Tyndall Centre

The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research is an organisation based in the United Kingdom that brings together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists to "research, assess and communicate from a distinct trans-disciplinary perspective, the options to mitigate, and the necessities to adapt to current climate change and continuing global warming, and to integrate these into the global, UK and local contexts of sustainable development".^[1]

The centre, named after the 19th-century Irish physicist John Tyndall and founded in 2000, has core partners of the University of East Anglia, Cardiff University, University of Manchester, Newcastle University. Fudan University joined the Tyndall Centre partnership in 2011.^[2]

The Tyndall Centre is headquartered, with the Climatic Research Unit, in the Hubert Lamb building at the University of East Anglia. Its director is Professor Robert Nicholls at the University of East Anglia and former of Southampton University. Former directors of the Tyndall Centre include Professor Corinne Le Quéré FRS CBE and Professor Sir Robert Watson interim directors Carly Mclachlan and Professor Kevin Anderson, Professor Andrew Watkinson and Professor John Schellnhuber. The founding director is Professor Mike Hulme. Asher Minns is executive director.^[3]

Research Focus

The Tyndall Centre has four main research themes: Accelerating social transitions, Building resilience, Overcoming poverty with climate actions, and Reaching zero emissions.^[4]

Accelerating social transitions is a research theme that contributes to accelerating social transitions towards a zero-carbon future, by engaging with non-governmental organisations and industry to improve the design of low-carbon innovations and interventions and supporting evidence-based decision-making.^[5]

Building resilience explores how to build climate-resilient pathways that reduce vulnerabilities to climate change in a manner that is synergistic with mitigation pathways. The research considers synergies and conflicts between these pathways and the Sustainable Development Goals to highlight the opportunities for actions that have benefits on multiple levels and avoid unintended consequences.^[6]

Through the overcoming poverty research theme, the Tyndall Centre builds understanding about how actions on climate change interrelate and interact with the multiple dimensions of poverty and inequality within and between nations.^[7]

Reaching zero emissions assesses the need for rapid decarbonisation within the energy and transport sector and on bioenergy production through the former Manchester-led Supergen Bioenergy Hub,^[8] all intertwined with land use and food security.  We explore near- and long-term energy and emissions futures for industry, transport and negative emission technologies.^[9]