Climate Change
This page is part of the Geology for Society publication.
The geological record contains abundant evidence of the ways in which Earth’s climate has changed in the past. That evidence is highly relevant to understanding how it may change in the future, and the likely impacts of anthropogenic carbon emissions.
Joint Learned Societies' Climate Communiqué
In the run up to the UN Climate Change Conference COP 21 scheduled for December 2015, 24 of the UK's foremost academic institutions, including the Geological Society, have published a joint Climate Communiqué calling on governments to take immediate action to avert the serious risks posed by climate change.
Policy documents and consultation responses:
Geological Society Statement on Climate Change: evidence from the geological record- Submission to House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry: Public Understanding of Climate Change - April 2013
Past Meetings & Lectures
- Waking the Giant: how a changing climate triggers earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes – London Lecture video, Dec 2016
- Climate Change and Antarctica – London Lecture video, Nov 2016
- Adaptation to sea-level rise - Video - Shell Lecture, James Nicholls, April 2012
- Rocks and Climate Change: how we can stop pulling the trigger - Video - Shell Lecture, Bryan Lovell, March 2012
Geoscientist Magazine
- Steps & Cycles: How interactions between climate trends and cycles produce a stepped pattern of global warming - July 2015
- The Arctic Azolla event - June 2014, on how a unique plant changed our planet's climate, and may do so again.
- Operation Iceberg - January 2014, article
- Deep drilling Lake Ohrid - January 2014, article
- Climate Change – October 2012, article
- Cycle pathology – On stratigraphy cyclicity and false positives, November 2011, article
- Dragon’s Den – CO2: volcanic or anthropogenic? – September 2011, article
- Rock & Ice: Eyjafjallajökull and Climate Change – April 2011, article
- Geoengineering – an experiment too far? – January 2011, article
- Earth’s oxygen highs – October 2010, article
- The burning of the leaves – On the cultivation of broad-leaved plants to reduce the impacts of Climate Change, October 2010, article
- Back to the future with climate change – May 2010, article (opinion)
- Glaciers – Science and Nonsense- March 2010, article
- Challenged by Carbon – March 2010, Event review
GSL Blog
- To fry or to freeze? Bill McGuire, Jan 2017
See our latest activity on climate change
Aimed at policy and decision-makers as well as the wider public, 'Geology for Society' outlines the importance of geology to our society.