{"title":"Small step funding models fit better for climate research","authors":"Mike Hulme","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02281-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The nature and purpose of research into climate change has evolved over the past half century. In the last decades of the twentieth century, the focus was on understanding the climate system, detecting human influences on it and establishing how a changing climate might impact future society. In the present century, the more pressing focus for research has been informing the design and implementation of effective mitigation and adaptation interventions.</p><p>The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of climate change research for half a century<sup>1</sup>, yet successive governments have adopted different models for funding such research. The most recent innovation has been the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), modelled on the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). ARIA is a government research and development funding agency intended to “unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone” (https://go.nature.com/3D6jyQ1). As with DARPA, ARIA adheres to the ‘moonshot’ model of research and innovation<sup>2</sup>, a metaphor intended to capture the intention of a monumental effort and a lofty goal. However, 25 years ago, a very different funding model was used to support research into climate change in the United Kingdom, which led to the creation of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the year 2000. Both initiatives originated in newly elected governments eager to demonstrate their support for UK science (Box 1).</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"183 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":29.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Climate Change","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02281-6","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The nature and purpose of research into climate change has evolved over the past half century. In the last decades of the twentieth century, the focus was on understanding the climate system, detecting human influences on it and establishing how a changing climate might impact future society. In the present century, the more pressing focus for research has been informing the design and implementation of effective mitigation and adaptation interventions.
The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of climate change research for half a century1, yet successive governments have adopted different models for funding such research. The most recent innovation has been the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), modelled on the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). ARIA is a government research and development funding agency intended to “unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone” (https://go.nature.com/3D6jyQ1). As with DARPA, ARIA adheres to the ‘moonshot’ model of research and innovation2, a metaphor intended to capture the intention of a monumental effort and a lofty goal. However, 25 years ago, a very different funding model was used to support research into climate change in the United Kingdom, which led to the creation of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the year 2000. Both initiatives originated in newly elected governments eager to demonstrate their support for UK science (Box 1).
期刊介绍:
Nature Climate Change is dedicated to addressing the scientific challenge of understanding Earth's changing climate and its societal implications. As a monthly journal, it publishes significant and cutting-edge research on the nature, causes, and impacts of global climate change, as well as its implications for the economy, policy, and the world at large.
The journal publishes original research spanning the natural and social sciences, synthesizing interdisciplinary research to provide a comprehensive understanding of climate change. It upholds the high standards set by all Nature-branded journals, ensuring top-tier original research through a fair and rigorous review process, broad readership access, high standards of copy editing and production, rapid publication, and independence from academic societies and other vested interests.
Nature Climate Change serves as a platform for discussion among experts, publishing opinion, analysis, and review articles. It also features Research Highlights to highlight important developments in the field and original reporting from renowned science journalists in the form of feature articles.
Topics covered in the journal include adaptation, atmospheric science, ecology, economics, energy, impacts and vulnerability, mitigation, oceanography, policy, sociology, and sustainability, among others.