Dagmara Rusiecka is the EU Climate Pact Ambassador in Norway representing COMFORT

The European Climate Pact unites people around a common cause to build a sustainable Europe for us all and all the generations to come. The Climate Pact initiative was launched by the European Commission as part of the European Green Deal in support of the EU’s goal to be the first climate-neutral continent in the world by 2050.

The European Climate Pact Ambassadors are people passionate about climate action, eager to make an impact and prevent climate change through various activities in their networks and local communities. Recently, Dagmara has become the European Climate Pact Ambassador representing COMFORT, the University of Bergen and Norway. Dagmara’s overarching goal is to directly translate Ocean and climate change scientific knowledge into political and societal action through two-way communication with policy makers and citizens. Oceans produce 50% of our oxygen, regulate weather and climate, and thus protecting it is a matter of global urgency. As a Climate Ambassador, her mission is to enhance the awareness of the Ocean’s role in climate regulation, the impacts of climate change on the Ocean and sustainable solutions to protect it.

Policy Brief: Key findings and recommendations from three H2020 Projects on Tipping Points: TiPES, COMFORT, and TiPACCs

 

There is a threat of imminent abrupt and irreversible transitions in the Earth system, both on land and in the ocean. A reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and in land-use change must be implemented urgently to mitigate these changes through political, economic, and societal measures. Yet, considerable knowledge gaps remain concerning the processes underlying the dynamics of tipping elements,

Three EU funded Horizon2020 projects have been investigating tipping behaviour in the Earth system: Tipping Points in the Earth System (TiPES), Our Common Future Ocean in the Earth System (COMFORT), and Tipping Points in Antarctic Climate Components (TiPACCs). In the joint policy brief, you can find key findings of the three projects, persisting knowledge gaps as well as policy recommendations.

The policy brief is available for free download here.

 

COMFORT has been a top-ranking contributor to the latest IPCC report!

We are pleased to share that COMFORT has been a top-ranking contributor to the latest IPCC report (Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability) among the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)

We are very proud to provide scientific knowledge used in one of the most important international assessments on climate change!

Stephanie Henson (NOC) at COP26

COMFORT scientist and WP2 co-leader, Stephanie Henson (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton) attended COP26 in Glasgow during the 1st week of the climate action negotiations. Here she tells us about her experience there:

Steph Henson (NOC) at COP26

“It was all quite overwhelming, with almost 20,000 attendees.  It was strange to be back in such a big crowd after the isolation of Covid!  The COP was centred around several areas: pavilions, the Hub and the negotiating rooms.  The pavilions were set up in trade show style, each representing a country or theme, with a variety of talks or other activities.  I spent a lot of time at the Science Pavilion (no surprise!) which presented the science of climate change in different formats.  I also enjoyed visiting pavilions on the themes of resilience, the UN Ocean Decade and biodiversity – but the best coffee was in the Australia pavilion!  The Hub was where most of the media action happened, and also live streamed talks from the main negotiating rooms (which ‘Observers’, like myself, could only attend if there was space for us).  Overall, it felt a bit like a chaotic circus with a million things happening at once, but I had some fruitful conversations with scientists from other fields, negotiators and business leaders.  My abiding memory though will probably be the long (long) queues to access the site every day, the huge climate protests engulfing Glasgow, and wearing a face mask for 14 hours a day!  But hopefully, policy makers are now truly hearing the message on climate change and are ready to take the difficult decisions necessary to ensure the goals of the Paris agreement are met.”

 

 

 

First periodic report

COMFORT first period ends the 28th of February. Then, a periodic report needs to be prepared which will be sent to the European Commission at the end of April.

The periodic report consists of  two parts:

  1. Technical report 
  2. Financial report

Guidelines on these reports will be provided through the process.