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This article comes 3 months after my previous article on the Climate Crisis. 

There have been many climate-related events in the last 3 months, and some great progress towards tacking the Climate Crisis. However, the current overall trend is one of continuing record-breaking global temperatures.

12 months of temperature records

The latest EU "Copernicus" Climate Change Service (C3S) report tells us that May 2024 marks 12 months of record-breaking global temperatures. Last month was 1.52°C above the estimated May average for the 1850-1900 pre-industrial reference period.

The C3S Deputy Director Samantha Burgess warns:

“The climate continues to alarm us - the last 12 months have broken records like never before - caused primarily by our greenhouse gas emissions and an added boost from the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific. Until we reach net-zero global emissions the climate will continue to warm, will continue to break records, and will continue to produce more ever more extreme weather events."

Global CO₂ concentration continues to rise

Despite efforts so far to reduce emissions, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report that CO2 levels are rising with one of the largest annual increases on record.

Whilst Climate Science is generally quite complicated, the relationship between CO2 concentration and global average temperature is quite simple. If CO2 levels continue to rise, so will the global average temperature.

The good news is that the opposite is also true, if we can reduce CO2 emissions, and bring global CO2 concentration under control, then we can limit the extent of Climate Change.

The Paris Agreement tells us that to limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43% by 2030.

Recent climate impact in Europe

We have recently seen extreme weather events in Europe that are a consequence of the changing Climate.

Early June brought severe / extreme flooding to parts of Germany with the sad loss of life and raises the question of whether such events are the new norm for Germany?

 

Greece has faced June temperatures exceeding 43°C - never has such a heatwave been observed so early in the summer. This has also sadly led to the loss of life and there will be more in 2024.

In Belgium, as we approach mid-summer, it seems that summer has not yet started. The main impact has been on agricultural yields, with the potato crop specifically impacted.

Climate science predicted this

If you are familiar with Climate Fresk, you will know that the interactive "card game" style of workshop includes Flooding, Heatwaves and Reduced Crop Yields as consequences of Climate Change, so we should not be surprised by what we are seeing in Europe.

In the last 3 months, the PMI European Climate Fresk initiative has made some good progress with the cumulative situation as of 20 June being:

• 16 Climate Fresk workshops held
• 86 PMI attendees (+ 11 non-PMI attendees)
• 19 PMI chapters represented
• 10 PMI Climate Fresk facilitators trained

We have already had 10 participants from PMI Belgium Chapter, and it would be great to increase that number.

We are holding monthly cross-chapter online Climate Fresk workshops (timing 18:00 - 21:00 Belgian time) - with the following dates (Thursday evenings) scheduled in 2024:

• 11 July
• 8 August
• 12 September
• 14 November
• 12 December

If you are interested in joining one of these please contact me via stuart.thorp@pmi-belgium.be.

There is no charge, and you can earn 3 PMI PDUs by attending.

If you go on to become a facilitator (which is straightforward given the high standard of preparation of the Climate Fresk workshop materials backed up by a strong training program) you can also develop some great Power Skills to apply in your professional work. 

We are also considering a "massively parallel" online cross-chapter Climate Fresk event featuring multiple parallel Climate Fresk workshops.

We are targeting Sept-Oct for this event and further news will follow once confirmed.

What if we take no action?

The risks of us taking no action, to limit global temperature rise to less that 1.5°C, are severe.

Leading Climate scientists have recently published further warnings that could have major impact in Europe.

I don't propose to detail these here but for those interested, you may follow up via the following links:

• Extreme and rapid reduction in northern European temperatures if the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) were to collapse: link
• Collapse of the “Doomsday Glacier" in Antarctica could elevate sea levels by around 65 cm and trigger 3 metres of sea-level rise due to other melting events: link

Other initiatives

In addition to Climate Fresk here are some additional Climate related initiatives that have progressed in the last 3 months:

• PM Untold: I was delighted to be invited to participate in a PMI Benelux "PM Untold" podcast. In this podcast, I describe my personal journey from R&D Engineer to Program Manager to Climate Activist. I also mentioned one of my 'climate heroes', a good friend who is country manager for a technical services company.  I mentioned that if all company managers behaved in the same way as him towards sustainability, the climate crisis would soon be solved.
  I'm delighted to share that his efforts have just been recognised through a company award for his leadership on Health, Safety and Sustainability matters. 
• PMIstandards+: I have been working with the PMI Global Standards+ team to develop a series of 6 articles on the subject of "Discounted Carbon Flow". The publication of this series should start during June-July. As a PMI member, you can access the PMIstandards+ platform here.

Conclusions

The good news is that as PMI members we have professional skills that can make a significant contribution towards tackling the Climate Crisis. This is well aligned to the PMI Purpose (why the PMI exists) of maximizing project success to elevate our world.

So, let's stay positive in the knowledge that we are contributing how we can, to make a positive difference.

Here's wishing you a sunny (but hopefully not too warm) and enjoyable summer in Belgium.