The transport sector accounts for over one quarter of global CO2 emissions. It is one of the few industrial sectors where an increase in CO2 emissions are seen, especially from car use, road freight and aviation. It is known that apart from new technologies, policy-making and behavioural changes are needed in order to change this state of affairs. There is thus a pressing case for making the transport sector more climate-friendly and, inter alia, more sustainable.

There is widespread agreement to reduce CO2 emissions from transport by a minimum of 50% at the latest by 2050. This goal, in turn, is putting professionals, enterprises and other stakeholders in the transport sector, as well funding bodies and banks supporting projects in this field, under a lot of pressure. They all need to work harder towards reducing emissions caused by transport, by implementing solutions at the short, medium and long term. On the other hand, climate change is known to directly affect transport infrastructure (e.g., roads, bridges, sea ports) with significant financial costs and development implications. Adequate attention to these impacts is needed, so as to ensure that transport investments will deliver their intended benefits

The above state of affairs, combined with the Paris Agreement led by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector, illustrates the need for a better understanding of how transport contributes to climate change and how climate change affects the transport sector, and for the identification of processes, methods and tools which may help to cope with both sides of the coin. There is also a perceived need to showcase successful examples of how to make the transport sector more resilient to climate change, how to cope with the various problems transport poses in terms of the release of greenhouse gases, and how the transport sector can be part of the solutions towards addressing climate change as a whole.

Climate change is known to impact coastal areas in a variety of ways. According to the 5th Assessment Report produced by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), coastal zones are highly vulnerable to climate change and climate-driven impacts may be further exacerbated by other human-induced pressures

In North America, multiple pressures - including urbanization and coastal development, habitat loss and degradation, pollution, overexploitation of fish stocks and natural hazards- affect the coastal ecosystems, hence exacerbating the impacts of climate change in coastal zones. In particular, sea level rise changes the shape of coastlines, contributes to coastal erosion and leads to flooding and salt-water intrusion in aquifers.

Climate change is also associated with other negative impacts to the natural environment and biodiversity, which include damages to important wetlands, and to the habitats that safeguard the overall ecological balance, and consequently the provision of ecosystem services and goods on which the livelihoods of millions of people depend. These impacts are particularly acute in North America, which endeavours to become more resilient to damages caused by hurricanes, floods and other extreme events.

The above state of affairs illustrates the need for a better understanding of how climate change affects coastal areas and communities in North America, and for the identification of processes, methods and tools which may help the communities in coastal zones to adapt and become more resilient. There is also a perceived need to showcase successful examples of how to cope with the social, economic and political problems posed by climate change in coastal regions in North America.

Allied Academies invites all participants across the world to join 5th Annual Congress on Climate Change which is going to be held during August 24-26, 2017 at Birmingham, UK. Climate Congress-2017 is a trending event which brings together efficient international academic scientists, young researchers, and students making the congress a perfect platform to share experience, gain and evaluate emerging technologies in Climate change and global warming. Initiation of cross-border co-operations between scientists and institutions will be also facilitated. The Main theme of the Conference is “Innovative research Supporting effective responses to climate change”. This conference provides two days of great opportunity to discuss on recent approaches and advancements for development of new techniques in Climate Change.

Die Konferenz soll den Diskurs über Idealisierungen und Modellhierarchien des Erdsystems voranbringen, die Werkzeuge für das Verständnis des Klimawandels sind.

Die „4ICESM“ wird sich auf die vier unten genannten Themen konzentrieren. Ergänzt werden die Themen durch Präsentationen über die Geschichte, Philosophie und Soziologie der Erdsystemforschung.

Vorträge und Posterbeiträge zu den folgenden vier Themen, von denen jedes Thema durch zwei eingeladene Vorträge eingeleitet wird, sind erwünscht: 

I. Clouds, circulation and climate sensitivity (Convenors: Bjorn Stevens und Sandrine Bony)
II. Decadal prediction and attribution (Convenors: Jochem Marotzke und Gabi Hegerl)
III. Modelling past climate changes (Convenors: Martin Claußen und Pascale Braconnot)
IV. Carbon feedbacks in the climate system (Convenors: Tatiana Ilyina und Pierre Friedlingstein)

Weitere Informationen sowie einer Liste von bestätigten Referenten werden zeitnah bekannt gegeben.

Climate change is among the major challenges of modern times. As the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the COP 24 recommendations call from action not only from government, but also from various stakeholders.

Apart from the knowledge offered by modelling and forecasts which allows us to understand the problem and how it develops in the future, we need to know more about approaches, methods and tools, which may help us to cope with the social, economic and political problems posed by climate change now. In order words, we need to speed up developments in the field of climate change adaptation.

The Annual Meetings of the EMS aim at fostering exchange and cross-fertilization of ideas in the meteorological, climatological and related communities, focusing particularly on strategic issues relevant to the future of meteorology in Europe.

The EMS Annual Meetings are organised alternately with the European Conference on Applied Climatology (ECAC) and the European Conference on Applications of Meteorology (ECAM).

Ranging from science to public policy, there is a growing need for advanced modeling and simulation and their application in various fields of the geosciences. These include renewable energies (e.g. thermal, wind), underground waste disposal and cleanup of hazardous waste, earthquake prediction, weather prediction, and global climate change, along with the well-established fields of petroleum exploration and recovery. In the interdisciplinary enterprise of modeling of such processes, mathematical modeling at appropriate scales is impossible without further developments in mathematical theory, probability and statistics, numerical approximations, and large-scale computational algorithms.

The conference has a long tradition in subsurface modeling as well as atmospheric / ocean / climate and general hydrologic modeling. It aims to facilitate communication between scientists of varying backgrounds facing similar issues in different fields and perspectives and provide a forum in which advances in parts of the larger modeling picture can become known to those working in other parts. In particular, this enables an enhanced exchange between various branches of applied mathematics with the geosciences, ensures the dissemination of appropriate tools and methods, and fosters useful fundamental research in applied mathematics. These kinds of interactions are needed for meaningful progress in understanding and predicting complex physical phenomena in the geosciences.

Climate policies and climate governance both at a national and international level have been formalized thanks partly due to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and due to peer pressure posed by the countries keen to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Indeed, climate policies are seen as the basic elements of any action on climate change at the national level, since they are the tools via which global conventions and agreements -such as the Paris Agreement- may be implemented. Governance systems are, in turn needed, since they translate shared concerns about the global environment at the national level, and offer a sound basis upon which collaborative efforts to respond to the emerging challenges of global environmental change and can be implemented. Indeed, governance systems great facilitate the measurement, reporting and verification procedures, which have been central to much of the debates at the COPs.
Bearing in mind that there is a significant gap between the emissions reduction pledges made at the 2015 Paris Summit, and what is required to ensure that global warming does not exceed the global 2 degrees centigrade target, sound climate policies and solid climate governance are essential in order to overcome the difficulties of  implementing the current binding agreements.
Operationally, climate change policy as a whole and climate governance in particular, act as enablers to the actual implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, a process which entails a wide range of issues such legal frameworks, financing, monitoring and technology transfer.  Combined, they help to facilitate the implementation  of an international climate regime. Together, they prevent a more fragmented approach to global climate action, integrate the works of the various institutions concerned with various aspects of climate policy, and help to develop the institutional means via which the spirit and principles of climate negotiations may be put into practice.
The key importance of climate policy and climate governance illustrates the need for a better understanding of how both may be duly implemented, and for the identification of processes, methods and tools which may help the countries and regions to take fully advantage of the many opportunities climate change policies and governance offer to them.
There is also a perceived need to showcase successful examples of how climate policy and climate governance has assisted countries to handle the social, economic and political challenges posed by climate change.

Der Forschungsverbund „Regionale Klimaänderungen“ (REKLIM) der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft lädt in diesem Jahr zu seiner 7. Regionalkonferenz am 14. September 2017 nach Leipzig ein. REKLIM wurde 2009 mit dem Ziel gegründet, die regionalen Auswirkungen und Folgen des Klimawandels zu untersuchen. Im Mittelpunkt des Programms, das in diesem Jahr federführend vom Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung vorbereitet wird, stehen die Fragen:

• Wie entwickeln sich Extremereignisse und welche Auswirkungen erwarten wir?
• Wie kann Anpassung gestaltet werden?
  

Der aktuelle Stand des Klimawissens und der gesellschaftliche Umgang mit den Folgen des Klimawandels werden hierzu in Vorträgen von Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern aus dem Forschungsverbund REKLIM wie auch von Vertreterinnen und Vertretern aus den Bundesländern, Kommunen und Verbänden aufgezeigt.

Achieving water security is one of the major challenges faced by society on both a global and local level, as it is essential to promote economic and social development as well as resources sustainability. Recent global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction relate substantially to questions of water security.

The necessity of a platform for academics and practitioners from various sectors to discuss the diverse facets of water security in dynamic environments and its relation to climate variability and change is highlighted during the WSCC 2016 conference at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok; which forms the rationale behind the WSCC 2017.

WSCC 2017 aims to build a bridge between disciplines, sectors and different groups of stakeholders, the conference will serve as a platform for discussions towards water secure societies by providing a stimulating environment with the intention to yield innovative ideas and grounds for implementation. Starting with a public opening event, the WSCC aspires to offer abundant opportunities for exchange. The thematic sessions, organized by prominent organizations expert in the relevant fields, are the main component of the conference. The sessions are designed to approach the new dimensions and perspectives in the current discourse on water security. In addition, discussion podiums and dialogue forums serve as interactive, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary spaces; where the scientific community would be linked with policy, industry and society.

Climate change impacts and rising adaptation needs – future challenges for water related research
The intention of the 8th Water Research Horizon Conference is to bring together scientists from various disciplines, in order to analyse the perspectives of water research with respect to the challenges and opportunities arising from the COP21 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) process – impacts of climate change and adaptation to expected changing conditions – and to develop future solution-oriented research directions from regional and international perspectives.
The main focus of the conference will be water related research challenges linked to climate change impacts at 1.5 to 2° C as well as to rising adaptation needs.

Der Europäische Katastrophenschutzkongress ist eine internationale Fachkonferenz, welche die Entscheidungsträger und Akteure des nationalen, europäischen und internationalen Bevölkerungsschutzes über die aktuellsten Entwicklungen informiert. Der Kongress fördert den aktiven Dialog zwischen Behörden, Stiftungen, Universitäten und Experten aus dem Katastrophen-, Bevölkerungs- und Zivilschutz. Jährlich ist diese Konferenz Treffpunkt für 800 bis 1.000 Teilnehmer aus mehr als 40 Nationen. Gemeinsam reflektieren sie politische Entwicklungen, vertiefen Kooperationen und schaffen Netzwerke.

Cities are one major focal point of human culture, the global population further consolidates into cities and in parallel they are major emitters and therefore a relevant component of the global climate problem. While cities are characterised by an overwhelming complexity they are also threatened by climate impacts. Thus, it is a challenge to develop cities into entities, which consume fewer resources, emit less CO2 and pollution, be more resilient to the impacts of climate change, and be more sustainable in general.
However, there are potential synergies and conflicts in the objectives of mitigation, adaptation, and sustainability strategies. These are no more vivid than in urban areas, where they play out through land use, infrastructure systems, and the built environment.
This conference will explore the latest advances in research and practice addressing climate change in cities, including issues of infrastructure, planning, governance, economics of adaptation, risk management, and their possible trade-offs and synergies with mitigation and sustainability objectives. Invited speakers will complement the conference program.

“Climate and Cities Conference 2017” is the final conference of the RAMSES project and open to submissions from all relevant fields. RAMSES stands for Reconciling Adaptation, Mitigation and Sustainable Development for citiES. Science for cities in transition.

Der Klimawandel ist eine große Bedrohung für die Menschheit – aber die scheint sich nur punktuell dafür zu interessieren. Warum das so ist und welche Kommunikation das ändern kann, wird eine Konferenz am 25. und 26. September 2017 in Salzburg beschäftigen. Erstmals im deutschsprachigen Raum werden Expertinnen und Experten aus Wissenschaft und Praxis unter dem Titel „K3 – Kongress zu Klimawandel, Kommunikation und Gesellschaft“ über neue Wege in der Klimakommunikation diskutieren. Expertinnen und Experten aus Disziplinen wie Psychologie, Soziologie, Verhaltensforschung oder Medienwissenschaft stellen Beispiele neuer Klimakommunikation vor.

Treibhausgase (THG) und ihre Überwachung sind für die aktuelle und auch zukünftige Entwicklung des Klimas ein sehr wichtiges Thema. Neben der routinemäßigen Abschätzung der überwiegend anthropogenen Emissionen in den jährlichen Inventarberichten stehen zunehmend unabhängige Messverfahren zur Verfügung. Dabei werden die Untersuchungen von Treibhausgasen, ihren Quellen und Senken von einer Vielzahl an Beteiligten durchgeführt. Das Spektrum reicht von der Erfassung biogener Gase über spezifischen Landoberflächen, atmosphärischen und ozeanischen Messungen bis hin zum Treibhausgas-Monitoring mittels Satelliten und der Abschätzung von Quellen und Senken durch komplexe Modellierungen.

Der Deutsche Wetterdienst möchte auf seiner 11. Klimatagung die Beteiligten aus den verschiedenen Bereichen zusammenführen, auf Basis aktueller Fachvorträge und neuer Erkenntnisse über die gegenwärtige Entwicklung informieren und die sich daraus ergebenden Möglichkeiten für ein zukünftiges integriertes THG-Monitoring ableiten.

Climate engineering is becoming increasingly relevant within political, scientific, and cultural discussions of climate change. Building on the success of the first international climate engineering conference in 2014 (CEC14), by organizing CEC17 in October 2017, we strive to continue critical global discussions by bringing together the research, policy, and civic communities to discuss the highly complex and interlinked ethical, social and technical issues related to climate engineering.  The conference will provide a thorough and timely update on the latest developments in the field and facilitate discussions about the future development of CE research. CEC17 will also serve as an opportunity for a diverse audience of policy-makers, civil society organizations, and members of the public to critically engage with current research and the broader discussions that surround it.

The workshop "Improved satellite retrievals of sea-ice concentration and sea-ice thickness for climate applications" will be held on 9-11 October 2017 in Hamburg, Germany.

This workshop is jointly organized by the Integrated Climate Data Center (ICDC), Universität Hamburg, and the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), Hamburg, aiming at both experts for sea-ice remote sensing and sea-ice modelling.

Impacts World is the leading international conference covering the diversity and depth of climate-impacts research today. IW2017 follows on from the inaugural Impacts World 2013, held in Potsdam, Germany, which brought together impacts researchers and stakeholders from across the spectrum of impacted sectors, initiating an era of truly integrated cross-sectoral climate-impacts research. 

Impacts World showcases not only the very latest in our scientific understanding impacts of climate change, placing a particular focus on the most pertinent and pressing political questions of the day, but shines a spotlight on the challenges that lie ahead for this research community, and offers ample time for in-depth discussions and dedicated working groups. In 2017, the confrence will be dedicated to counting the true costs of climate change, by considering four key challenges for aggregating and quantifying climate-change risks and impacts.

The workshop is aiming for developing key concepts and synthesizing the state of the art of urban transformation processes in relation to climate change, decarbonization and energy transition. Thematically the workshop is motivated by the worldwide growing urbanization which leads to a spatial concentration of population, economic activity and mobility on the one hand and by increasing CO2 emissions and climate change on the other. In order to promote pathways towards urban energy transition and decarbonization several strategies should be considered. Among those, the production, distribution and consumption of renewable energy are relevant key areas. There is still a lack of systematic integration of concepts, models and empirical evidence, combined with an insufficient knowledge base and a broad range of unco-ordinated and dispersed solutions.

Four research areas will be addressed:
1) Socio-technical and environmental topics of urban energy transition
2) City structure, urban land use and energy consumption
3) Distributional effects of urban energy policies
4) Multi-level models and governance concepts to manage transition processes

Drought ranks quite highly in terms of weather-related economic impacts, with annual losses nearing US$ 90 billion per year.  Apart from their direct economic impacts, droughts can threaten drinking water supplies and ecosystems, damage agriculture in a significant way, and contribute to increased food prices. In addition, crop failures, which are occurring more frequently as a result of extended droughts, pose a direct threat to the livelihood of millions of people across Africa. With the intensification of climate change, dry periods in most of Africa are expected to become longer and more frequent, bringing alone much damage to agriculture systems, and negatively influencing the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people.

The above state of affairs illustrates the need for a better understanding of how climate change influences droughts in Africa, and for the identification of processes, methods and tools which may help the countries and the communities in the region to adapt.  There is also a perceived need to showcase successful examples of how to cope with the social, economic and political problems posed by droughts in Africa, especially the ways of increasing the resilience of agriculture systems and of communities and traditional populations. 

Im Dezember 2015 gelang der Weltgemeinschaft auf dem Weltklimagipfel in Paris ein Durchbruch. Mit dem Klimaabkommen von Paris wurde ein Nachfolger für das Kyoto-Protokoll vereinbart. Doch wie sehen die Umsetzungspläne aus - wie sind sie zu bewerten? Sind die Lasten der Einsparungen an CO2 gleichmäßig verteilt? Und wie wirkt sich das Programm auf die Energiewende in Deutschland aus? Ziel des Seminars ist es, eine Bewertung des Beitrags der Nationalstaaten zur Umsetzung des Klimaabkommens von Paris und der Pläne der EU vorzunehmen.

Climate Congress will provide a unique scientific and technical platform to share the research experiences among the best-available experts and professionals from all over the world engaged in different fields of Climate Science. Climate Change conferences aims is to aggregate the eminent researchers, academicians and scientists from the field of Meteorology, Oceanography, Sustainability and specific related areas to create a platform for strong exchange of ideas and development for a sustainable environment. Climate Change Conferences includes invited plenary lectures, symposia, workshops, invited sessions and oral and poster sessions of unsolicited contributions.

Even though glaciers store less than 1% of the global ice mass, they have probably been the strongest contributor to sea-level change in the 20th century. While mass loss from the ice sheets and thermal expansion of the ocean water are quickly increasing, glaciers will continue to play an important role in sea-level change in the 21st century. Understanding the causes, mechanisms and time scales of glacier change is therefore of paramount importance for identifying successful strategies for mitigation of, and adaption to, climate change. In this presentation, we show that much of the future glacier-mass loss will be a response to climate change caused by past greenhouse-gas emissions. Mitigating climate change through reduced greenhouse-gas emissions therefore only has a limited influence on glaciers in the 21st century, while strongly impacting their long-term response. We will further show that currently, each emitted 1 kg of carbon dioxide will eventually lead to 10±5 kg of ice-mass loss from glaciers, additional to ocean heat uptake, ice-sheet mass loss, etc.

The historical moment

In 2015 two historical agreements on how to fight poverty and inequality, create jobs and make the global economy fit for the 21^st century, within planetary boundaries, have been achieved: The Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The message is clear: fighting poverty, inequality, and the ecological crisis need to go hand in hand. Our existing growth patterns cannot continue, because they will trigger dangerous tipping points in the Earth system. Two years after signing the global agreements, tremendous efforts by many stakeholders around the world have demonstrated that the transformation towards sustainability is possible. At the same time, the sustainability transformation is under serious threat, as global cooperation is challenged by nationalism, populism, and post-factual thinking. Human wellbeing, peace, security, and the stability of the Earth system are at a crossroads.

The time is now

We have two choices – will we let this unique opportunity for a global transformation towards sustainability slip through our hands or will we take action towards a future that coincides with the planetary boundaries? In November 2017, the world will look to Bonn at COP23, where the details for implementing the Paris Agreement will be negotiated. Back to back with COP23, the conference “Climate Action and Human Wellbeing at a Crossroads: Historical Transformation or Backlash?” will send a strong signal for decisive steps towards the accelerated implementation of climate and sustainability commitments. In this spirit, it will bring together influential high-level actors from academia, civil society, business, international organizations, national and subnational governments, as well as media and the arts from around the globe to:

• call for accelerating action to jointly implement the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement;
• demonstrate that the transformation is urgently needed and possible;
• build broad transnational alliances for change;
• discuss how to deal with nationalist and authoritarian counter-transformations that could undermine peace, stability, and human wellbeing.

The 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Bonn, Germany. This was announced on Friday, 18 November 2016, the end of COP 22, by the Chairperson of COP 23 from Fiji.