The Climate Change Challenge: the global research landscape

Transcription

1 The Climate Change Challenge: the global research landscape The leading countries, institutions and research relationships shaping the science of our planet and action on climate change

2 Introduction The climate change challenge Climate change affects everyone; emissions released anywhere contribute to a problem everywhere. International cooperation is essential to address this inherently global issue. COP21 in Paris must be a turning point, which sends a loud and clear signal to citizens, markets and the private sector that the transformation of the global economy is inevitable, beneficial, and already underway. Since 27, through our Caring for Climate initiative, we have brought over 4 companies together to call for a robust international agreement, recognizing that this is essential for providing predictability, unlocking capital and advancing the power of sustainable business. Business also understands the importance of knowledge and innovation in mitigation. 91 percent of business leaders we recently surveyed believe that the climate challenge is significant and that action is an urgent priority for business not just in the interests of the planet, but core to the future success of their companies. A strong climate agreement backed by action on the ground will help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, build stronger economies and safer, healthier, and more liveable societies everywhere. Lila Karbassi Head Environment and Climate UN Global Compact Climate change is arguably the biggest challenge we face today. With environmental, social, economic and political dimensions, it is already having a huge impact on the world, and this is expected to increase with the global temperatures. Described by UNEP as the major, overriding environmental issue of our time, climate change is the focus of the COP21 summit held in Paris on 3 November-11 December 215. For the first time in the conference s twodecade history, world leaders aim to reach a binding agreement on climate, from all countries, to make sure we don t surpass the critical 2 C global temperature increase. Any such agreement requires science, technology and innovation. In September 215, the UN agreed new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to boost global development for the next 15 years. Science features in the targets set to meet the SDGs and will be a vital element of any strategy to fulfil them. The UN wants to ensure that science is not just an observer but an advisor to policymakers. To make this happen, it has called for a seat for 334,19 publications in sustainability science between 29 and 213 science on the High-Level Political Forum that deals with the UN s sustainable development agenda. So science is already entrenched in efforts towards sustainable development, and certainly in tackling climate change. In fact, sustainability science is a rapidly growing discipline. To mark the launch of the SDGs, Elsevier (a RELX Group company), in partnership with SciDev. net, published Sustainability Science in a Global Landscape a report that details the role of science, technology and innovation in the six themes of the SDGs: Dignity, People, Prosperity, Planet, Justice, and Partnership. The report analyses the characteristics of sustainability science, looking at collaboration between institutions and across national boundaries, the impact of the research being done and how interdisciplinary it is. The compound annual growth rate of sustainability science is double the average growth rate of all publication in Scopus - our abstract and citations database featuring more than 57 million records 3

3 Focusing on Planet This supplement covers the report s key findings related to research that falls into the Planet theme. The SDGs related to this theme include targets to protect our ecosystems for all societies and to make sure our children and grandchildren can enjoy and benefit from the natural environment. This is perhaps the most well-established theme in sustainability science: environmental challenges were a major focus in the 2th century, with acid rain and global warming underpinning policy and business discussions since the 198s. Over time, the challenges have evolved and we now face the major challenge of climate change, which is especially threatening some of the world s poorest communities. By focusing on climate science, this report aims to provide an insight into the research being done to tackle climate change, examining who s doing it where, and what impact it s having. Armed with this information, policy makers, research institutions and academics can better understand the path towards a more sustainable planet, and support the aim of leaders at COP21 to limit our impact on the climate. Key terms found in planet research DESIGN MODELING ENVIRONMENT ECOSYSTEM APPLICATIONS PLANT FOREST CARBON TECHNOLOGY WATER DATA REGION CLIMATE CHANGE SOIL INDUSTRY CLIMATE PRODUCTION RESEARCH MODAL ENERGY RECORD TIME AIR SIMULATION EMISSION OCEAN MEASUREMENTS GREENHOUSE GASES INFORMATION REDUCTION TEMPERATURE COSTS SURFACES MATERIALS THERMAL EXPANSION GLOBAL WARMING HUMANS MANAGEMENT ECONOMICS CARBON DIOXIDE GROWTH SUMMER METHODOLOGY Building the report The report team invited experts in the six fields of the SDGs to define sustainability science and put together lists of keywords. They then delved into the Scopus abstract and citation database to start mapping the research done between 29 and 213, searching more than 57 million records. They aggregated the results and analysed the metadata, providing new insights into the research. A full description of the methodology is available in the report. We are the first generation that can put an end to poverty and we are the last generation that can put an end to climate change UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 4 5

4 The research landscape Planet is the most researched theme of sustainability science, accounting for almost half of all research output across the six themes. Switzerland is the most prolific country in terms of share of international collaboration, with 71.6% of sustainability science publications co-authored with international colleagues. This reflects the long history of investigations into the environmental challenges we are facing, but also the immediacy of the threats: we are already feeling the effects of climate change and without intervention, they will only continue to increase. The report examines research across many topics, including ecosystem services, deforestation and renewable energy. Research is accelerating in these areas; of all six themes, Planet shows the fastest growth rate in research output, increasing from 23,15 in 29 to 34,51 in 213. That s an even bigger compound annual growth rate (CAGR) than other sustainability themes combined, at 1.7% triple the average across all disciplines. NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS FOR EACH SDG THEME Total number of publications 35, 25, 15, 5, Planet People Justice Prosperity Dignity Partnership Overall, the number of peer-reviewed research articles related to Planet has increased dramatically, from 56,39 in 29 to 75,62 in 213. That s a CAGR of 7.6% almost double the average across all academic disciplines. Although sustainability science contributes to around 3% of all publications, it continues to attract increasing attention from scientists and funders. By far the biggest contributor to sustainability science is the USA, producing 31.6% of the total output. Next are the UK (1.9%), China (9.3%), Germany (6.2%) and Australia (5.5%). Of these, China is the fastest growing its research output in sustainability science doubled between 29 and 213. Collaboration is also quite widespread in the field; around half of the research coming from Germany and the UK is the result of international collaboration. In China and Japan, researchers collaborate more intensively in sustainability science than in other disciplines. However, one major challenge remains: the level of collaboration between developed and developing countries is low. Since sustainability issues and climate change in particular affect developing countries, it is vital that researchers from those countries most impacted are involved in tackling development issues. Indeed, this collaboration is one of many challenges that policy makers and research institutions will need to address in order to ensure sustainability science has a practical impact on climate change. Another will be maintaining the fast growth: if such momentum can be kept up, climate science has the potential to make a real and immediate difference on knowledge and practice. Part of this will be making sure the field attracts top researchers and creating an environment in which they can incorporate learning from various disciplines. It will also be vital to strengthen relationships between institutions, between academia and industry, and across borders: sharing information, ideas and expertise will provide fuel for the field to grow. Disciplines related to the Planet theme show the fastest growth rate of all the SDG themes Countries have different research focuses on the various themes in sustainability science. While the USA has the largest number of publications and the highest relative activity index in the theme People, China and Germany both show a clear focus on Planet Finally, and most importantly, the research output needs to have an impact. Policy makers will need to work with scientists to turn knowledge into action. Leaders at COP21 are working towards setting stringent and ambitious targets. One way to make sure every country meets those targets is to support collaboration and translate research into practical outcomes. In the period , 24.3% of the collaborative publications between the Netherlands and Kenya belong to sustainability science. This share is the highest among all partners with more than 1 collaborative publications Overall, the level of collaboration between developed and developing countries is low 6 7

5 The global landscape Renewable energy China Germany India Carbon capture and storage Germany China Australia Top countries in research for action on climate change Smart grid China Italy Germany Desalination China South Korea India Australia Carbon reporting Energy Storage Agricultural productivity Australia China Germany China Germany India Field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) is a measure of how often the research is referenced in other research papers, compared to the average for that field. An FWCI of above 1. shows the impact is greater than average. China India Brazil Figures on this page are indicative results from the SciVal research tool 9

6 Top research institutions in the planet theme TOP RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN THE PLANET THEME Scholarly output Field weighted citation impact Chinese Academy of Sciences 2, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA 1, U.S. Department of Agriculture 1, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia 1, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) 1, Collaboration and interdisciplinary research Collaboration is a hot topic in research: it can increase impact, boost productivity and help release new ideas and inspiration. Similarly, interdisciplinary research breaks down boundaries and opens up previously caged fields to new approaches, methods and ideas. Globally, researchers produced 334,19 publications in sustainability science between 29 and 213, representing 3% of the 11 million publications across all disciplines. This may seem relatively little, given the importance of sustainable development issues, including climate change, but with a growth rate of double the average across all disciplines, the field is set to expand further. The research output largely centres on two groups of countries: research intensive countries like the USA and UK, and emerging countries like China and India. The first group contributes by far the most output in sustainability science in general, including in topics under the theme Planet like climate science. The USA is the biggest in this group in terms of output, contributing around a third of all publications between 29 and 213 that s almost three times that of its nearest competitor, the UK (1.9%). The USA also reflects the fast growth in the field, increasing from 17,945 publications in 29 to 23,788 in 213. Although it contributes less in terms of research output, the second group is changing the face of sustainability science, just as it is impacting research in general. Emerging countries like China and India have dramatically increased their sustainability research output in recent years, giving them an increasingly important role in scientific research. Without these features, research can be stale and one-dimensional, not taking full advantage of the millions of studies that have built up knowledge over the years. Yet despite the clear advantages, sustainability science appears to be less collaborative when it comes to developed and developing countries. It s also less interdisciplinary than it could and arguably should be. Some funding bodies and major global projects are working to support interdisciplinary research, building bridges between subject areas, particularly across the six themes of sustainable development. Tackling climate change, for instance, is not just a matter of physics and chemistry we will also need to work on the biology of our crops and ecosystems, and the social and political aspects of the challenge. Only 6.7% of sustainability science publications belong in the world s top 1% most interdisciplinary publications. The average across all subjects is 1%; thus sustainability science is behind when it comes to crossing subject boundaries. However, there are positive signs: the percentage may be small, but it s growing. We saw an increase of interdisciplinary research in sustainability science from 6.1% in 29 to 7.1% in 213. Maintaining this growth is a good start but the focus also needs to shift. Interdisciplinary research is centred around a few main topics, including health and pollution, water and its social and economic implications, and energy, fuels and their economic and environmental impacts. These are the lowhanging fruit: it s time to get creative if we want the field to make a real difference and also focus on the themes of justice, planet, and dignity. We also need to build more and stronger ties between developing and developed countries. It s the researchers in the most affected areas that have direct insights into the challenges that need addressing, and the practical barriers to addressing them. Mixing the strengths of the big-hitters research infrastructure with the vital insights from developing countries and emerging economies will result in exactly the kind of translation of science into practice we need to see. Emerging countries like China and India have dramatically increased their sustainability research output in recent years Pollution & health, water, and energy & fuels are hot topics for interdisciplinary research For sustainability science to have the biggest possible impact on development, research must cut across many different disciplines. Philippe Terheggen Managing Director Science, Technology and Medicine Journals at Elsevier 1 11

7 The interdisciplinary analysis Appendices We measured interdisciplinary research by looking at articles references: articles that reference other articles that are relatively far away in terms of subject are considered more interdisciplinary. To determine how far away the references were, we looked at the journals in which the articles were published, establishing how distant journals are from one another by analysing how often they are co-cited. This approach has the advantage that it doesn t rely on subject classifications it s flexible enough to capture the ever-changing dynamics of the research landscape. Annual scholarly output of top 5 countries in research for action on climate change Renewable energy 1,3 Carbon reporting 14 Co-occurrence of key phrases within publications drug cancer sanitation gender food security drinking water water supply water resource mortality food issue and policy health care vulnerability poverty water water management health child health urbanization child adaptation stakeholder developing world ecosystem service climate effect infrastructure public health sustainable risk factor health risk climate development risk decision making security pollution exposure risk assessment hazardous waste KEY Pollution and health Climate change Water Energy and fuels atmospheric pollution air quality health impact cost-benefit analysis air transportation urban area mitigation emission environmental impact fuel life cycle emission control sustainability energy carbon emission carbon dioxide energy efficiency global climate environmental economics environmental policy energy use electricity renewable resource carbon sequestration Carbon capture and storage KEY of America China Germany India Italy Australia South Korea Brazil Energy storage 1, Co-occurence data sourced from Scopus 13

8 Appendices Smart grid Agricultural productivity 1, Desalination 32 KEY of America China Germany India Italy Australia South Korea Brazil 214 Designed and produced by All images Shutterstock 14

9 To read Sustainable Science in a Global Landscape, please visit The Climate Change Challenge: the global research landscape is part of a multiyear project to provide insight into sustainability science. If you would like to suggest areas for further research, please environment@relx.com Or write to Dr Márcia Balisciano, Director, Corporate Responsibility, RELX Group,1 3 Strand, London WC2N 5JR, With thanks to Elsevier Analytics Services, part of the Elsevier Research Intelligence portfolio of products and services, which serve research institutions, government agencies and funders. For more information about Elsevier Research Intelligence, please visit: elsevier.com/research-intelligence Additional analytics sourced from SciVal, a solution offering power and flexibility in visualizing research performance, benchmarking and research trends.