The role of basic sciences in climate change mitigation

In its 2021 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that: “it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land since pre-industrial times", confirming that the impacts of human-made climate change are severe. Basic science has an important role to play in climate change attribution and, consequently, mitigation, as it underpins the global consensus on the need for action.

Scientists are using physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology to address fundamental scientific challenges in climate resilience and adaptation, such as genome-edited crops for food security, nanotechnology-based water purification processes for water management, and electrochemical storage solutions for energy resources. Basic Science can help stimulate low-carbon innovation and support new low-carbon business models. The same goes for the role of basic science in renewable energy resources and environmental control.  Through the International Basic Sciences Programme, UNESCO has been promoting intergovernmental cooperation among partner organisations in the sciences to strengthen national capacities in the basic sciences and science education to provide science-based solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular climate change.

The side event will invite 3-4 scientists and policymakers to have a concrete discussion on the contribution of basic sciences to addressing climate change mitigation issues and share new developments and initiatives in the basic science of climate change and touch upon key issues in international scientific cooperation.