Environment and Climate
The Academy, mainly through its Environmental Committee, monitors and interprets scientific developments in areas of global environmental concern. The academy is actively committed to addressing issues relating to human impact on global environmental sustainability including, e.g.; climate change, biodiversity loss, natural resource use and management, changes in terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
Climate change
The scientific basis of climate change
The Academy has formulated a statement concerned with the scientific basis of climate change. It has not been an objective to deal with areas outside the natural sciences. However, it is clear that changes in climate require a response from society that involves a wide range of other disciplines, with development and application of new technologies.
Planet Earth has experienced repeated changes of its climate throughout time. Periods warmer than today as well as much colder, during glacial episodes, have alternated. In our time, rapid population growth with increased demand for natural resources and energy, has made society increasingly vulnerable to environmental changes, both natural and those caused by man; human activity is clearly affecting the radiation balance of the Earth.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 1 (The Physical Science Basis) has given a broad, systematic summary of the scientific literature on climate change and has concluded that the anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases has led to an increase in the surface temperature of the Earth. As noted by the Panel, quantification of the influence on the global climate is complex and many regional effects remain uncertain.
Read the full statement (pdf)
Symposia as video on demand
What can past-records tell us about man’s present impact on the carbon cycle and its impact on the Earth’s temperature?
Panel discussion with Ole Humlum, University of Oslo, Norway, and Scott Denning, Colorado State University, USA. Moderated by: Johan Kleman, Director of Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Sweden. From: Natural and man-made climate change – open sessions, 2012-05-23.
Watch more video at KVATV
The Environmental Committee
The Academy, mainly through its Environmental Committee, monitors and interprets scientific developments in areas of global environmental concern. The Environmental Committee is actively committed to addressing issues relating to human impact on global environmental sustainability including, e.g.; climate change, biodiversity loss, natural resource use and management, changes in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The committee cooperates with the Academy's Energy Committee in certain issues.
Members of the Environmental Committee
Mistra Council for Evidence-based Environmental Management (EviEM)
Mistra EviEM works for environmental management to be placed on a scientific foundation. Through systematic reviews of various environmental issues, they aim to improve the basis for decisions in Swedish environmental policy. EviEM was established by Mistra, The Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, and the academy.
Read more at the EviEM website
Swedish Secretariat for Environmental Earth System Sciences (SSEESS)
SSEESS strives to enhance Swedish involvement in international trans-disciplinary research efforts in Global Environmental Change, and will also provide a central, science-based, and independent source of information for Swedish policy and decision makers.
Read more at the SSEESS website
Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics
The institute started its work at the Academy in 1977. Since 1991 it has been working in the border area between ecology and economics. Since 2006, the institute is engaged in Stockholm Resilience Centre, a joint initiative between the Beijer Institute, Stockholm Environment Institute and Stockholms University.
Read more at the Beijer Institute website
The International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP)
IGBP was launched in 1987 to coordinate international research on global-scale and regional-scale interactions between Earth's biological, chemical and physical processes and their interactions with human systems. The secretariat of IGBP is housed by the Academy.
Read more at the IGBP website
AMBIO
The Academy’s environmental journal Ambio is an important forum for international scientific discussion of the environment. Ambio publishes scientific articles/reports that reflect current international research into the multifarious factors that affect the human environment.
Read more about Ambio
The legacy of Svante Arrhenius – understanding the greenhouse effect
The legacy of Svante Arrhenius – Understanding the greenhouse effect was published 1998 by the Academy in cooperation with Stockholm University. The book was published in order to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the publication of Svante Arrhenius' landmark paper on the greenhouse effect 1896.
Download the book (pdf)