Research on climate change

The following section provides links to research institutes, research programmes and research projects focusing on climate change.

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) — 13 Dec 2007: AMAP is an international organization established in 1991 to implement components of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). Now a programme group of the Arctic Council, AMAP's current objective is to provide reliable and sufficient information on the status of, and threats to, the Arctic environment, and to provide scientific advice on actions to be taken in order to support Arctic governments in their efforts to take remedial and preventive actions relating to contaminants.
Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo (CICERO) — 04 May 2007: CICERO’s mission is to provide reliable and comprehensive knowledge about all aspects of the climate change problem.
Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) — 04 May 2007: CLIVAR is the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) project that addresses Climate Variability and Predictability, with a particular focus on the role of ocean-atmosphere interactions in climate. It works closely with its companion WCRP projects on issues such as the role of the land surface, snow and ice and the role of stratospheric processes in climate.
Climatic Research Unit (CRU) — 04 May 2007: The Climatic Research Unit is concerned with the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change. It has developed a number of the data sets widely used in climate research, including the global temperature record used to monitor the state of the climate system, as well as statistical software packages and climate models.
European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA&D) — 04 May 2007: The European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA&D) project presents indices for monitoring and analysing changes in climate extremes, as well as the daily dataset needed to calculate these indices. ECA&D is initiated by the European Climate Support Network ECSN and supported by the Network of European Meteorological Services EUMETNET.
German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) — 13 Dec 2007: The WBGU is an independent, scientific advisory body. Its principal tasks are to analyse global environment and development problems and report on these, review and evaluate national and international research in the field of global change, provide early warning of new issue areas, identify gaps in research and to initiate new research, monitor and assess national and international policies for the achievement of sustainable development, elaborate recommendations for action and research and raise public awareness and heighten the media profile of global change issues.
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) — 04 May 2007: GCOS is a long-term, user-driven operational system capable of providing the comprehensive observations required for monitoring the climate system, for detecting and attributing climate change, for assessing the impacts of climate variability and change, and for supporting research toward improved understanding, modelling and prediction of the climate system. GCOS addresses the total climate system including physical, chemical and biological properties, and atmospheric, oceanic, terrestrial hydrologic, and cryospheric components.
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) — 13 Dec 2007: GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is a European initiative for the implementation of information services dealing with environment and security. It will be based on observation data received from Earth Observation satellites and ground based information. These data will be coordinated, analysed and prepared for end-users, so they can better understand each other and make environmental and security-related information available to the people who need it through enhanced or new services.
Hadley Centre for Climate Change — 04 May 2007: The Met Office Hadley Centre is the UK’s official centre for climate change research. Partly funded by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), it provides in-depth information to, and advise, the Government on climate change issues.
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) — 04 May 2007: The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) is a research programme that studies the phenomenon of Global Change. IGBP studies the interactions between biological, chemical and physical processes and interactions with human systems and collaborates with other programmes to develop and impart the understanding necessary to respond to global change.
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) — 04 May 2007: The Linkages team of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Reporting Services (IISD RS), provides news, information and analysis from international environment and sustainable development negotiations. The team of experts regularly updates the “Linkages” website and produce two-widely read publications – Linkages Update and the MEA Bulletin – which are sister publications of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) — 13 Dec 2007: Weather and climate basics
Pew Center on Global Climate Change — 13 Dec 2007: The Pew Center on Global Climate Change brings together business leaders, policy makers, scientists, and other experts to bring a new approach to a complex and often controversial issue. Its approach is based on sound science, straight talk, and a belief that we can work together to protect the climate while sustaining economic growth.
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) — 04 May 2007: PIK addresses crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impact and sustainable development. Researchers from the natural and social sciences work together to generate interdisciplinary insights and to provide society with sound information for decision making. The main methodologies are systems and scenarios analysis, modelling, computer simulation, and data integration.
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research — 04 May 2007: The Tyndall Centre brings together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists, who together are working to develop sustainable responses to climate change through trans-disciplinary research and dialogue on both a national and international level - not just within the research community, but also with business leaders, policy advisors, the media and the public in general.
UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) — 04 May 2007: The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) provides scenarios that show how our climate might change and co-ordinates research on dealing with our future climate. UKCIP shares this information, free of charge, with organisations in the commercial and public sectors to help them prepare for the impacts of climate change.
UNEP Global Outlook for Ice and Snow — 13 Dec 2007: The Global Outlook for Ice and Snow investigates the linkages between ice, snow and climate change. It also presents information on the trends in ice and snow, the outlook for this century and beyond and the consequences to ecosystems and human well-being of these changes. It covers all parts of the cryosphere (the world of ice): snow, land ice, sea ice, river and lake ice, and frozen ground.
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) — 04 May 2007: The World Climate Research Programme is sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The two overarching objectives of the WCRP are to determine the predictability of climate and to determine the effect of human activities on climate.
Joint Research Centre - Institute for Environment and Sustainability (JRC-IES) — 13 Dec 2007: The mission of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability is to provide scientific-technical support to the European Union's policies for the protection and sustainable development of the European and global environment. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.
Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP) — 26 May 2011: CCCEP brings together some of the world's leading researchers on climate change economics and policy, from many different disciplines, to advance public and private action on climate change. It is hosted by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Leeds University. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Munich Re.
Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment — 26 May 2011: The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment is a research centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The mission of the Grantham Research Institute is to be a world-leading centre for policy-relevant research, teaching and training in climate change and the environment. It is funded by philanthropists Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham, through their Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.
Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London — 04 Aug 2011: The Grantham Institute was founded with a mandate to drive forward climate change related research, translating this into real world impact and communicating our knowledge to help shape decision-making. The Institute is already integrating researchers and capabilities from all areas of the College necessary to tackle the challenges of climate change and the environment, through which we will work to offer practical scientific and technical knowledge of the highest quality. The Institute is supported by a team of experts who provide authoritative analysis and assessment of research outputs, communicating it in a policy-relevant way to decision makers. It is a sister institute of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.