Jean-Pascal van Ypersele
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (December 2020) |
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele | |
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Born | Brussels, Belgium | 14 April 1957
Nationality | Belgian |
Alma mater | UCLouvain National Center for Atmospheric Research |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics, Climatology |
Institutions | UCLouvain |
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele de Strihou (born 1957) is a Belgian academic
Quote
- "The debate has shifted from a scientific one 40 years ago to a very political one today, involving economic interests, geopolitics, different priorities given to environment or development, and a clash between short-term and long-term visions." (2015).[1]
Biography
Early life
Van Ypersele was born in Brussels in 1957.
Astronomy was his youth passion. Aged ten, he built his first telescopes with gutter scrap and lenses that he got from opticians in Brussels. Twelve years old, he was an assiduous reader of Sky & Telescope.[2] In 1971 he became secretary of the amateur Cercle Astronomique de Bruxelles club, which put him into contact with professional astronomists. On 30 June 1973 he was part of an international team of astronomists that travelled to Kenya to observe the longest solar eclipse of the 20th century.[2]
Studies
- Master in physics at the UCLouvain
- Internship on climate and desertification in Nairobi at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)[2]
- Master thesis on the effect of CO2 on the climate[2]
Ancillary activities as a student
As a university student, van Ypersele had an important social involvement[2]
- member of Inter-Environnement, he was influenced by the concepts of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm
- co-founder of an Amnesty International branch in Louvain-la-Neuve
- member of Mouvement des Jeunes pour la Paix
- activist against right extremism
- organised a meeting between European Commissioner for Development cooperation
Academic career
Van Ypersele carried out a PhD research in
van Ypersele received a PhD in
At the UCLouvain, van Ypersele became professor of
van Ypersele authored papers on subjects on a plethora of issues, including the modeling of sea ice, palaeoclimates, the climate of the 20th and 21st century, regional climate change in Europe, Greenland, and Africa, and the ethical issues associated with responsibility for climate change.
Teaching
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele teaches courses at the
- Climatology
- Climate modelling
- Mathematical geography
- Environmental science
IPCC
Pionieering work
In 1979, ten years before the establishment of the IPCC, he took part, as a 22-year-old student, in the First
In November 1995, he participated in his first IPCC meeting (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that investigates climate change on Earth) in Madrid, as sole Belgian representative. He contributed to a short sentence that entered in the annals of the organisation: The balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate. This statement is crucial, as it mentions clearly for the first time that a worrying climate evolution is ongoing; it is demonstrated and no longer a theoretical projection of the future.[5]
Climate summits
He developed his qualities as negotiator at about all
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele was one of the lead authors of the Third
He was elected as a member of the IPCC Bureau in 2002.[3]
He has several times filled in as a Review Editor of the
He was member of the core writing team for the Synthesis Report of the 5th
He was one of IPCC Vice-Chairs during the 5th cycle of evaluation, from September 2008 to October 2015.
He was nominated by the Belgian government as candidate to the IPCC Chair position in 2015, but not elected.[7][8]
He remains an active member of IPCC and contributes strongly to the development and dissemination of its scientific message. He established the
He endeavours to demonstrate the operation of climate confusers and of the fossil fuels lobby.[14]
Diplomacy and persuasion
He participates in numerous events related to climate change – personally or virtually – thanks to his lectures and networks. All over the world. One day he is in Lima, Geneva or Marrakesh. The next day he may talk in Brussels for an auditorium filled with students or trade unionists. Two days later he addresses senior staff of a multinational bank, European bishops or a group of freemasons.[2]
Candidacy as IPCC chair in 2015
In 2014 van Ypersele was nominated by the Belgian government as candidate to take over IPCC-chair from
For 20 months, he travelled around the world to present an elaborate programme to decision makers, scientists, industrialists and journalists. His aim was to increase the influence of the IPCC.[1]The elections of IPCC Bureau members (Chair, Vice-Chairs, and Working Group and TFI Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs) were held during the 42nd IPCC Session from 5 to 8 October 2015, in
As his mandate as a vice-president had run out, he was no longer a member of the IPCC bureau. He continued participating in the IPCC plenary sessions as a representative of the Belgian delegation.[2]
On 2 April 2019 he announced that he would again apply for the IPCC presidency.[18][19]
Main publications
PhD thesis
- A Numerical Study of the Response of the Southern Ocean and Its Sea Ice to a CO2-Induced Atmospheric Warming, National Center for Atmospheric Research and Université catholique de Louvain, Boulder (USA) and Louvain-la-Neuve, 1986.
Books
- In het oog van de klimaatstorm [in Dutch], Epo, Berchem, 2018[20]
- Meeting report of the IPCC Expert Meeting on Communication. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, IPCC, 2016.[21]
- Une vie au cœur des turbulences climatiques [in French], Bruxelles, De Boeck supérieur, 2015, 128 p.[5]
- IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [lid redactieraad]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp.[22]
- van Ypersele, J-P. & Hudon, M. (eds.), Actes du 1er Congrès interdisciplinaire du développement durable : quelle transition pour nos sociétés ? [in French], 6 volumes, Service Public de Wallonie, 2013.
- Climate change and the Belgian development cooperation policy: challenges and opportunities, FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and Université catholique de Louvain, Brussel, 2008.
- Le Treut, H., J.P. van Ypersele, S. Hallegatte et J.C. Hourcade (ed.), Science du changement climatique – Acquis et controverses [in French], IDDRI, Paris, 2004.[23]
Articles in scientific journals
- 2014. Comparison of one-moment and two-moment bulk microphysics for high-resolution climate simulations of intense precipitation: Atmos. Research[24]
- 2010. The impact of the unilateral EU commitment on the stability of international climate agreements: Climate Policy[25]
- 2009. Assessing dangerous climate change through an update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "reasons for concern": Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA[26]
- 2009. PRIMES scenario analysis towards 2030 for Belgium: European Review of Energy Markets, Energy Policy Studies[27]
- 2008. Internal variability in a regional climate model over West Africa: Clim. Dyn. [28]
- 2007. The 1979-2005 Greenland ice sheet melt extent from passive microwave data using an improved version of the melt retrieval XPGR algorithm: Geophys. Res. Lett. [29]
- 2006. L'injustice fondamentale des changements climatiques [in French]: Alternatives Sud[30]
- 2006. The 1988-2003 Greenland ice sheet melt extent using passive microwave satellite data and a regional climate model: Clim. Dyn. [31]
- 2002. Are natural climate forcings able to counteract the projected anthropogenic global warming?: Clim. Change[32]
- 2001. Managing climate risk: Science[33]
- 2000. Nous empruntons la Terre aux enfants d'aujourd'hui et de demain [in French]: Lumen Vitae[34]
- 1999. Potential role of solar variability as an agent for climate change: Clim. Change[35]
- 1999. Volcanic and solar impacts on climate since 1700: Clim. Dyn. [36]
- 1992. Simulation of the Last Glacial Cycle By a Coupled, Sectorially Averaged Climate-ice Sheet Model. 2. Response To Insolation and CO2 Variations: J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos. [37]
- 1991. Simulation of the Last Glacial Cycle By a Coupled, Sectorially Averaged Climate-ice Sheet Model.1. The Climate Model: J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos.[38]
- 1986. Climate and Desertification – Editorial, in van Ypersele J.P. & M. Verstraete (eds), Climate and Desertification Special Issue: Climatic Change[39]
Book chapters
- 2012. Comment le GIEC gère-t-il les incertitudes scientifiques? [in French][40]
- 2008. The fundamental injustice of climate change[41]
- 2006. The Relationships Between Population and Environment[42]
- 2004. A few, ou comment affaiblir un texte du GIEC [in French][43]
- 2002. The Kyoto Protocol: an economic and game-theoretic interpretation[44]
Involvement with the society
Since 1993, he is a member of the Belgian Federal Council for Sustainable Development, and since 1998 he chairs its Working Group on Energy and Climate.
From July to December 2001, he was scientific advisor for climate affairs with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.[3]
In 2005, he was appointed as member of the "Energy 2030" commission (advising the Belgian government on energetic transition).[3]
From 2008 to 2011, he was the chair of the scientific committee of the world's largest exhibition (SOS-Planet) on climate change in the Liège-Guillemins railway station.[45]
In 2011, he co-organised the First Stephen Schneider Symposium (Boulder, Colorado, US). In 2013, he co-chaired the First interdisciplinary Symposium on Sustainable Development in Namur (Belgium), and co-chaired its second edition in 2015 in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). He personally briefed several heads of state, many ministers and CEOs about climate issues, and has been or is member of several international scientific advisory or editorial boards[3] (EU FP7 Research Programme, Dutch Climate Research Programme, Météo-France, EU JPI-Climate TAB, Royal Meteorological Institute (Belgium), the leading journal Climatic Change ,[46] established by Stephen Schneider).
In 2019 he became member of a think tank of climate experts that was established in synergy with the
In 2019 he was appointed as an expert with the EU
Awards and honours
- 2006: Energy and Environment Award of the International Polar Foundation
- 2007: IPCC(van Ypersele was vice-president of IPCC's working group II)
- 2008: Francqui-Chair at the Université libre de Bruxelles[49]
- 2009: Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium
- 2010: Honorary member of the Club of Rome (EU Chapter)
- 2011: HUBrussel[49]
- 2011: Commander of the Mérite wallon[50]
- 2014: Grand Officer in the Order of the Crown (Belgium)[51]
- 2018: Leadership Prize by the Harvard Club of Belgium[52]
Renown
Van Ypersele has delivered hundreds of lectures and has given more than a thousand interviews in international media;[1] he has almost 14000 followers on Twitter, which puts him among the 50 top world climate scientists on Twitter.
He has been featured in a ministry examination for the secondary 5 level in Quebec province, Canada.
In a 2018 Associated Press interview, van Ypersele urged that "countries should do everything possible to work towards the report's goal of reining in carbon emissions by 2030, at which point scientists say damage to the climate will be irreversible unless urgent action has been taken." He added, "Nobody, even the so-called superpowers, can negotiate with the laws of physics."[53]
Controversy
Van Ypersele's work is sometimes challenged by “climate confusers”; there was a petition signed by eight Belgian academics and opinion makers opposing his candidacy as IPCC chair in 2015.[54] Most known of these opponents is his colleague from UCLouvain, Professor István Markó who produced a large scientific output in the field of organic chemistry, but not climatology.[55][56]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Ypersele, Jean-Pascal van (16 March 2015). "Climate Politics: Does the IPCC Have a Future?". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ OCLC 1016626443.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Prof. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele's CV on the European Parliament website" (PDF).
- ^ "Faculty - Naval Postgraduate School". nps.edu.
- ^ a b "Une vie au cœur des turbulences climatiques". De Boeck Supérieur. 23 April 2020.
- OCLC 1016626443.
- ^ a b Webb, Jonathan (6 October 2015). "Korean leader for UN climate panel". BBC News.
- ^ a b "The IPCC elects a new leadership team". Carbon Brief. 7 October 2015.
- ^ UNESCO: AD HOC EXPERT GROUP (AHEG) FOR THE DECLARATION ON THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN RELATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
- ^ UNESCO: Declaration of Ethical Principles in relation to Climate Change
- ^ "GSDR 2019 .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform". sustainabledevelopment.un.org.
- ^ "GSDR 2019 .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform". sustainabledevelopment.un.org.
- ^ "IISD/ENB @ UNFCCC COP 23 | 6-18 November 2017 | Bonn, DE | IISD Reporting Services". enb.iisd.org.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Climate change "denial", the role of climate confusers, and their evolving strategies: an introduction – Presentation at the European Parliament" (PDF).
- ^ "Nomination by Belgium as a candidate to the position of Chair of the IPCC" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
- ^ a b "Error 404". uclouvain.be.
- ^ "Lettre officielle de la Belgique en vue de la nomination de Jean-Pascal van Ypersele en tant que candidat à la Présidence du GIEC" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
- ^ "Jean-Pascal van Ypersele wil opnieuw gaan voor voorzitterschap IPCC". Site-Knack-NL. 2 April 2019.
- ^ a b "Young activists hailed for pushing climate to the top of global agenda". The Brussels Times. 13 December 2019.
- ^ "In het oog van de klimaatstorm - Jean-Pascal van Ypersele". EPO.
- ^ Lynn, Jonathan, Araya, Monica, Christophersen, Øyvind, El Gizouli, Ismail, Hassol, Susan Joy, Konstantinidis, Enrique Maurtua, Mach, Katharine J., Meyer, Leo, Kiyoto Tanabe, Tignor, Melinda, Tshikalanke, Rabelani, & van Ypersele de Strihou, Jean-Pascal. (2016). Meeting report of the IPCC Expert Meeting on Communication. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- ^ IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team (M. R. Allen, V. R. Barros, J. Broome, W. Cramer, R. Christ, J. A. Church (...) Jean-Pascal van Ypersele), R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp.
- ^ Le Treut, H., J.P. van Ypersele, S. Hallegatte et J.C. Hourcade (ed.), Science du changement climatique – Acquis et controverses, Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales (IDDRI), Paris, 2004.
- hdl:1854/LU-8772886.
- S2CID 18841055.
- PMC 2648893.
- ^ "D'Haeseleer W., D. Gusbin, D. Devogelaer, P. Klees, J.P. van Ypersele, 2009. PRIMES scenario analysis towards 2030 for Belgium: European Review of Energy Markets, Energy Policy Studies, Vol. 3 (1), p. 191-260" (PDF).
- S2CID 128478679.
- S2CID 59475652.
- ^ tricontinental, Centre (5 May 2020). "Changements climatiques. Impasses et perspectives". Centre tricontinental.
- S2CID 140570230.
- S2CID 15264816.
- S2CID 34722068.
- ^ "Grégoire, J-F., J.P. van Ypersele, F. Bartiaux, 2000. Nous empruntons la Terre aux enfants d'aujourd'hui et de demain: Lumen Vitae, Vol. 55 (1), p. 67-80" (PDF).
- S2CID 153608830.
- S2CID 56109566.
- .
- .
- S2CID 154499495.
- ^ van Ypersele de Strihou, Jean-Pascal; Gaino, Bruna (5 May 2012). "Comment le GIEC gère-t-il les incertitudes scientifiques ?" – via dial.uclouvain.be.
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(help) - ^ van Ypersele de Strihou, Jean-Pascal (5 May 2008). "The fundamental injustice of climate change" – via dial.uclouvain.be.
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(help) - ^ "Bartiaux, F., J.P. van Ypersele, 2006. The Relationships Between Population and Environment, in Demography: Analysis and Synthesis. A Treatise in Population Studies, edited by Caselli G., J. Vallin & G. Wunsch, Academic Press, p. 383-396".
- ^ van Ypersele de Strihou, Jean-Pascal (5 May 2004). "A few, ou comment affaiblir un texte du GIEC" – via dial.uclouvain.be.
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(help) - ^ "CAB Direct". www.cabdirect.org.
- ^ "Le climat en question à Liège avec l'expo SOS Planet". RTBF Info. 2 September 2010.
- ^ "Climatic Change". Springer.
- ^ Rankin, Jennifer (12 November 2019). "School strikers try to unite divided Belgium over climate crisis". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "Members of the Mission Board for Adaptation to Climate Change, including Societal Transformation" (PDF).
- ^ a b "Titulars – Fondation Francqui – Stichting". www.francquifoundation.be.
- ^ "Jean-Pascal van Ypersele | Connaître la Wallonie". connaitrelawallonie.wallonie.be.
- ^ Bulletin van de Vereniging van de Adel van het Koninkrijk België, Nummer 279, Juli 2014, p. 101.
- ^ "Harvard Club of Belgium awards 2018 Leadership Prize to Jean-Pascal van Ypersele". UCLouvain.
- ^ Bowden, John (12 December 2018). "Climate change researcher warns 'so-called superpowers' against arguing with 'the laws of physics'". TheHill.
- ^ Minten, Dominique (30 January 2015). "Collega's dwarsbomen klimatoloog Van Ypersele". De Standaard.
- ^ "Istvan Marko on ResearchGate".
- ^ "Symposium - Tribute to István Markó 12-13 September 2019". UCLouvain. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2020.