Grantham Institute for Climate Change
Encyclopedia
The Grantham Institute for Climate Change is one of four Global Institutes at Imperial College London
. The Institute was founded in 2007 with a £12m donation from the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, an organisation set up by Hannelore and Jeremy Grantham
.
The Institute brings together climate and global environmental change expertise from across the College to drive forward climate change
related research and translate it into real world impact. Their aim is to improve the interaction between researchers and decision makers in business and governments, communicating research to help ensure that choices are based on the best understanding of the science and evidence available.
To achieve their goals the Institute is supported by a team of experts who provide an analysis and assessment of research outputs, communicated in a policy-relevant way.
This team publishes Briefing Paper documents that are aimed disseminating the scientific understanding, possible solutions and outcomes to government, business and NGOs.
(Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment) and the other at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Divecha Centre for Climate Change). All institutes have a mandate to work closely with each other to deliver world class research and impact within climate and global environmental change science.
, a weather and climate scientist who, in a career spanning over forty years, has contributed widely to the scientific understanding of the weather, climate and climate change.
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
. The Institute was founded in 2007 with a £12m donation from the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, an organisation set up by Hannelore and Jeremy Grantham
Jeremy Grantham
Jeremy Grantham is a British investor and Co-founder and Chief Investment Strategist of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo , a Boston-based asset management firm. GMO is one of the largest managers of such funds in the world, having more than US $107 billion in assets under management as of December 2010...
.
The Institute brings together climate and global environmental change expertise from across the College to drive forward climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
related research and translate it into real world impact. Their aim is to improve the interaction between researchers and decision makers in business and governments, communicating research to help ensure that choices are based on the best understanding of the science and evidence available.
To achieve their goals the Institute is supported by a team of experts who provide an analysis and assessment of research outputs, communicated in a policy-relevant way.
Research
Research at the Institute is focused on four core ‘themes’:- • Earth Systems Science
- - understanding and modelling of key climate processes
- - examination of biosphere-atmosphere interactions and feedbacks
- • Risks, Extremes & Irreversible Change
- - understanding the likelihood of extreme events in the future
- - the potential impact of such events and changes on biodiversity and ecosystems
- - investigating the limits of natural adaptive change
- - informing the design of resilient human infrastructure and systems
- • Sustainable Futures
- - the transition to a low-carbon economy
- - exploring natural mitigation & the potential for carbon storage in ecosystems
- - research into policy & market frameworks to support a low-carbon economy
- • Vulnerable Ecosystems & Human Wellbeing
- - the impact of environmental change on ecosystems
- - the pressures & consequences of climate change on ecosystems
- - investigating potential sustainable management plans & policy mechanisms to manage impacts
Policy implications
A dedicated Policy Team is tasked with the delivery of research projects, publications, partnerships and events, aimed at communicating the science behind global environmental change and its impacts.This team publishes Briefing Paper documents that are aimed disseminating the scientific understanding, possible solutions and outcomes to government, business and NGOs.
Grantham Communities
The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment also funds two other research institutes: one at the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
(Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment) and the other at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Divecha Centre for Climate Change). All institutes have a mandate to work closely with each other to deliver world class research and impact within climate and global environmental change science.
Leadership
The Grantham Institute’s Director is Professor Sir Brian HoskinsBrian Hoskins
Professor Sir Brian John Hoskins CBE FRS, is a British dynamical meteorologist and climatologist based at the Imperial College London. A mathematician by training, his research has focused on understanding atmospheric motion from the scale of fronts to that of the Earth, using a range of...
, a weather and climate scientist who, in a career spanning over forty years, has contributed widely to the scientific understanding of the weather, climate and climate change.
Projects
The Institute’s partnerships with the private and public sector are a key area for its impact and helps ensure its research is relevant and of a high quality. Current work includes:- Climate KIC
- A consortium of academic, corporate & public partners and part of the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) initiative set up by the European Institute of Innovation. The Climate-KIC aims to use its partnerships to develop innovative solutions to major global challenges.
- Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Directorate
- Led by the University of Edinburgh, this Directorate provides leadership to the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) research programme, which aims to deliver research to improve the understanding of how ecosystems function, the services they provide and their relationship with the political economy and sustainable growth.
- The AVOID Programme
- A government-funded research programme on “Avoiding Dangerous Climate ChangeAvoiding Dangerous Climate ChangeThe related terms "avoiding dangerous climate change" and "preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" date to 1995 and earlier, in the Second Assesment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change and previous science it cites.In 2002, the United Nations...
" (AVOID). The consortium is led by the Met Office Hadley Centre and the other partners are the Walker Institute at Reading, and the Tyndall Centre. Under this programme work is carried out to translate research into more focussed policy-relevant evidence to inform the UK Government’s decision making on avoiding dangerous climate change brought on by greenhouse gas emissions.