Back to search

FORSTERK-Forsterkningsmidler

Rapid Response Communication for Greenhouse Gas Budget Verification

Awarded: NOK 1.0 mill.

The Horizon 2020 project "Observation-based system for monitoring and verification of greenhouse gases" (VERIFY) aimed to develop scientifically robust methods to assess the accuracy and potential biases in national greenhouse gas emission inventories reported by countries through an independent pre-operational framework. The aim of RapidVerify was to translate the scientific material from VERIFY into an accessible format relevant for Norwegian users and communicate it to users in a timely manner. Material was intended to be primarily short and focused, ranging from articles (blogs, fact sheets, opinion pieces), short video content, presentations, and social and traditional media activities. The onset of COVID in early 2020 changed some plans, and the VERIFY project (and RapidVERIFY) were extended to 31/7/2022. In response to COVID-19, a paper was published in Nature Climate Change (Le Quéré et al 2020) under the VERIFY project on the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions because of the COVID-19 restrictions. In July 2020, the Global Methane Budget was published in Earth System Science Data (Saunois et al 2020). In October 2020, the Global Nitrous Oxide Budget was be published in Nature (Tian et al 2020). Finally, the Global Carbon Budget was published in December (Friedlingstein et al., 2020). In 2021, a commentary was published in Nature Climate Change updating the latest understanding of the corona pandemic on emissions during 2020 (Le Quere et al 2021). Because of the corona pandemic, some of the communication activities took on a different format. A Norwegian language report ‘Hovedtall og data fra Global Carbon Project’ was written and published by Norsk klimastiftelse and funded through the project. UiB led the development of video for a broad audience on the ocean carbon cycle, with its release imminent (August 2022). The Global Carbon Budget 2021 was presented in March 2022, one of the first in person events after the Corona period. This was well attended with presentations on the global picture, and more detailed presentations on China and India. Building on the work on methane and nitrous oxide, a blog post on the methane pledge and a CIENS breakfast seminar was hosted in April, involving researchers from both NILU and CICERO. During the course of the project, several presentations have also been given through 2021 and 2022 to government agencies or broader public audiences.

RapidVerify created a much better understanding of GHG emission verification among Norwegian users, covering government ministries and agencies, industry bodies, non-governmental organisations, and other scientists. The project developed a range of material (online, video, presentations, etc) that built on scientific publications, but was translated into a language and format for a broader Norwegian audience. The participating scientists and institutions gained much needed resources, capacity, and skills in communicating to non-specialist audiences, particularly those that hope to draw on the scientific results. Scientists in allied fields and users gained new insights on the latest science and how that may help contribute to their activities. Based on event registrations, we found that most of the participating users were scientists from other fields or research institutes, industry, government agencies, or the broader public.

The Horizon 2020 project "Observation-based system for monitoring and verification of greenhouse gases" (VERIFY) aims to develop scientifically robust methods to assess the accuracy and potential biases in national greenhouse gas emission inventories reported by countries through an independent pre-operational framework. A weakness of Horizon 2020 projects is that resources are often not available to tailor communication activities to specific regional users. This primarily requires two additional activities: 1) translation of the scientific content to a format accessible to users, and 2) tailored communication and events specific for Norwegian users. The aim of RapidVerify is to translate the scientific material from VERIFY into an accessible format relevant for Norwegian users and communicate it to users in a timely manner. Material will primarily be short and focused, ranging from articles (blogs, fact sheets, opinion pieces), short video content, presentations, and social and traditional media activities. Four events will be hosted to focus on different aspects of the VERIFY science. In meeting the aims of RapidVerify, we will also build a stronger network of users and scientists interested in GHG emission verification, build capacity for scientists to more effectively interact with users, build strong collaboration between Norwegian partners of VERIFY, and identify the most effective methods to communicate with Norwegian users.

Publications from Cristin

Funding scheme:

FORSTERK-Forsterkningsmidler

Funding Sources