State of the Earth

An evening of conversation with climate scientists Sir Brian Hoskins and Professor Corinne Le Quéré, chaired by BBC Countryfile presenter Tom Heap. 

Brian Hoskins and Corinne Le Quéré have decades of experience of understanding how human activity has influenced the natural world, and continue to pioneer ground-breaking solutions. In this event, they shared crucial insights into some of humanity’s greatest challenges with broadcaster and journalist Tom Heap.

This event was the launch of You and the Planet, a series exploring global environmental issues with world-renowned speakers from science, business, politics and more. 

Watch the recorded video on YouTube and join the conversation at #YouAndThePlanet. 

Speakers 

Sir Brian Hoskins has been a Professor of Meteorology at Reading for more than 35 years, and is also the Chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. His international roles have included being vice-chair of the Joint Scientific Committee for the World Climate Research Programme, President of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences, and involvement in the 2007 IPCC international climate change assessment. He has also had important UK roles both as a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change and by playing a major part in the 2000 Report by The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution that first proposed a 60% target for UK carbon dioxide emission reduction by 2050. 

Corinne Le Quéré is Professor of Climate Change Science at the University of East Anglia and former Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. She plays a key role in the annual update of the Global Carbon Budget, an international effort of the Global Carbon Project to provide the latest information global and national carbon emissions and their partitioning among the atmosphere, land and oceans, including their drivers. Corinne is a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change and is the Chair of France’s first Climate Change Committee. She was author of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Tom Heap presents the investigations on Countryfile – Britain’s most popular factual TV programme – and is the principal voice of Costing the Earth on BBC Radio 4, the nation's only dedicated environment series. He is also a regular Panorama reporter, covering food, farming energy and wildlife.  

Please direct questions or queries to events@royalsociety.org.