Professor explains what United Kingdom is doing to limit Co2 emissions

Sir Prof Brian Hoskins deliver
 the Miegunyah Lecture at
the Carrillo Gantner Theatre
in Melbourne.

The United Kingdom’s plans to limit carbon dioxide emissions were explained at last night’s Miegunyah Lecture at the University of Melbourne.

Sir Prof Brian Hoskins told a near full Carrillo Gantner Theatre that it was now law in the UK to restrict emissions with the goal of reaching 80 per cent of 1990 emissions by 2050.

That law, he said was implemented with overwhelming support with just three parliamentarians voting against what was proposed and 450 voting in support.

Targets taking the country to that goal have been established and now a working part of government at all levels.

He said the goal provides a 50/50 chance of staying within the two degree limit, but admitted that by the end of the century the earth could warm to 3.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Prof Hoskins’ presentation was sweeping, illustrating his broad and deep understanding of climate change and its manifest complications with him admitting, several times, that many outcomes were something those in his position were unsure of, both in terms of timing or their gravity.

He came to Melbourne with a reputation and resume almost without equal and was introduced to those in the theatre by Prof David Karoly, of the University of Melbourne’s School of Earth Sciences, who said the visiting professor and he knew each other well as he had been his PhD supervisor.

The near full Carrillo Gantner Theatre for
last night's Miegunyah Lecture - 'Climate
 change: are we up for the challenge?'

Prof Hoskins is recognised as one of the world's leading atmospheric scientists. He became the first Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London in January 2008, and now shares his time between Imperial and Reading University, where he is Professor of Meteorology.

His research is in weather and climate, in particular the understanding of atmospheric motion from frontal to planetary scales.  His international roles have included being President of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences and involvement in the 2007 IPCC international climate change assessment.

He is presently a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change and the science academies of the UK, USA, China and Europe and has received a number of awards including the top prizes of the UK and US Meteorological Societies. He was knighted in 2007 for his services to the environment.