Izza and the ICAEW: Five years on

'ONE MAN, ten threats, 130,000 problems' was Accountancy Age's headline in our magazine on 26 October 2006.

The story referred to the impending appointment of chief operating officer Michael Izza to CEO of the ICAEW, replacing the institute's first-ever chief Eric Anstee.

The 130,000 problems equated to the institute's membership. Rather than ask them all individually if they had a beef with the ICAEW, Accountancy Age instead ran through ten key issues facing the institute. These included: falling membership numbers; trying to attract more students; rebuilding relations within the CCAB; and improving the decision-making process from what was considered a large and unwieldy council.

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Companies unsure of legal obligations to report emissions

The discovery was made in the first ever carbon accounting survey of 1,000 companies globally, by business software supplier Eipicor. The study also revealed 58% of business leaders had not even heard of the term "carbon accounting".

The UK is one of the first countries to implement a statutory reporting obligation on environmental emissions.

Last year the Carbon Reduction Commitment was introduced which forced organisations that spend more than £500,000 annually on energy bills, to account for, report and pay for energery related emissions.

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La Amazonía como problema de seguridad nacional

"La deforestación en la Amazonia implica para América Latina pérdida de competitividad e inversiones".

Alejandro Litovsky es el fundador de Earth Security Initiative, una iniciativa con sede en Londres según la cual existe un nuevo escenario de riesgos financieros en la región.

La generación de energía hidroeléctrica y la exportación de productos agropecuarios –que dependen de la lluvia producida por la Amazonía- pueden verse comprometidos, según Litovsky.

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Will inequality finally top the agenda at Davos?

The problem of inequality has finally been thrust into the spotlight as the global elite convene in Switzerland.

As the global elite gathers for the World Economic Forum this week, the "Occupy" igloos popping up around Davos, Switzerland should serve as a great visual reminder: Inequality can no longer be ignored.

For the last several years I ticked the box "Inequality" in the pre-Davos survey checking out what participants are most concerned about - while fervently wishing (though doubting) it would then appear as a major trend in the summarised results. Before and after the crash of 2008, other issues topped the agenda, but last year for the first time a majority of invitees shared disquiet about the rising levels of inequality in the world. Of course this might be because the captains of industry and world leaders attending were probably not the ones dutifully filling out surveys, but still…

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First report on UK climate impact

Climate change this century poses both risks and opportunities, according to the first comprehensive government assessment of its type.

The report warns that flooding, heatwaves and water shortages could become more likely.

But benefits could include new shipping lanes through the Arctic, fewer cold-related deaths in winter and higher crop yields.

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Will India's poor remain hungry?

A proposed Food Security Act would help - but not solve - the nation's food insecurity.

As India's proposed new Food Security Act hovers in political limbo, the nation remains hungry. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made headlines in early January when he labelled the fact that 44 per cent of children less than five years old were underweight and 65 children die each day of malnutrition "a national shame". In all, 21 per cent of all Indians are undernourished.

Indeed, India ranks among the 15 hungriest countries in the world according to the Global Hunger Index - a grim fact made even grimmer when one recalls that one out of every six people on Earth lives in India.

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Sustainability Nears a Tipping Point

The majority—70 percent—of executives surveyed by the third annual Sustainability & Innovation Global Executive Study conducted jointly by The Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review said that their companies have made sustainability a permanent fixture on the management agenda. These and other findings—and their implications for companies and lessons for managers—are detailed in Sustainability Nears a Tipping Point, a research report published in MIT Sloan Management Review. This special report follows up on sustainability trends identified in an earlier preview article published in the Winter 2012 issue of the Review.

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Government loses second case on solar tariff cut

The government has failed in an appeal against a decision which blocked its attempts to reduce solar subsidies.

The Court of Appeal case involved the government's move to halve the payments made to households with solar panels, which it says are unsustainable.

However, the government has said it will seek leave to take the case to the UK's Supreme Court.

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More with Less: Scaling Sustainable Consumption and Resource Efficiency

This report focuses on how consumption can be made more sustainable through decoupling growth from environmental impact at the scale and speed required. It builds on four years of engagement by the World Economic Forum with leading businesses around the issue of sustainable consumption. Through this engagement with chief executive officers, business leaders and experts, the report aims to answer six key questions:

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Can solar power help shipping go green?

From a distance, the yellow-and-blue ferry docking at the pier resembles the scores of other vessels that hop between Hong Kong's outlying islands and the peninsula every day.

But a closer look as passengers disembark, reveals a grid of gleaming solar panels on the ferry's roof and, instead of the usual throbbing engine noise, there is a barely audible buzz.

The Solar Eagle and three similar vessels shuttle golfers to tee off on an 18-hole island course. Together they form the world's first hybrid powered ferry fleet and a commercial proving ground for technology that could transform the future of marine travel.

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Masa de agua dulce en el Ártico podría cambiar el clima en Europa

Una gran masa de agua dulce en el Océano Ártico está creciendo y podría llevar a un descenso en la temperatura de Europa, advirtieron científicos británicos.
Hielo en el Ártico

Investigadores del Centro Nacional de Oceanografía del Reino Unido y el Centro de Observaciones y Modelos Polares, CPOM, de University College en Londres, utilizaron imágenes satelitales para medir la altura de la superficie marina entre 1995 y 2010. Los científicos concluyeron que en una zona del Ártico la superficie se ha elevado 15 cms desde 2002, causando la aparición de un domo o cúpula de agua.

El volumen de agua fresca aumentó en ese período al menos un 10% del total de agua dulce en el Océano Ártico.

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Anti-corruption debate divides India

Millions across the country hit the streets in solidarity with Anna Hazare, but is the movement losing momentum?

Six months after millions of Indians took to the streets protesting against corruption, the government has rejected anti-corruption legislation.

Anna Hazare, an anti-corruption activist, whose two-phase fast-unto-death catapulted him to national hero status, is sick and the movement he spearheaded seems to have lost momentum.

"The anti-corruption movement was a reflection of people’s anger and frustration. It was also the issue of maladministration and corruption in government agencies," Nikhil Dey, a social activist associated with the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, told Al Jazeera.

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Combating Climate Change: How Entrepreneurs are doing what Congress can't or won't

"Historically, when environmentalists see a problem, their reaction is to regulate it," says Mark Clevey, a clean technology guru who has helped dozens of green small businesses in Michigan get off the ground. “When entrepreneurs see a problem, their reaction is to seek a solution that’s profitable.” Clevey contends that entrepreneurial approaches usually produce better solutions faster than regulation.

Clevey is right. What’s more, I believe the entrepreneurial approach produces better political solutions as well. When entrepreneurial solutions work, they create new jobs and business opportunities. These are big plusses, effectively countering objections that environmental safeguards destroy jobs and harm the economy. At the moment, for example, such objections are stalling climate legislation in the U.S. Senate.

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Partnering Against Corruption Initiative - Annual Report 2011

A comprehensive review resulted in the revised PACI Strategy for 2011-2012. The revised strategy builds on the fundamental value proposition of providing a platform for business leaders to share, learn and develop leading-edge thinking and best practices in the fight against corruption, and adds new components that stress collective action and high-level policy impact.

PACI’s overall objective is to facilitate the alignment and acceptance of international anti-corruption norms at the corporate and country level. The strategy is defined by three pillars:

1. Shaping the evolving corporate best practice in implementing effective anti-corruption programmes to prevent, detect and address corruption
   
2. Enabling collective action through public-private partnerships to address root causes of corruption and develop scalable model process solutions
   
3. Helping to define the international anti-corruption architecture through influencing public policy and the effective enforcement of laws and regulations and through alignment and scaling of private-sector engagement in fighting corruption

See full Annual Report.

Girasoles inspiran paneles solares más eficientes

Científicos en Estados Unidos y Alemania investigaron con modelos matemáticos la forma más eficiente de orientar paneles solares. Y la respuesta, para sorpresa de los expertos, ya había sido hallada por la naturaleza hace millones de años.

Alexander Mitsos y Corey Noone, del Instituto Tecnológico de Massachussets, MIT por sus siglas en inglés, comenzaron estudiando la distribución de los paneles solares en la planta de concentración solar conocida como PS10, cerca de Sevilla, en el sur de España.

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Arctic Ocean freshwater bulge detected

UK scientists have detected a huge dome of fresh water that is developing in the western Arctic Ocean.

The bulge is some 8,000 cubic km in size and has risen by about 15cm since 2002.

The team thinks it may be the result of strong winds whipping up a great clockwise current in the northern polar region called the Beaufort Gyre.

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La lucha en Ecuador por salvar "los pulmones del mundo"

En la luz del amanecer, el río Napo -que corre con rapidez desde su fuente en las alturas de los Andes- se arremolina poderosamente al paso de nuestra embarcación.

De repente, una nube densa de loros verdes desciende en picada desde la selva y, al compás de la bulla que produce su carreteo, recoge agua de la ribera enlodada.

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China’s drive for ‘green’ cars hits roadblocks

Foreign and domestic car makers are struggling to sell environmentally friendly vehicles in China, the world’s largest auto market, even as Beijing pumps billions into clean energy.

China wants five million “new energy” vehicles on the streets by 2020 to ease chronic pollution and reduce reliance on oil imports, but high prices, lack of infrastructure and consumer reluctance are creating major roadblocks.

The number of electric and hybrid vehicles currently in the country is tiny at about 100,000, mostly in government fleets, according to an industry estimate.

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Solid solutions

Can the development of carbon-negative cement clean up the heavily polluting construction industry?

In the early 1900s, inventor Thomas Edison had a flash of inspiration: concrete homes, cast in one piece. Concrete bathtubs and beds would be integral to the design. Occupants could even play concrete pianos. Unsurprisingly, such homes weren’t as successful as Edison’s light bulbs. Few were made – pouring concrete into a mould the size of a house proved tricky – but some still stand in New Jersey.

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Race to save Ecuador's 'lungs of the world' park

The Yasuni National Park, known as "the lungs of the world" and one of the most bio-diverse places on earth, is under threat from oil drilling. The race is on to find the funds required to develop new sustainable energy programmes that would leave the oil - and the forest - untouched.

In the early light of dawn, the Napo River, running swiftly from its headwaters in the high Andes, swirled powerfully past the bow of our motorised canoe.

Suddenly, a dense cloud of green parrots swooped down from the canopy of the jungle and in a cackling din started scooping tiny beakfuls from the exposed muddy bank.

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Beijing releases air pollution data

Authorities in the Chinese capital Beijing have started releasing more detailed data on air quality.

It comes in response to public criticism of levels of pollution and official openness about measuring it.

Beijing previously released levels of air-borne PM10 - particles more that 10 microns across.

But officials on Saturday released data for PM2.5, smaller particles which can penetrate deep into the lungs and are seen as better indicators of pollution.

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Europe's ethical eggs

A ban on battery cages for hens that was adopted in 1999 has finally been implemented throughout the European Union.

Forty years ago, I stood with a few other students in a busy Oxford street handing out leaflets, protesting the use of battery cages to hold hens. Most of those who took the leaflets did not know that their eggs came from hens kept in cages so small that even one bird - the cages normally housed four - would be unable to fully stretch and flap her wings. The hens could never walk around freely, or lay eggs in a nest.

Many people applauded our youthful idealism, but told us that we had no hope of ever changing a major industry. They were wrong.

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El niño canadiense que llevó agua a África

La historia del canadiense Ryan Hreljac y de su ONG que construye pozos en África se parece a uno de esos cuentos en los que un sueño se convierte en realidad.

Una mañana, cuando tenía seis años, su maestra le explicó a la clase cómo muchos niños en África tenían que andar durante kilómetros para conseguir agua.
Contenido relacionado

"Recuerdo que otro alumno preguntó cuánto tenían que andar para llegar a un lugar con agua potable y ella respondió cinco mil pasos", relata por teléfono Hreljac, que hoy tiene 20 años.

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Design space: flight paths to save fuel

The Irish Aviation Authority manages the air traffic in 500,000sq km of Irish-controlled airspace. About 1,000 aircraft fly through this area every 24 hours.

Traditionally, the aircraft route went from one ground-based radio beacon to the next, effectively zigzagging across the area. However, following improvements in on-board navigation equipment, pilots no longer had to rely on the beacons. So, aircraft were often cleared by the IAA to fly straight across its air space.

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Meghalaya, India: Where women rule, and men are suffragettes

In the small hilly Indian state of Meghalaya, a matrilineal system operates with property names and wealth passing from mother to daughter rather than father to son - but some men are campaigning for change.

When early European settlers first arrived here they nicknamed it "the Scotland of the East" on account of its evocative rolling hills.

Coincidentally, today the bustling market in the state capital, Shillong, is awash with tartan in the form of the traditional handloom shawls worn ubiquitously since the autumn chill arrived.

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14 medidas contra el cambio climático

A pesar de la falta de un acuerdo global sobre reducción de emisiones de CO2, pueden tomarse otras medidas concretas para reducir el impacto del cambio climático, según un nuevo estudio.

Un equipo internacional de investigadores liderados por Drew Shindell, del Instituto Goddard de Estudios Espaciales de la NASA, elaboró una lista de 14 acciones específicas que, de llevarse a cabo, podrían reducir el calentamiento global promedio en medio grado centígrado para 2050.

Las acciones también tendrían otros efectos positivos, como la reducción en el número de muertes por enfermedades respiratorias y un aumento de hasta 135 millones de toneladas métricas por temporada en la producción agrícola, según los científicos.

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Grave Contaminacion del aire en China

US audit watchdog hopes for China deal in 2012

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are currently trying to hash out an agreement on joint audit inspections with the Chinese.

The PCAOB, which was created to polic auditors following the collapse of Enron, has so far been unable to grant its inspectors access to audit reports relating to Chinese businesses listed in the US.

James Doty, (pictured) chairman of the PCAOB, said there were 36 Chinese-based auditors issuing audit opinions but "have not performed the basic obligations," at a recent press conference Reuters reports.

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2012 Annual Letter From Bill Gates

Throughout my careers in software and philanthropy—and in each of my annual letters—a recurring theme has been that innovation is the key to improving the world. When innovators work on urgent problems and deliver solutions to people in need, the results can be magical.

Right now, just over 1 billion people—about 15 percent of the people in the world—live in extreme poverty. On most days, they worry about whether their family will have enough food to eat. There is irony in this, since most of them live and work on farms. The problem is that their farms, which tend to be just a couple acres in size, don’t produce enough food for a family to live on.

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El ecosistema mediterráneo, el más amenazado del planeta

The Top 5 Corporate Governance Challenges at Zynga

Zynga (ZNGZ: Nasdaq), the social gaming leader, went public on December 16, 2011, following months of hype and speculation. It followed several high-profile internet companies in the IPO class of 2011, including LinkedIn (LNKD: NYSE), Pandora (P: NYSE) and Groupon (GRPN: Nasdaq).

Turbulent market conditions made it difficult to get to that celebratory opening bell, let alone do so successfully. The internet sector, this year, made life harder for itself and Zynga exemplifies the trend.

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Remarks at the Transatlantic Corporate Governance Dialogue

by Chairman Mary L. Schapiro, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Good morning, welcome to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is a pleasure to see so many individuals, from such diverse backgrounds and so many nations coming together in Washington for a dialogue on issues that will affect economies on both sides of the Atlantic.

In a world where most observers are focused on broad macroeconomic indicators — interest rates, retail sales, movements in the financial markets and so on — corporate governance often gets short shrift.

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Towards justice in development

Law and justice play a fundamental role in development processes. In rich and poor countries alike, regulations and rule systems—consisting of a complex web of formal institutions, informal arrangements and hybrid social norms—shape everything from education, land use and agriculture to labor standards, market exchange and everyday social interactions. But even after many decades of concerted effort, much remains to be learned regarding how equitable justice systems emerge and how the international community can best support this process.This ongoing confusion largely stems from a singular focus on reforming formal justice institutions, and in the process missing important contests around rights and entitlements that occur across and within broader justice systems.

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Is climate change a reptile’s best friend?

Tests on one type of lizard species have suggested warmer nests could make some reptiles smarter.

When researchers incubated the eggs of Bassiana duperreyi, a mountain-dwelling Australian skink, at warmer-than-usual temperatures, they grew up to perform especially well on a learning task.

Herpetologists knew reptiles incubated in warmer nests developed differently, but linking hotter egg temperatures to increased intelligence is a first.

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Sins of Emission and Omission in Durban

As we slide into another year of tough economic times, it’s easy to understand why policymakers are preoccupied with the next few weeks. But they also need to be thinking about the longer term issue of leaving the planet in reasonable shape for future generations.

Without serious efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, scientists predict that by the end of this century global temperatures could be 2.5 to 6.0OC higher than a couple of hundred years ago. That could mean more heatwaves, more droughts, higher sea levels, more violent storms—and so on. When you start to think about the potential impact of, say, droughts on the livelihood of farmers, especially in poorer countries… well, you get the point.

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ACI's Ten To-Do's for Audit Committees in 2012

In this fifth annual message to directors, KPMG's Audit Committee Institute (ACI) highlights 10 items for audit committees to keep in mind as they consider and carry out their 2012 agendas.

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“SEC Reform After Dodd-Frank and the Financial Crisis”

by Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Thank you, David (Hirschmann), for your very kind introduction.

I am honored to be here today with Congresswoman Emerson and Congressman Garrett. And it is a unique pleasure to share airtime with my dear friend and former boss, Commissioner Paul Atkins, my friend Brian Cartwright, who was formerly the General Counsel of the SEC, and my friend, former Commissioner Roel Campos. Roel, I am taking care of your old office – Paul’s furniture looks great in it!

Before I begin my substantive remarks, I have to provide the boilerplate disclaimer that my comments today are my own, and do not necessarily represent the positions of the Commission or my fellow Commissioners.

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Journal of Accountancy: The 20 most popular stories of 2011

FRC issues an update responding to country and currency risk in financial reporting

The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued An Update to Directors of Listed Companies: Responding to increased country and currency risk in financial reports. The Update was issued due the current economic uncertainties in numerous countries. The Update aims to provide issues to UK listed companies that may occur when responding to the increasing country and currency risk when filing their annual and semi-annual financial reports. The Update notes the following:

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Regional Antitrust Chief Shot 3 Times

The chief of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service's Ivanovo region branch was shot Monday morning while heading to work, investigators said.

Alexander Borovkov was shot three times and seriously wounded, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. As of Monday afternoon, he was hospitalized in grave condition, Interfax reported.

He was shot as he got out of his car to enter the service's office building in the town of Ivanovo, about 200 kilometers northeast of Moscow.

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World Band anti-corruption authorities website

Welcome to the Anti-Corruption Authorities (ACAs) Portal. This portal creates a platform for sharing ideas and experiences between various ACAs, practitioners and international actors. This web based platform allows ACAs to articulate new ideas, collaborate with other practitioners and international actors and collectively address common challenges. The information provided is validated by ACAs' staff through the use of surveys and interviews. Each ACA has its own country profile page and can incorporate relevant materials on the site. The site will be constantly updated to include additional information as it becomes available and to correct factual errors. Please contact us if you have any questions or comments.

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Audit service quality in compulsory audit tendering: Preparer perceptions and satisfaction

Purpose – The paper aims to analyse audit service quality attributes that were perceived to be important in compulsory audit tendering (CAT) in local councils in New South Wales (NSW). It focuses principally on whether CAT leads to an impairment of auditor independence and audit quality.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was conducted of 235 NSW local council finance professionals and 35 local council internal auditors in May 2006.

Findings – The most important attributes in evaluating audit service quality were industry expertise, audit firm experience with a council, technical competence, independence, ethical standards and due care. The least important attributes were scepticism, freshness of perspective, audit firm size, and non-audit services. There is considerable consistency in the findings with those in non-CAT contexts.

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FSB chief in call to rein in ‘shadow banking’

“Shadow banking” must be dragged into the harsh light of day and both it and global banks must be forced to serve the real economy, one of the world’s top regulators has warned.

These market-based sources of credit, which include corporate bond sales and direct lending by hedge funds, are now half the size of the traditional banking sector and growing still, even as many banks scale back their lending.

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Corporate governance and the value-relevance of accounting information: Evidence from Australia

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the relationship between corporate governance and the value-relevance of accounting information in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses board, audit committee and external audit related variables to proxy for corporate governance. Value-relevance is measured by the adjusted R2 derived from a regression of stock price on earnings and equity book values following Ohlosn's accounting-based valuation framework.

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NASA Study Shows Health, Food Security Benefits From Climate Change Actions

The research, led by Drew Shindell of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, finds that focusing on these measures could slow mean global warming 0.9°F (0.5°C) by 2050, increase global crop yields by up to 135 million metric tons per season and prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year. While all regions of the world would benefit, countries in Asia and the Middle East would see the biggest health and agricultural gains from emissions reductions.

"We've shown that implementing specific practical emissions reductions chosen to maximize climate benefits would also have important 'win-win' benefits for human health and agriculture," said Shindell. The study was published today in the journal Science.

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Martin Luther King Day

New ICAEW website on auditing

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) has launched a new website dedicated to auditing and its possible reform. The website contains high-level information about the nature and value of auditing, possible options for change, details of current reviews, and a question and answer section.

Access the True and Fair website.

Related NASA AGU news briefing materials may be found here.

New research into the Earth's paleoclimate history by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies director James E. Hansen suggests the potential for rapid climate changes this century, including multiple meters of sea level rise, if global warming is not abated.

By looking at how the Earth's climate responded to past natural changes, Hansen sought insight into a fundamental question raised by ongoing human-caused climate change: "What is the dangerous level of global warming?" Some international leaders have suggested a goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times in order to avert catastrophic change. But Hansen said at a press briefing at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco on Tues, Dec. 6, that warming of 2 degrees Celsius would lead to drastic changes, such as significant ice sheet loss in Greenland and Antarctica.

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Human rights as demands for communicative action

Summary: A key issue with human rights is how to allocate duties correlative to rights claims. But the philosophical literature, drawing largely on naturalistic or interactional accounts of human rights, develops answers to this question that do not illuminate actual human rights problems. Charles Beitz, in recent work, attempts to develop a conception of human rights more firmly rooted in, and helpful for, current practice. While a move in the right direction, his account does not incorporate the domestic practice of human rights, and as a result remains insufficiently instructive for many human rights challenges. This paper addresses the problem of allocating correlative duties by taking the practices of domestic courts in several countries as a normative benchmark. Upon reviewing how courts in Colombia, India, South Africa, Indonesia, and elsewhere have allocated duties associated with socio-economic rights, the paper finds that courts urge parties to move from an adversarial to an investigative mode, impose requirements that parties argue in good faith, and structure a public forum of communication. The conclusion argues that judicial practice involves requiring respondents to engage in communicative, instead of strategic, action, and explores the implications of this understanding of human rights.

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Why should sustainable finance be given priority?: Lessons from pollution and biodiversity degradation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the relatively new concept of sustainable finance, although very apt and timely, needs to address many major issues for it to be meaningful and if it is to achieve its desired objectives.

Design/methodology/approach – The study identifies some of the major issues that need to be clarified and addressed including: defining the kind of sustainability that is envisaged; examining issues relating to the use of high-discount rates and its compatibility with the goals of sustainability; the case of excessive pollution due to adverse selection, moral hazard and lobbying; and specialisation and path dependent systems that are detrimental to future production.

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Who cares about human rights?

At a recent gathering of World Bank staff in Helsinki to take stock of progress on activities supported by the Nordic Trust Fund on Human Rights (NTF), one found lawyers, health specialists, economists and other social scientists. There were participants from all regions, from network anchors and from operations; there were those focused on research, those integrating human rights perspectives into operations, and those supporting our clients’ efforts to strengthen human rights. The breadth of perspectives and backgrounds represented is striking. Since staff and teams self-select into the NTF, this is not necessarily a random group of staff. But from conversations with many others, I’ve yet to meet anyone who does not care about human rights.

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Earth's energy imbalance and implications

Improving observations of ocean heat content show that Earth is absorbing more energy from the Sun than it is radiating to space as heat, even during the recent solar minimum. The inferred planetary energy imbalance, 0.58±0.15 W/m2 during the 6-yr period 2005-2010, confirms the dominant role of the human-made greenhouse effect in driving global climate change. Observed surface temperature change and ocean heat gain together constrain the net climate forcing and ocean mixing rates. We conclude that most climate models mix heat too efficiently into the deep ocean and as a result underestimate the negative forcing by human-made aerosols. Aerosol climate forcing today is inferred to be -1.6±0.3 W/m2, implying substantial aerosol indirect climate forcing via cloud changes. Continued failure to quantify the specific origins of this large forcing is untenable, as knowledge of changing aerosol effects is needed to understand future climate change. We conclude that recent slowdown of ocean heat uptake was caused by a delayed rebound effect from Mount Pinatubo aerosols and a deep prolonged solar minimum. Observed sea level rise during the Argo float era is readily accounted for by ice melt and ocean thermal expansion, but the ascendency of ice melt leads us to anticipate acceleration of the rate of sea level rise this decade.

See full Study.