UK: Hadley Centre

The Hadley Center is UK's official centre for climate change research. Partly funded by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), the Hadley Center provides information and advice to the UK Government on climate change issues. The Hadley Centre is one of the world's leading centers for climate change research, and its scientists made significant contributions to the Fourth Assessment Report from the IPCC and HM Treasury Stern Review, in addition to undertaking research on behalf of Defra. The Centre publishes a wide range of reports, but a good start for the beginner would the brochure "the Big Picture".

For an easy introduction to the work of the Hadley Centre, read the Big Picture Brochure about facts and myths of climate change.

The Big Picture in Brief:

This 2008 brochure produced by the Hadley Center confronts the most common understandings and misunderstanding of climate change:

Fact 1: Climate change is happening and humans are contributing to it

Fact 2: Temperatures are continuing to rise

Fact 3: The current climate change is not just part of a natural cycle

Fact 4: Recent warming cannot be explained by the Sun or natural factors alone

Fact 5: If we continue emitting greenhouse gases this warming will continue and delaying action will make the problem more difficult to fix

Fact 6: Climate models predict the main features of future climate

Myth 1: The intensity of cosmic rays changes climate