What is science telling us about the actions we can collectively take to reduce the rate of climate change?

With the hottest January on record and severe weather events causing flood and coastal damage throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, are these the signs that global warming caused by emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases due to human activities are having a clear impact?

Following the announcement that the United States plan to cease their participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement, will the rest of the world be able to manage the responsibility of mitigating climate change without the world’s largest economy? What does New Zealand need to be doing now?

About the speaker

Scottish academic Professor Jim Skea co-chairs IPCC Working Group III, the branch of the IPCC that looks at the actions that can be taken to reduce the rate of climate change. He is also a founding member of the UK's Committee on Climate Change. With research interests in energy and technological innovation, he is a highly respected and longstanding contributor to global climate change research and policy-making.

Jim is in New Zealand for a meeting of the IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land, one of three Special Reports that the IPCC will publish in the next two years.

The IPCC was founded in 1988 to assess research on climate change. Their Fifth Assessment report was released in 2014 and subsequently, at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change conference, the Paris Agreement was negotiated and resulted in 174 (out of 195) countries agreeing to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.

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For comprehensive resources on the implications of climate change, the impact on health, and mitigation options for New Zealand, visit royalsociety.org.nz/climate-change-and-new-zealand

Views that are expressed at this event may not reflect those of Royal Society Te Apārangi.

photo credit. Wellington South Coast storm damage, Dave Allen, NIWA