update, 700 tons of highly radioactive active nuclear waste in Germany has caused an uproar. This huge quantity of radioactive nuclear waste reached the northern German port of Nordenham, Lower Saxony. It came from a specialist nuclear transport vessel, triggering uproar in the region. The waste is the result of reprocessing fuel elements from decommissioned German NPPs at the U.K.’s Sellafield site. The nuclear waste came to Germany after its transport license was approved in December 2024.

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NEWS BULLETIN

🔋 Panasonic to recycle nickel from used lithium batteries for circular EV economy
The company aims to use 20% recycled cathode material in its automotive batteries by 2027.

🌳 Building a greener future: timber’s role in sustainable construction
Robert Hairstans explains how offsite timber building can cut carbon, boost efficiency, and transform the industry.

☢️ 700 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste reaches Germany, triggers uproar
The first of the containers are four meters (13 feet) long and weigh over 100 tons.

🛰️ Space probe to map carbon content of world’s remotest tropical forests
Revolutionary scanner to be fired into Earth orbit this month to measure effects of deforestation

🚢 Study: Burning heavy fuel oil with scrubbers is the best available option for bulk maritime shipping 
Researchers analyzed the full lifecycle of several fuel options and found this approach has a comparable environmental impact, overall, to burning low-sulfur fuels.

💧 UK to build its largest 1.8 GW pumped hydro project, to power 1.4 million houses 
When full, the project’s upper reservoir will store enough energy to generate 22 hours of electricity, integrating more renewables into the UK energy system.

🔌 Europe’s first net-zero project to get world’s largest high-voltage sea cable network 
NKT is executing a substantial capital investment program to scale its high-voltage production capabilities in Karlskrona.

MUST-READ

Record-breaking global sea surface temperature spike determined as 1-in-500-year event

A new Nature study has found that the record-breaking global sea surface temperature anomaly from 2023-2024 was indeed an extremely rare event. It was deeply influenced by the existing global warming trajectory. 

Scientists focused on the unprecedented record-breaking global sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly, particularly, seeing a significant jump of 0.25 degrees Celsius above the previous record set in 2015-2016, which occurred between April 2023 and March 2024.

This ocean temperature spike has been estimated to be a 1-in-500-year occurrence, given current warming, as per the study. 

These findings were discerned by the global ocean system and climate model simulations. Researchers sought to interpret the implications of this climatic occurrence and whether it strays away from the established long-term warming trend.

The study noted using 270 simulations from a wide range of fully coupled climate models. “We show that these models successfully simulate such record-shattering jumps in global ocean surface temperatures, underpinning the models’ usefulness in understanding the characteristics, drivers and consequences of such events,” the study noted.

Now, the surface ocean temperatures are expected to revert to the “expected long-term warming trend.”

The study was published on March 12, 2025, in the journal Nature.

OTHER IMPORTANT UPDATES

🧪 Scientists turn CO2 from forestry into plastic raw materials using new method
⚡ EV energy boost: Breakthrough plasma treatment could double supercapacitor capacity
🇧🇷 Brazil to host Prince William's Earthshot Prize
🇨🇦 Canada nuclear body allows modular reactor’s manufacturing for emissions-free energy
💰 The Swedish city fined for missing an environmental target
🌧️ US prepares for deadly floods with many National Weather Service offices understaffed
🌕 Living on the moon? Honda’s hydrogen tech could power a future lunar colony
🌬️ Wind energy showdown: Siemens Gamesa takes on China with 21.5MW offshore beast turbine
🌙 99% savings: Radiation-proof solar cells made from moon dust to power lunar bases

🌍 Act to shrink your carbon footprint

The latest “State of the Climate 2024” report released by the United Nations highlights “increasing levels of greenhouse gases” such as carbon dioxide [CO2] in the atmosphere caused by human activities as the major driver of climate change.

Rising temperatures, driven by human-induced climate change, are contributing to more frequent and severe extreme weather events globally, such as heatwaves, cold spells, floods, droughts, wildfires, and storms. 

Among other key actions, the UN recommends a huge focus shift to climate finance. It urgently calls for actors to scale both the quantity and quality of this finance. Some key priorities include:

• Transforming the financial system with an emphasis on concessional financing and de-risking;

• Bridging climate and development needs, harnessing synergies to deliver co-benefits for both people and nature;

• Mobilizing domestic capital, with an emphasis on enabling policies and regulatory frameworks;

• Improving the availability and accessibility of quality, granular data to measure and manage progress.