The School has provided 20 Convening lead authors and another 31 Contributing authors and review editors to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. No other university department in the world has made such a sustained and substantial contribution to the IPCC.

Climate system and climate change has been, and remains, a key research area for the school: we study climate and paleo-climate records, components of the climate system, interactions between these components and climate predictions. We are well-known for our research on biogeochemical cycles, particularly nutrient and carbon flows and biogenic and greenhouse gases; atmospheric and ocean circulation especially in the polar regions and the tropics; and options for geo-engineering future climate. The School operates three major centres which contribute to this theme: the Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Group, the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.