Climate change knowledge cooperative provides simplified research summaries
23 Dec 2021
The Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative provides easy to understand research summaries to help everyone comprehend and act on climate change science. Charlie Rapple outlines how 15 of the world’s largest and most reputable academic publishers have come together to make the most important research on climate change accessible to the public.
The Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative is a platform that provides provides easy-to-understand explanations of key articles and books from over 15 scholarly publishers.
Globally, more than one trillion pounds is spent each year on academic research, producing an average of two million papers. Of the 50 million research articles currently available online, up to 50 per cent are never read. To help more people find and act on this research, the Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative brings together global publishers including Cambridge University Press, the American Meteorological Society and Elsevier. Each has selected a range of the most influential articles, books and other climate science content, which have been summarised into easy-to-understand language by expert writers.
“Research publications are simply not designed for the purpose of reaching and influencing people outside the academic world,” explained Charlie Rapple, chief customer officer and co-founder of Kudos. “Climate change is one of the few research topics where it really does make sense to try and help more people understand what scientists are recommending. Publishers are working together to provide a single-entry point to climate research information across a range of subject areas.”
The platform picks up on several of the themes of COP26, including committing to net-zero, ending deforestation by 2030 and phasing out coal power. It also includes a simple explanation of ‘the most influential climate science research of all time’ — an early study by 2021 Nobel Prize winner Syukuro Manabe, which accurately predicted rising temperatures as a result of carbon dioxide emissions.
The curated content collection gives users access to information that is impartial, reliable and accurate. The initiative will help to strengthen the trust between science and the public to enable people to make more informed decisions, lobby governments for change and successfully take urgent action on climate.
The project is led by research communication specialists Kudos and Impact Science, in partnership with AIP Publishing (the American Institute of Physics), the American Meteorological Society, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Annual Reviews, BioOne, BRILL, Cambridge University Press, Copyright Clearance Center, De Gruyter, Delta Think, Elsevier, Frontiers, the Geological Society, IOP Publishing (Institute of Physics), IOS Press, Royal Society of Chemistry, Springer Nature and Wiley.
To explore the most influential and actionable climate research for yourself, visit the collection at www.climate-change.info/
Author: Charlie Rapple is chief customer officer and co-founder of growkudos.com
