Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change Is The Earth Warming Faster Than We Thought? | Ep276: Peter Cox
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Sep 30, 2026 
Peter Cox, a climate system dynamics professor at Exeter and former IPCC author, explores whether Earth is warming faster than expected. They discuss the planet’s darkening surface, growing energy imbalance, climate feedbacks, Amazon and Arctic tipping points, and the hidden cooling effect of pollution. The conversation also considers clean-energy breakthroughs and the risks of solar radiation modification.
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Models Added Fire To Amazon Dieback
- Peter Cox’s early model projected abrupt Amazon forest dieback from warming and drying, before models included fires.
- Newer models show increased fire frequency as a major mechanism driving Amazon carbon loss.
Permafrost Feedbacks Remain Hard To Model
- Permafrost models still struggle with meter-scale heterogeneity inside grid cells spanning tens of kilometres.
- Methane hydrates remain a concern, but evidence suggests they are not currently among the fastest feedbacks.
Climate Models May Be Right For The Wrong Reason
- Models may reproduce observed warming for the wrong reason, because additional forcing or stronger feedbacks can produce similar outcomes.
- The growing energy imbalance and planetary darkening indicate that the system may contain partially modelled processes.