Dr. Kirsten Zickfeld is a Distinguished Professor of Climate Science in the Faculty of Environment at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

 Dr. Zickfeld’s primary research interests lie generally in the area of climate change science, with focus on the long-term effects of human activities on climate and climate-carbon cycle interactions. She is internationally recognized for her research on the irreversibility of human-induced climate change and carbon budgets consistent with climate targets. Her current research program includes investigation of the effects of carbon dioxide removal on the global carbon cycle and climate. She has published on climate change reversibility and carbon budgets in scenarios with net negative carbon dioxide emissions, and on the asymmetry in the carbon cycle and climate response to carbon dioxide emissions and removals.  

 Dr. Zickfeld served as Lead Author for the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for which she led the assessment of the effects of CDR on the carbon cycle and other biogeochemical cycles. She also served as Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on the Global Warming of 1.5 degrees. She is a member of the Expert Panel on Understanding and Leveraging Canadian Carbon Sinks and of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Carbon Project. 

Prof. Bala is currently a Professor at the Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He received his Ph.D in atmospheric and oceanic sciences in 1994 from McGill University, Canada. After two years of Post-doc at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University, he served as a “Physicist” (Climate Scientist) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) between 1996 and 2008. While at LLNL, Prof. Bala developed and used earth system models to understand the climate and carbon cycle changes to external forcings such as greenhouse gases and land cover change.

Prof. Bala’s main research interests are modelling of climate change, carbon and water cycle, climatic effects of land cover change and climate engineering. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers on climate change and carbon cycle. He and his collaborators from China and USA won the prestigious World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Norbert Gerbier MUMM International Award for 2014 .

Prof. Baa has served as a Lead Author for the 5th and 6th assessment IPCC WG1 reports. He is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the AIMES (Analysis, Integration and Modeling of the Earth System) global research project of “Future Earth” since 2015. He is also a member of the “Earth Commission” constituted by Future Earth to identify the safe and just corridor for a resilient planet. Prof. Bala serves as a member on the editorial boards of the journals “Earth System Dynamics” and “Environmental Research Letters Reviews”.

Nicholas Harrison brings 20 years’ experience working across Europe and internationally on sustainable development and climate change governance and implementation.

Prior to joining C2G, Harrison served as an adviser on climate action in the Executive Office of the United Nations secretary-general, supporting delivery and ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Before this, as a senior consultant at Ecofys, he coordinated global teams of experts delivering high-profile international research assessments and analysis on climate change, sustainable energy, and low emissions development

In previous roles, Harrison served as an adviser on climate change and strategic intelligence for the UK Department of International Development, Department of Communities and Local Government, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. He began his career in environmental engineering, moving into communications to promote renewable energy technologies, followed by various roles in city, regional, and national government, improving the use of data and evidence to deliver more sustainable development.

Harrison has written and presented widely on climate change and sustainable development, served on the Sustainable Communities committee of the British Standards Institution (BSI) and worked extensively to promote integrated multi-level governance and the role of cities, states, and other non-state actors in climate action.

He holds an MSc in organisational psychology from City University, London, is a fellow of LEAD International and the Norfolk Charitable Trust, and is an independent expert for the Climate KIC, Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate innovation to mitigate and adapt to climate change.