Updating Climate Science in the ‘New Normal World’

In his talk, Professor John Sweeney, will examine recent advances in climate change science as the risk of overshoot of the Paris Agreement targets emerges. The impacts of this at a global and Irish scale will be explored together with current policy initiatives at EU and Irish levels.

Emeritus Professor John Sweeney has been a lecturer and researcher member of the Geography Department at Maynooth University for over 40 years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow in the Meteorology and Climatology of Air Pollution and over the years has taught courses in climatology, biogeography, geomorphology and environmental resource management at Maynooth and a number of universities in North America and Africa. He has published over 100 scientific papers and authored/ edited/co-authored 4 texts on various aspects of climatology and climate change in Ireland. He has also served as President of the Irish Meteorological Society, the Geographical Society of Ireland and An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland. He has been involved in a number of international and national research projects examining various aspects of climate change in Ireland. He was also a Contributing Author and Review Editor of the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He is also a regular contributor to print and broadcast media on matters related to climate change science and policy.