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World Scientists Warning to receive round two support
July 19, 2023

Update: Read the published article HERE.

With a second round of funding from the CO2 Foundation, the team behind the “World Scientists’ Warning” project plans to continue its ongoing series of annual reports followed by public outreach on the status of the climate emergency. This is the third follow-up to the original 2020 article in BioScience The project may get another name this year in order to achieve greater impact.

Specifically, this funding will enable the team to write a 2023 climate emergency report, which will serve as a follow-up to its CO2F-funded 2022 report. Planned updates for 2023 include (but are not limited to):

  • Updating the set of planetary vital signs to give the public and policymakers easy access to the most critical data on climate change;
  • Presenting a new assessment of climate-related extreme weather events, referencing the latest information on climate attribution science;
  • Updating the “Untold Human Suffering in Pictures” figure with new photos showing the impacts of climate-related disasters;
  • Looking for new extreme weather-related planetary vital signs that can be presented in the report;
  • Publishing an updated and expanded list of scientist signatories;
  • Building on the theme that “climate change is not a standalone problem” by discussing the climate emergency in the context of ecological overshoot; and
  • Featuring a climate policy discussion, with a focus on major socially just change across multiple areas of society.

The overall mission of this effort is to educate scientists, policymakers, and broader public audiences about urgent climate change, motivate action, and showcase effective solutions. The inclusion of specific proposals for climate mitigation and action is meant to inspire individuals to act, especially with regard to electing leaders who understand the gravity of the climate emergency and are prepared to support bold new policies.

This project was the first funded by the CO2 Foundation, and the first to be approved for a second round of funding. We look forward to working with the project team, led by Dr. William Ripple and including six to eight members of the Alliance of World Scientists, who will be coauthors on this year’s paper.