Over the past three years, hundreds of the world’s leading researchers have been assessing the latest knowledge on climate change, its impacts and risks, and what we can do about it, for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the United Nations body for climate science.

The IPCC’s newest report assesses the latest knowledge about climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerabilities.

University of Canterbury Ahorangi Professor Bronwyn Hayward, is a coordinating lead author of the 2022 IPCC report by Working Group II and co-leading the global chapter on Cities and infrastructure. She will discuss the latest IPCC report in a free online talk on Wednesday 2 March. She was recently named the Supreme Winner at the annual Women of Influence Awards and also won the Environment Award.

In this free online public lecture, Professor Hayward will highlight the key findings of the report and what it means especially for over 86 per cent of New Zealanders who live in cities and towns.

Professor Hayward says the opportunity to serve in the IPCC is “both honour and a significant responsibility”, particularly as the world copes with the interaction of climate change and a global pandemic.

“The aim of the cycle of reports is to understand the new knowledge about the implications and risks of climate change, as well as advances in adaptation and mitigation strategies, and this particular assessment round comes at a time when the world is confronting multiple challenges, including COVID-19,” she says.

“Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. Aotearoa New Zealand is well served by an outstanding group of authors working on the Assessment reports, and I am grateful for the chance to bring interdisciplinary insights to such a complex problem.”

About the speaker

Internationally acclaimed sustainability and youth politics expert Professor Bronwyn Hayward MNZM is Director of Hei Puāwaitanga: Sustainability Citizenship and Civic Imagination Research Group at the University of Canterbury’s Political Science and International Relations department.

A trailblazer in her field, she was the first political scientist and only New Zealander appointed to the IPCC’s ‘core’ writing team and is also a co-ordinating lead author of the IPCC AR6 report (cities & infrastructure). She was a lead author and the only New Zealander on the 2018 Special Report on 1.5 degrees. In 2021, Professor Hayward was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to political science.

In February 2022, she was named the Supreme Winner at the Women of Influence Awards as well as winning the Environment Award. Professor Hayward is a semi-finalist for the inaugural Department of Conservation and Ministry for the Environment New Zealand Environmental Hero of the Year Award in the New Zealander of the Year Awards.

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