The Science theme day at COP27 is going to examine recent science on climate change and look to strengthening collaboration and the use of data. On this page we've looked at some of the headline science that confirms that our climate is changing, and we've celebrated some of the successes of science in the climate arena. (Youth & Future Generations also runs as a theme today).
Thank you, heavenly father that all wisdom comes from you. We thank you for questioning minds, fierce intellects, lateral thinking, creative reasoning and innovative solutions. We ask for funding and opportunities to implement great science.
Father God – creator of all things. We thank you for the intricate ways that you have created interdependencies at macro and micro levels. We confess that we often overlook how the destruction of one thing impacts on many other things in faraway places which then impacts on the livelihoods of many people. We pray for today’s sessions that discuss the development of a global scientific hub for climate change research and what is needed to harmonize efforts to advance collaboration in implementing research findings.
We pray for the work being done to reduce the negative impact of climate change on health. We pray for global solutions to common problems like antimicrobial resistance and food poisoning. We pray for innovative approaches.
We pray particularly for Africa and the impact on the natural environment over the last three decades because of climate change, recognising that Africa is disproportionately affected by greenhouse gas emissions despite only contributing a minute amount. Give us a heart to mourn the melting of Africa’s remaining glaciers in the next few decades. We know that the consequent reduction in water which is essential to agricultural production will create food insecurity, poverty, and population displacement. Forgive us, forgive me. We pray for the development of climate-friendly agriculture, such as efficient, clean energy and micro-irrigation. We pray for the provision of easy access to weather and climate information, especially to women who make up a large percentage of the agricultural workforce and are the most vulnerable.
Psalm 111: 1-4 (NIV)
Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
James 1: 17 (NIV)
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Here we have chosen to list the headline science (summarised with references by NASA) that tells the story of a planet under climate stress. Of course these headlines have knock-on impacts on people, animals and plants...
Global temperature is rising: the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1°C since the late 19th century, largely as a result of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere by human activity. 2016 and 2020 tie for the ‘accolade’ of warmest year on record.
The ocean is getting warmer: 90% of the extra heat energy produced by climate change is stored in the ocean, with the top 100m of water now 0.33°C warmer than in 1969.
Ice sheets are shrinking: the Greenland ice sheet lost an average of 279 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2019 while Antarctica lost about 148 billion tons per year. (To put this into context, that’s a combined annual loss of a volume equivalent to about 16.7 billion double decker buses. That's enough buses to cover the whole of Scotland and still have to park 40 million of them in England. That's a lot of ice being lost each year)!
Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska, and Africa.
Snow cover is decreasing: the amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and the snow is melting earlier. (Scotland was completely snow-free this year for the ninth time since records began: seven of those instances have been since 1996).
Sea level is rising: global sea level rose about 20 cm during the 20th century, but the rate of rise over the last twenty years is nearly double that and accelerating slightly each year.
Arctic sea ice is declining: both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades.
Extreme events are increasing in frequency: globally the number of floods and other hydrological events have quadrupled since 1980 and the frequency of climatological events (e.g. extreme temperatures, droughts, and forest fires) and meteorological events (e.g. storms) have doubled since 1980.
Ocean acidification is increasing: since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30% because of carbon dioxide absorption. Over recent decades ocean waters have absorbed between 20% and 30% of total anthropogenic (produced by humans) carbon dioxide emissions (that’s 7.2 to 10.8 billion tonnes per year).
Good science has enabled us to understand what is happening to the world and why it is happening, but it is also often the basis of innovative solutions that help us reduce carbon emissions (mitigation) and help us live with the consequences of climate change (adaptation). The list below is a taster arising from a quick internet search.
The recent IPCC report Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change lists 239 authors (77 women and 162 men) from 217 institutions across 57 countries. Even taking into account the fact that most worked in discrete groups on individual chapters of the report, this represents a significant international collaboration, common across most United Nations research.
Big data - historical and real-time - is playing an increasingly important role in the understanding of climate issues.
Simple solutions highlighted by World Vision include the use of fuel-efficient cooking stoves in India and solar-powered water supply networks in Afghanistan.
Our current green power generation options - wind, solar, hydro - all started life in a laboratory and future energy innovations could include solar canals, batteries produced from lithium in geothermal brines, innovative energy storage solutions.
Whilst carbon capture remains a controversial subject, there are some innovative solutions that could provide an interim solution e.g. pairing wind turbines with carbon dioxide capture technology.
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: How to Accelerate Global Climate Action: Review of the findings of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports - these provide the most up-to-date understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on ecosystems, biodiversity and human communities.
Uniting Global Scientific Research: Efforts To Tackle Climate Change: Development of global scientific hub for climate change research, learning from the way academic institution have been successful in developing partnerships in climate research.
Health and climate change: One Health for all: one vision and one response: One health for all, an approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems. Focus on e.g. zoonotic disease, food poisoning and antimicrobial resistance, including potential innovative approaches and solutions.
Global And Regional Environmental Conventions, Assessments and Outlooks: Harmonizing our Efforts: Examination of the scientific results of recent global and regional environmental assessments (see further reading), analysing current and past environmental policies and identifying future options.
Africa's Changing Environment: Improve Africa's Resilience to Climate Change: Focus on Africa’s changing environment with a view to improving its resilience to climate change.
COP27 Global Stocktake Climate Datathon: Presentation from winners of the recent COP27 Global Stocktake (GST) Climate Datathon which was a call for open data and tools to support the GST ahead of COP27.
The role of Research, Development, and Innovation in addressing climate change: Technology Transfer and Knowledge Sharing. Launching Initiative: Innovation for Climate: Launch of the initiative Innovation for Climate, an initiative brings together Egyptian, African and international research, development and innovation leaders across academia, industry and NGOs, to focus on addressing and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals under climate changes.
Dust Particles as regulators for the climate system: Consideration of the impact of dust particles on the climate system and the controlling processes. Dust storms affect daily human life over a vast area of the Earth and at different levels over many ecosystems and there is a need to better understand causes and systems.
The interplay of data and earth sciences addressing coral reefs habitats and other marine habitats: Examination of data for coral reef and other marine habitats. Coral reefs are important in sustaining the health of oceans and economy, but there is little information about the changes reefs are undergoing as a result of climate change.
