Understanding the past behaviour of the climate system and predicting its future is a huge challenge to science. The current status of climate change science and the risks due to the impact of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted through our activities will be discussed. Last December in Paris the nations of the world agreed on the need to strictly limit the change in climate and on an initial framework for doing this. Paris is a great start, but the pathway for a successful outcome poses a major challenge to our species – its science and technology, and its social, economic and political ways of working.

The Bert Bolin Climate Lecture can be seen in this video