Time is almost up to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The University’s work at COP28 includes a vital reality check from the Global Carbon Budget, risks and opportunities presented in the Global Tipping Points Report and harnessing the power of poetry through We Are The Possible.
The University is renowned for its environmental research and education, and is home many of the world’s leading climate scientists. We now have more than 1,500 people working on the environment and climate emergency, and recently launched a new business support initiative called Green Futures Solutions. Exeter’s work at COP28 includes:
Professor Pierre Friedlingstein leads the annual Global Carbon Budget (GCB). Since 2006, GCB has been tracking the trends in global carbon emissions and sinks (natural carbon stores such as forests). More than 100 people from 80 organisations in 18 countries now work on GCB, which is presented each year at COP. This year’s report will provide a vital update on emissions – and our chances of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
More information at: https://globalcarbonbudget.org/
Exeter researchers including Professor Tim Lenton are leading the first Global Tipping Points Report. Climate tipping points – such as Amazon rainforest dieback and ice-sheet collapse – pose threats of a magnitude never faced by humanity. But positive tipping points could transform our economies and societies, guiding us out of the climate crisis and towards a safe, just and sustainable future. The report is the most comprehensive analysis of these threats and opportunities ever conducted, with strong recommendations for leaders meeting at COP28.
More information at: https://global-tipping-points.org/
We Are The Possible, led by Exeter’s Cecilia Mañosa Nyblon, is a collaborative interdisciplinary project that seeks to co-create new narratives to help us to understand our role as responsible beings with agency to imagine and forge a liveable future. Working at the interface of science, health, education and the arts, it has brought together hundreds of people from the UK and UAE to reflect upon the plight of our planet and deliver a creative and inspiring response. Harnessing the beauty and power of poetry, education, theatre and music, it has taken its outputs to COP28 where it directly addressed world leaders, with no less than 13 events taking place in the Blue Zone, Green Zone and cultural venues in Dubai.
More information here: https://greenfutures.exeter.ac.uk/our-impact/we-are-the-possible/
Professor Richard Betts, Tom Powell and Anna Murphy are leading a report in partnership with the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and researchers across Africa to provide a unique assessment of the climate change risks and opportunities for African communities. Launched at COP28, it will provide investors with a comprehensive understanding of the future climate risks based on a range of global warming scenarios. The research will tackle the questions of how infrastructure investors can support climate resilient and clean socio-economic development. The report will pinpoint the best ways to mobilise infrastructure investment to empower African communities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
More information here: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/institutes/gsi/research/sustainablefinance/pidg/
EEIST is a three-year programme led by the University of Exeter and funded by the UK Government and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. It develops cutting edge complexity-based modelling solutions to support government decision making around low-carbon innovation and technological change, aiming to facilitate a rapid low-carbon transition. It brings together world-leading expertise in complex systems modelling, economics and climate and environmental policy to better understand, and contribute to climate policy initiatives in China, Brazil, India, the UK and EU. EEIST is due to conclude at the end of 2023 and a final report and briefings will be published for COP28.
More information at: https://eeist.co.uk/
The University of Exeter will be involved in a wide range of other events at COP28, and we have scientists presenting work on the Arctic, Antarctica, the oceans and rainforests collaborating with other partners from around the world. Check out our events page for the latest updates.
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