Many of us contributed to COP26, sharing our work in poster sessions, seminars and panel discussions as well as carrying out a Glasgow- focussed measurement campaign ahead of and during COP26 Glasgow, November 2021.
Below is a brief summary of our COP26 activities with links to talks and posters.
- Matt Rigby presented a poster at the ‘Blue Zones’ Earth Information Day entitled ‘UK greenhouse gas emissions evaluated using atmospheric observations.
- At the WMO session on IG3IS (Integrated Greenhouse Information System), Alistair Manning, lead on integration in DARE-UK, spoke on promoting the use of atmospheric observations to help quantify emissions from point sources on city, national and global scales. The series of talks and discussion was chaired by Oksana Tarasova (Lead of GAW, WMO) and also included talks by Phil DeCola, Riley Duren and Jocelyn Turnbull. Watch the recording of the session here. Alistair Manning’s talk appears at 1 hour 6 mins.
- DARE-UK and NPL hosted a Seminar and Panel Discussion – ‘What role does measurement play in climate action?’ as part of the COP26 Innovation Showcase event:
Delegates joined the event from a wide range of sectors including policy, academia and industry. After introductions from Matt Rigby, who chaired the event, Tim Arnold gave the opening talk. Tim highlighted the importance of greenhouse gas (GHG) measurements in climate policy and the delay in climate action that would have occurred had those early measurements not been made.
Live polling was used to inform the speakers and engage the audience 
Participants were asked what major activities contributes to GHG emissions in the UK Four PhD student talks followed, opening with Alice Drinkwater who shared research on global methane changes over time; underscoring the large global increase of methane in 2020. Eric Saboya presented methane measurements and simulations that indicated under-reported fossil gas leaks in central London (image below). Julianne Fernandez talked on how lots of small fossil gas leaks of methane were found using mobile measurements across London. Finally, Thomas Eldridge showed how early satellite measurements could be used to make climate models more precise.
Eric Saboya described how methane isotopes can be used to identify its sources A live tour of the one of the DARE-UK measurement sites was then given by Chris Rennick who showed off instruments used for atmospheric measurements. Rebecca Fisher narrated a video of equipment used for mobile methane measurements and shared findings from campaigns in Glasgow and London.
Attendees then had the opportunity to ask our experts in academia and industry questions on GHGs and climate change in a panel discussion chaired by Matt. Alistair Manning (Met Office), Anita Ganesan (University of Bristol), John Watterson (Ricardo), Julianne Fernandez (Royal Holloway), Maryam Pourshami (Airbus), and Tim Arnold (NPL/University of Edinburgh) pictured below, shared their experiences working with policy makers, forming industry and public sector partnerships. We learnt more about the different career paths taken by the panel members and heard lots about the promising future of GHG measurements.
Panel Discussion chaired by Matt Rigby (University of Bristol) with Alistair Manning (Met Office), Anita Ganesan (University of Bristol), John Watterson (Ricardo), Julianne Fernandez (Royal Holloway), Maryam Pourshami (Airbus not pictured), and Tim Arnold (NPL/University of Edinburgh)