Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/I03002X/1
International Project Office for the Global Carbon Project
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor C Le Quere, University of East Anglia, Environmental Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr ET Buitenhuis, University of East Anglia, Environmental Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of East Anglia, Environmental Sciences
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Atmospheric
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Earth & environmental
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Plant responses to environment
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Abstract:
- Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and very likely due to the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. CO2 is the most important and fastest-growing greenhouse gas. It is released to the atmosphere mainly by the burning of fossil fuel from human activities and by deforestation. Governments around the world have pledged to limit global warming to 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. According to current knowledge, such a commitment requires that the global emissions of CO2 peak at the latest between 2015 and 2020, and decrease sharply afterwards. The political discussions to develop an international agreement that would limit global warming are based on scientific knowledge provided by the international community. Key to those discussions is the provision of the latest up to date information, and the transparency of the scientific debate and information. The Global Carbon Project (GCP), established in 2001, coordinates international research on the carbon cycle. Since 2004, the GCP with the support of the community has compiled, analysed and published information on the "global CO2 budget", including the CO2 emissions and their partitioning among the atmosphere, ocean and land reservoirs. This effort has provided tremendous information to help the policy process and the public understand the human and natural factors that control the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. The annual CO2 budget has growth beyond the capacity of the GCP. At the same time, the demand is growing for more and better information, more background supporting material, more transparency in the methods and process, and traceability of the information. The community is trying to organise itself further to support this important effort. This proposal aims to establish an office of the GCP in at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research of the University of East Anglia. This location would be ideal to support the publication of the annual CO2 budget because of its already well-established research on the carbon cycle, the strength and complementary work done in its existing programmes, and its unparallelled record of providing high quality policy-relevant science to UK and international policymakers. The UK GCP office would provide key support, and further credibility and visibility to the annual CO2 budget. Scientists have begun to think about how to produce carbon information services to assist in the necessary transition towards a low-carbon economy. One way proposed by the GCP is to institutionalise the more operational aspects of the GCP activities, such as the publication of CO2 budgets, through the establishment of an International Carbon Office. The development of such an ambitious project needs careful thinking and strong commitment from stakeholders. The UK GCP office would work with existing organisations to establish the structural basis of an ICO and determine its potential and viability in the long term.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/I03002X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- IOF
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- IOF
This grant award has a total value of £240,481
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £6,305 | £80,658 | £9,157 | £30,600 | £89,080 | £1,837 | £22,842 |
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