The Future Earth and Climate Change Science symposium was recently held at the Institute for Carbon Neutrality of Tsinghua University. A satellite event of the 2026 International Science Council (ISC) Midterm Members' Meeting and Beijing Science Dialogue, the symposium was co-organized by Future Earth together with international and Chinese scientific partners. It brought together climate scientists, representatives of international research networks, and early-career scholars under the theme "From Climate Perspectives to Regional Decisions", exploring how global climate research can better inform decisions on water management, coastal adaptation, and ecosystem protection.
Professor Qin Dahe, chair of the Chinese National Committee for Future Earth, and Frances A. Colón, member of the ISC Governing Board delivered opening remarks at the symposium.. Both speakers emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary research and closer connections between science and society. In her subsequent presentation, Colón examined how international science informs climate policy and helps sustain climate action amid political change.
Professor Chen Deliang, chair of the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University and co-chair of the Future Earth Governing Council, delivered a keynote presentation. He said that a subsequent decline in global temperature would not necessarily reverse changes already underway in ice sheets, sea levels, regional climates, or ecosystems. He called for faster cuts in emissions, limits on warming overshoot, and careful assessment of the implications of large-scale carbon dioxide removal.
The symposium also featured exchanges on water security, coastal ecosystem protection, carbon and nitrogen cycles in terrestrial ecosystems, and the latest advances in climate science. Drawing on these discussions, participants agreed that actionable climate science must identify global change patterns while accounting for the environmental and social conditions that shape regional responses. The event provided a valuable platform for Tsinghua to strengthen ties with international scientific organizations and global research networks as the community advances climate science toward sustainable development.
Editors: Li Han, John Paul Grima
