COP27 and research at Leeds

The 2020s have been described as the critical decade for climate change. The COP27 climate talks in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt will help determine whether global warming can be kept within the critical 1.5 degree centigrade target set in Paris in 2015. Even keeping within an average of 1.5 degrees centigrade rise in warming will have an impact on people and on biodiversity, already evident with an increase in extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms, flooding and drought. But scientists warn that even a small increase in warming above that target will result in more devastating and extreme weather events. For the next nine days, an eight-strong delegation of researchers from Leeds will be at COP27 to raise awareness of the work they are doing to reduce the impact of climate change. Professor Richard Beardsworth, an expert in the politics of climate change and Head of the School of Politics and International Studies , said: "The delegates will play a role as key ambassadors for the University on an issue that affects everyone on the planet. "They are at COP27 to share the findings of their research and where they can, to help shape policy that will reduce the impact of climate change and the global injustice it causes.