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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 13/08/2026

How river flows in England have changed between March and August this year: Some have gone from "exceptionally high" to "exceptionally low" in just 5 months.

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 08/06/2026

Sign up now! Carbon Brief is launching “Cited”, a new fortnightly newsletter all about climate research. Cited will capture the latest papers, preprints and media coverage. Most importantly, it’s entirely free. The first edition is coming TOMORROW! bit.ly/4dVGEbz

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 04/05/2026

I’m at #EGU26 all this week for @carbonbrief.org. Do stop me and say hi – especially if you’ve got some interesting research coming!

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 02/03/2026

This past winter was the 8th wettest on record for England, according to provisional stats from the @metoffice.gov.uk It was the wettest winter on record for three counties: West Midlands, Cornwall and Leicestershire www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 01/07/2025

June was England's warmest on record and the UK's second warmest, according to the @metoffice.gov.uk www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 27/06/2025

More net-zero misinformation in the Daily Telegraph. It claims that a proposed scheme to put the cost of recycling onto packaging producers, rather than local councils, is a “net-zero glass tax”. It is about waste management, not net-zero. Somehow, this made it onto the frontpage 🤦

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 09/05/2025

NOAA has announced it will no longer be updating its Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database. (This is "in alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates & staffing changes") Here are the *27* $1bn weather-related disasters that hit the US last year:

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 02/01/2025

Last year was the 4th warmest on record for the UK, says the @metoffice.bsky.social, behind 2022, 2023 and 2014. www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 09/12/2024

I'm at #AGU24 in Washington, DC all this week for @carbonbrief.org. I'm keen to hear about new climate-related research – do stop me to say hello or drop me a message!

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 21/11/2024

The @carbonbrief.org sweepstake on when #COP29 will end has now closed. We've had 200+ guesses submitted. On average, they put the final "gavel-down" moment in the small hours of Sunday morning: Mean: Sunday 00:23 Median: Sunday 01:34 Mode (nearest hour): Sunday 03:00-04:00

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 19/11/2024

The @carbonbrief.org sweepstake on when #COP29 will formally end now has 112 guesses. Lots of people going for Sunday morning! Enter your exact day/time here if you want to join in: bit.ly/CBCOP29Gavel... No prizes, just bragging rights!

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 18/11/2024

The interactive includes a searchable table to find extremes that have been studied in particular parts of the world. Each extreme event or trend has its own card that summarises the key findings. 7/10

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 18/11/2024

Heat is the most studied type of extreme, accounting for 28% of cases in the map, followed by rain and flooding (24%) and drought (14%) 6/10

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 18/11/2024

The map reveals an uneven spread of extremes that have been studied around the world, with far more extremes analysed in the global north. 5/10

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 18/11/2024

Clicking on a region in the map brings up a summary of all the studied extremes in that part of the world: 4/10

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 18/11/2024

Such is the sheer quantity of attribution studies now, the new map gives a regional view: Size of the circles = the number of extremes studied Colour = the attribution finding: more (red) or less (blue) severe/likely, no influence (yellow) or inconclusive (grey) 2/10

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 12/11/2024

Finally, the average gender balance of #COP29 party delegations is 60% male to 40% female (not inc. “overflow” badges). This potentially makes Baku the COP with the most balanced delegations in history. (NB: This is based on the titles designated by UNFCCC, not CB) 6/7

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 12/11/2024

Unsurprisingly, the largest party delegation is from host country Azerbaijan with 2,229. This is a far cry from Azerbaijan’s pre-COP28 typical delegation of just six people. The next-largest delegations come from Brazil (1,914), Turkey (1,862), UAE (1,011) and China (969). 3/7

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 12/11/2024

More than 70,000 delegates have registered for #COP29 (67k to attend in person and 4k online). That’s a drop of ~15,000 from the record-breaking COP in Dubai last year – and marks the first time in seven years that a COP is not larger than its predecessor. 2/7

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 04/04/2024

So, fourth, what about the *actual* number of delay minutes caused by extreme weather? Well, they are also higher in recent years – even without the Q4 data for 2023-24: 7/9

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 04/04/2024

Third, the Telegraph is looking at the *proportion* of total delay minutes that are weather-related. The overall total number of delay minutes has been steadily increasing after the huge drop in train travel during Covid lockdowns. (NB, Q4 data for 2023-24 not out yet) 5/9

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 04/04/2024

Second, it’s highly misleading to draw a trend from 4 years of data. Look back a bit further (the ORR website has data back to 2016-17) and you can see that the proportion of weather-related delays in recent years is typically higher than before Covid: 4/9

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 04/04/2024

First, this category of delays includes more than just severe weather. It also includes problems with engineering structures and earthworks and issues caused by leaves on the line (hence “autumn”) Here’s the same chart, just focusing on extreme weather: 3/9

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 04/04/2024

Using data from the Office of Road and Rail, the Telegraph says train delays caused by “severe weather, autumn and structures” made up 10.3% of all delay minutes in 2020-21. By last year “that share had declined to 7.7%”, it adds. Here is a supporting chart from the article: 2/9

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 04/04/2024

FACTCHECK The @telegraphnews.bsky.social reported today that Network Rail's £2.8bn plan to cope with extreme weather has been “undermine[d]” because “weather-related train disruption has decreased over the past few years”. Let’s have a look at that claim: THREAD 1/9

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 01/03/2024

England and Wales have just had their warmest February on record, says the UK Met Office: England averaged 7.5C, while Wales averaged 6.9C. For more on how UK winters are getting warmer (and wetter), see @carbonbrief.org's recent analysis: www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how...

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 29/01/2024

In a new @carbonbrief.org guest post, @drgilbz.bsky.social unpacks the extraordinary year of 2023 for Antarctic sea ice. E.g. In July (in mid-winter), sea ice extent was almost 2.5m km2 smaller than the 1981-2010 average. That's an area larger than Algeria. www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-w...

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 01/12/2023

Finally, the average gender balance of #COP28 party delegations is 62% male to 38% female (not inc. overflow). There is just one all-male party delegation this year: North Korea. (Note: Here, gender is based on the titles designated by UNFCCC, not Carbon Brief.) 7/8

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 01/12/2023

More than 84,000 delegates have registered for #COP28 (81k to attend in person and 3k online). This would make it the largest COP *by miles*. That’s 30,000 people more than at COP27 last year (the previous biggest). 2/8

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 17/10/2023

The Greenland ice sheet has now lost ice overall for the 27th year in a row (see red line in chart below). Over the 12 months from Sep 2022 to Aug 2023, Greenland lost 196 billion tonnes of ice. All the details are in CarbonBrief's annual review: www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-h...

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 16/10/2023

New analysis by @hausfath.bsky.social for @carbonbrief.bsky.social shows there is a greater than 99% chance 2023 will be hottest year on record. That's "virtually certain" in IPCC parlance. www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-gre...

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