I am a Professor in Environmental Science and Policy at Bristol University.   My research is on land and climate interactions, including emissions of carbon dioxide from land use change (e.g. deforestation) and climate mitigation potential from the land, including Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) (e.g. afforestation, bioenergy).  I work in partnership with policy makers, business, NGOs, etc. A particular interest at the moment is ensuring the scientific credibility of monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions and removals.  The aim of my research is to provide a better evidence base for climate policy on climate mitigation targets and land-based mitigation options.

Seconded for a year to the Government Office for Science as Head of Climate Advice in 2015, I regularly give advice to the UK Government and other organisations such as the UK Committee on Climate Change (see here for our report on Bioenergy) and EU climate negotiators.  I am the founding co-chair of the Bristol Advisory Committee on Climate Change;  and a member of the Scottish Government First Ministers Environment Council.

I have been an Author for many reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which the authors shared the Nobel Prize in 2007.  Recently I was a Lead Author on the The Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019), the 2019 Inventory Methods Refinement, and the IPCC 6^thAssessment Report (Mitigation of Climate Change, 2022). 

As an author of The New York Declaration on Forests Assessment Report (2019), I was deeply sadenned about the ongoing high rate of tropical deofrestation (26Mha each year, an area the size of the UK ), you can hear us discussing this and Amazon fires on BBC Costing the Earth.  Focusing on solutions, I was an author of the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering Report on Greenhouse Gas Removal (Sept 2018) and am part of the UK Greenhouse Gas Removal Programme, where I lead on Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) within the CO2RE hub.

One thing I really enjoyed doing was contributing to "Climate Change: A Ladybird Expert Book".   Accessible information on climate change is really important, and I always loved the Ladybird books when I was younger. The pictures are great - classic.

One thing that used to fill me with fear was public speaking, but I think communicating science is really essential if we are to share knowledge we care about to make a difference, therefore I try to do it and to encourage colleagues and students to do it, and its usually actually OK in the end ... and sometimes even fun.  Here is a clip of me talking to BBC World News about the IPCC Report on 1.5 degrees (October 2018). I have aslo spoken on Sky News for their mini series "A New Climate", Channel 4 News, BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, BBC News24, BBC Radio Bristol, Ujimaa Radio Bristol, various newspapers in the UK and internationally, and here I am talking to BBC Inside Science about the June 2019 announcement to legislate net zero emissions in the UK and about science into policy. I really enjoy speaking to young people at the Youth Strikes and at the "Climate Question time" session run at the Unviersity. Listening to young people - I just want to say that you do have a future, and that there is a lot we can do individually and collectively about climate change, we have a long way to go still, but things are changing.  I also speak at public events such as those organised by our local science museum (We the Curious), local MPs, Bristol City Council, The West of England Regional Authority, Bristol Disabilities and Equalities Forum, etc. Any colleagues/students intrested in climate communication -  I'm happy to share opportunites and advice.

Here is a short (7 min) Future Learn video Rachel Flecker and I made about climate change, and shorter interviews about climate modelling, and science and policy.

Here are some Guest Posts in Carbon Brief that cover some of my work.

Forests to provide a quarter of Paris Agreement’s pledged mitigation

How new EU rules could ‘hide’ climate impact of harvesting forests

Credible tracking of land-use emissions under the Paris Agreement

Why BECCS might not produce ‘negative’ emissions after all

I have had Long Covid since March 2020 and now only work part time. I am happy to discuss Long Covid and my role as founding member of our chairty Long Covid Support, for which I am co-lead for Health Advocacy and the Operations Committee.  Through this role I have advised with NHS England, NIHR, NICE.

Find me on twitter @Drjohouse