A LEADING climate scientist at a Scottish University has described a major climate change report published today as crucial for the future of the planet.
Dr Michael Byrne is a lecturer in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews is a contributing author to three chapters of the UN report
The report covers various environmental topics including temperature and humidity changes over land, the water cycle and tropical rainfall.
Recently Dr Byrne’s research group has overhauled traditional understanding of how land regions respond to climate change, and this new understanding forms a key pillar of the upcoming report.
Fellow St Andrews scientists, such as Professor Rob Wilson and Dr James Rae, also of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, also contributed their research to the report.
Dr Byrne said: “The report’s findings on the links between global warming and extreme weather events are keenly anticipated following numerous record-breaking heatwaves and flooding events around the world in recent years.”
“It is impossible to overstate the importance of this report. It presents the latest physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, combining evidence from past climates, instrumental observations, process understanding and computer simulations.
Claims from Dr Byrne state that the IPCC report is an urgent ‘call to action’ for governments, institutions and individuals around the world to tackle their emissions of greenhouse gases.
It is hoped that the report spurs governments into urgent action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to slow global warming before it becomes catastrophic.
The University of St Andrews has committed to a target of carbon net zero by 2035, demonstrating ambition and leadership when it comes to tackling the defining issue of this generation.
