Authors of the landmark 2009 climate report "The Copenhagen Diagnosis" estimate that by 2020 industrial nations must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by around 40 per cent below 1990 levels to secure a decent chance of avoiding dangerous human interference with the climate system.
Bio
Matthew England
Matthew England is a physical oceanographer and climate scientist who was born in Sydney on June 11, 1966. He holds a B.Sc. and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Sydney, Australia.
In 2005 he became a Professor at the University of New South Wales, and was awarded an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship that same year.
Corinne Le Quéré
Corinne Le Quéré is a Professor of Environmental Sciences at the School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich, UK. She specializes in climate feedback loops.
Stephen Schneider
Stephen H. Schneider is Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change at Stanford University, a Co-Director at the Center for Environment Science and Policy of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Senior Fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
He has served as a consultant to Federal Agencies and/or White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administrations. His research includes modeling of the atmosphere, climate change, and "the relationship of biological systems to global climate change."
He has helped draw public attention to the issue of climate change. He is the founder and editor of the journal Climatic Change. He has authored or co-authored over 450 scientific papers, proceedings, legislative testimonies, edited books and book chapters; some 140 book reviews, editorials, published newspaper and magazine interviews and popularizations.
Richard Somerville
Richard Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
He formally retired in 2007 but remains active in research, education and outreach. He was a Coordinating Lead Author in Working Group I for the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Matthew England, Richard Somerville, and Stephen Schneider, authors of "The Copenhagen Diagnosis," discuss emissions pathways, rising temperatures and the goal to limit warming to a 2 degree Celsius rise over pre-industrial times.
Somerville argues emissions would be a few percent below 1990 levels if the Kyoto Protocol had been upheld and says immediate action is needed to hit the warming target.