Top advisory roles for climate scientists

Three prominent climate scientists from UNSW have been appointed as expert advisors to the Federal Government's new independent Climate Commission.

Professor Matt England, Professor Andy Pitman and Dr Lisa Alexander from the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) are among the eight scientists named by the government last week to advise and inform the commission on technical and scientific matters.

Dr Alexander's research focuses on changes in the frequency and severity of extreme climate events. She was a lead author on the 2009 State of the Climate Report.

Professor England's expertise is in global-scale ocean circulation and its influence on regional climate. He is co-director of the CCRC.

Professor Pitman is a climate modeller with a major focus on land-surface processes. He is the director of the new ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, hosted by UNSW and presently in its establishment phase.

The appointments to the Commission's Science Advisory Panel are drawn from a range of climate science expertise and will be for a minimum of two years.

The Climate Commission has been established to inform Australia's approach to addressing climate change and help build the consensus required to move to a competitive, low pollution Australian economy, the government says. It is an expert body and its deliberations, reports and public engagements will not be subject to Ministerial direction.

Its key tasks will be to provide information and expert advice to: explain the science of climate change and the impacts on Australia; report on the progress of international action dealing with climate change and; explain the purpose and operation of a carbon price and how it may interact with the Australian economy and communities.

Media contact: Bob Beale, Faculty of Science media liaison | 0411 705 435 | bbeale@unsw.edu.au