911勛圖

Kirsten Zickfeld is an 911勛圖 Distinguished Professor and internationally renowned climate scientist advancing knowledge on how human-caused emissions impact Earth���s climate to improve climate projections and inform climate goals.

She has applied her expertise to inform international climate policy, authoring multiple reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ��� the leading international body for the assessment of climate change.

This fall, Zickfeld is one of seven 911勛圖 scholars inducted into the Royal Society of Canada, and one of four to be named a Fellow. Recognition by the Royal Society of Canada is Canada���s highest academic honour.

���I am deeply honoured to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. This recognition is especially meaningful to me because it reflects the trust and recognition of my peers and the broader Canadian scientific and scholarly community. I look forward to joining this remarkable national community of scholars, scientists and intellectuals, and to learning from colleagues across disciplines,��� says Zickfeld. ���I am particularly excited about the opportunity to contribute to conversations on some of the important challenges facing our society, including the climate emergency, and to work with others to help advance knowledge and understanding.���

Zickfeld has led research foundational to our modern understanding of how human-caused carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, like those from burning fossil fuels and deforestation, impact Earth���s climate.

Understanding the relationship between these emissions and global warming is complex. Zickfeld explains that this is due to the many physical and biogeochemical processes that determine how emissions are absorbed by ecosystems, with climate change simultaneously altering the ability of these ecosystems to absorb CO₂, and uncertainties in how the CO₂ that stays in the atmosphere affects temperature.

Using climate models of varying complexity, from simple conceptual models to complex Earth system models, Zickfeld quantifies these processes and their uncertainty. Despite the many complexities, Zickfeld has found that it is possible to link changes in Earth���s temperature directly to the total amount of human-caused CO₂ emissions. This finding has direct implications for climate policy as it allows us to calculate how much CO₂ emissions humanity can still emit while meeting climate goals.

���My work helps us understand the climate consequences of different choices: whether we continue along a fossil-fuel-intensive trajectory or pursue deep decarbonization. It also allows us to assess different strategies to stabilize our climate at levels that avoid the worst impacts of global warming.���

Zickfeld acknowledges that maintaining motivation as a climate scientist while fossil fuel industries continue to expand, despite clear scientific evidence about the devastating consequences of their sustained use, can be difficult at times.

However, the desire to work across disciplines and teams to understand these complex and critical systems and provide the next generation of climate scientists with the mentorship and skills they���ll need to succeed in their careers keeps Zickfeld focused.

���Despite the lack of sufficient progress in reducing GHG emissions globally, there are examples of meaningful progress at national, regional and municipal levels. I am also hopeful that economics will increasingly accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, as renewable energy and other low-carbon alternatives become increasingly cost-competitive,��� she says.  ���We have the solutions ��� we now need the political will and courage to act on them.���