Improving climate change models and carbon measurement

Significant advancements are on the horizon for the fight against climate change. A new UK facility will be opened to increase the accuracy of carbon emission tracking and to encourage the development of greener technologies.

The Centre for Carbon Measurement will work towards improving the computer models used to scrutinise climate change. Scientists rely almost solely on such models to predict the effects of global warming, so any work to increase the precision and reliability offered by the models is extremely noteworthy.

“Data from ground based stations and satellites are fed into climate models, and they spit out conclusions on things like sea level rise and other climate impacts,” Jane Burston, Head of the centre, told BBC.

“So the better data we have, the better we can make models.”

The new facility and its aims will be launched at the Planet Under Pressure four-day conference in London this week.

Crucially, the centre’s work could standardise carbon measurements. Scientists have previously revealed that there can be large disparities between the emission levels companies claim to have. Therefore the centre will be working with scientific institutions and commercial companies to improve their existing carbon measuring systems and establish more calibration between them.

“As the carbon market takes off and carbon becomes more expensive, we’re going to want to measure things better,” Burston said.

The centre, which will be based at the National Physical Laboratory in London, will also be looking to work with manufacturers to ensure all products claiming to be ‘climate friendly’ are indeed validated.

Due to the UK’s reputation in the science world and position in the global carbon market, it is only right to establish the right infrastructure to support a low-carbon transition, claimed David Willets, UK Minister for Universities and Science.

“The Centre for Carbon Measurement is designed to provide reliable measurements, with a sound scientific and technical basis that will improve the understanding of the global climate, support policies for mitigating climate change, and accelerate the development of low-carbon technologies,” Willet said.

It is hoped that the new centre will start to target some of the climate change concerns that will be discussed at the Rio+20 summit in June.

 

Image: US Federal Government