California aims to lead the nation — and the globe — in climate change research, policy and action — in large part through climate-focused research conducted at University of California campuses and labs.
Some of that research, including from UC Merced, will be on display this week as climate-change scientists, policymakers and trailblazers from around the globe gather in San Francisco for the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit .
UC Merced School of Engineering professors Joshua Viers, LeRoy Westerling and Josué Medellín-Azuara and some of their graduate students will be there in support of the research they do, which is also recently highlighted in several prominent reports.
The professors and second-year graduate student Vicky Espinoza helped write the San Joaquin Valley section of the Fourth California Climate Change Assessment . The Assessment supports California’s continued leadership on actions to address climate change and safeguard the state’s people, economy and resources by providing tools for decision making and supporting these decisions with sound science.
This compilation of original climate research includes 44 technical reports and 13 summary reports on climate-change impacts to help ready the state for a future punctuated by severe wildfires, more frequent and longer droughts, rising sea levels, increased flooding, coastal erosion and extreme heat events.
The most recent Assessment suggests these events will worsen in the future.
The California-focused Assessment will feature prominently at the global summit, which takes place from Sept. 12 through 14 and brings together state and local governments, businesses and citizens from around the world to showcase climate action taking place in support of the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. The agreement, signed by 175 countries, pledges to work toward keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius, a temperature shift that could lead to severe consequences.
