The American Institute of Physics (AIP) is joining with societies worldwide to commit to further global partnership of physicists in fighting the challenges of climate change and facilitating a greener international economy.
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An alliance involving AIP, International Union of Pure, the European Science Federation and Applied Physics, Institute of Physics for the United Kingdom and Ireland and physical science organizations from 13 countries signed the worldwide call to action concerning the role of physics to alleviate the climate crisis and incorporate the concept of a green, environmentally sustainable economy.
The organizations committed to continue global partnership in research, focus engagement with governments to endorse physics-based solutions, advance physics education and encourage excluded, minoritized and marginalized peoples to take up careers in physics.
Furthermore, the universal statement beseeches national physical science societies and federations to pledge to work with other disciplines and foster partnership, enhance scientific literacy and encourage a diverse and all-encompassing physical sciences community.
Physical scientists will be at the forefront of addressing the looming climate change emergency, bringing their research in energy sciences, Earth-system science, and other critical knowledge to the development of innovative technology that will drive global economic growth in an environmentally sustainable way while also mitigating global climate change.
Michael Moloney, CEO, American Institute of Physics
"Scientific breakthroughs and innovations need to come from research, and the physical sciences will play a vital role in this multigenerational and global challenge," Michael Moloney added.
The physics organizations ask governments to support important scientific freedoms, including freedom of movement, and to formulate policies that boost the mobility of researchers across national boundaries.
To realize a greener economy, revolutionary technologies that are economically effective and inclusive on an international scale would be required. This necessitates partnership among physicists from all nations to theorize and generate the ideas and products required to provide for economic development while safeguarding the environment.
The U.S. physical sciences enterprise contributes substantively to addressing and mitigating this global crisis. Our climate problems do not stop at the borders of our countries or scientific disciplines, and neither should solutions.
Michael Moloney, CEO, American Institute of Physics
"As we all consider the outcomes of the recent COP26 commitments by the global community of nations, this call to action is merely one step of many our physics community will need to take toward significant and lasting change if we are to avoid a global catastrophe," Moloney concluded.
The letter has been signed by the following organizations:
- American Institute of Physics
- American Physical Society
- Canadian Association of Physicists
- Chinese Physical Society
- European Physical Society
- French Physical Society
- German Physical Society
- Indian Physics Association
- Institute of Physics for the UK and Ireland
- International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
- Italian Physical Society
- Japan Society for Applied Physics
- Netherlands Physical Society
- Optica (formerly OSA)
- Physical Society of Japan
- South African Institute of Physics