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Richard Betts

Chair in Climate Impacts, University of Exeter

Richard is Chair in Climate Impacts at the University of Exeter and Head of Climate Impacts in the Met Office Hadley Centre. His undergraduate studies were in Physics at the University of Bristol, followed by an MSc in Meteorology and Climatology at the University of Birmingham. For his PhD, he used climate models to assess the role of the world’s ecosystems in global climate and climate change. He has worked in climate modelling since 1992, with a particular interest in the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and the interactions with other impacts of climate change such as on water resources.

Richard is also interested in the wide-ranging effects of land use and land cover change on climate. He has pioneered a number of key developments in the extension of climate models to include biological processes. He leads the EU Framework 7 Project HELIX (High-End cLimate Impacts and eXtremes), which assesses the impacts of climate change at 2, 4 and 6°C global warming above pre-industrial state.

Richard was a lead author on the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Working Group 1 (The Physical Science Basis), leading the assessment of the influences of land cover change on climate and contributing to the assessment of climate change impacts on fresh water. He played a similar role in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He is also lead author on the IPCC 5th Assessment Report in Working Group 2 (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), responsible for assessing the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems.

Climate Change Series

What will the world actually look like at 1.5°C of warming?

Nov 19, 2016 11:00 am UTC| Nature

The high ambition of the Paris Agreement, to limit global warming to well below 2C, was driven by concern over long-term sea level rise. A warmer climate inevitably means melting ice you dont need a computer model to...

Economy

Malaysia Central Bank Moves to Support Ringgit Amid Foreign Fund Outflows

Malaysias central bank has announced new measures to support the ringgit after the currency weakened more than 4% in June, driven largely by foreign investor caution and expectations of higher U.S. interest rates. Bank...

Bessent Says U.S. Must Strengthen Supply Chains and Economic Security

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration is focused on strengthening supply chain resilience to protect critical industries from economic disruptions, pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, and...

South Korea Remains MSCI Emerging Market Despite Reform Progress

South Korea will remain classified as an emerging market by MSCI after the global index provider decided not to upgrade the country to developed market status in its latest market accessibility review released on Tuesday....

South Korea’s KOSPI Rebounds as Samsung and SK Hynix Lead Tech Stock Recovery

South Koreas benchmark KOSPI index staged a strong recovery on Wednesday, climbing 3.4% to 8,480.21 points after suffering a sharp sell-off in the previous session. The rebound was driven largely by gains in major...

Australia Inflation Cools in May, But Core CPI Keeps RBA Rate Hike Risks Alive

Australias inflation rate eased more than expected in May, offering signs that price pressures may be gradually cooling and strengthening the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep interest rates unchanged in...

Politics

US Senate Approves War Powers Resolution Urging Trump to End Iran Military Action

The U.S. Senate has approved a war powers resolution directing President Donald Trump to halt U.S. military involvement in Iran, marking a significant congressional challenge to the administrations foreign policy. The...

Crimea Power Outage After Ukrainian Drone Attack, Russian Authorities Say

Power supplies were disrupted in Sevastopol, the largest city in Russian-annexed Crimea, following what local Russian-installed authorities described as a Ukrainian attack on energy infrastructure. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the...

Cait Conley Wins Democratic Nomination, Sets Up Key House Battle Against Mike Lawler in New York

Cait Conley, a U.S. Army veteran and former national security official, has secured the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Congressman Mike Lawler in New Yorks highly competitive 17th Congressional District. The...

U.S. Eases Iran Team Travel Restrictions Ahead of Seattle World Cup Match

The United States has relaxed travel restrictions for Irans national soccer team ahead of its upcoming FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, allowing the squad to enter the country two days before kickoff instead of just one...

Peru Election Dispute Deepens as Roberto Sanchez Rejects Runoff Results

Perus presidential election dispute intensified on Tuesday after leftist candidate Roberto Sanchez announced that he would not recognize the outcome of the tightly contested presidential runoff, alleging electoral fraud...

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Anthropic AI Model Uncovers Vulnerabilities in Classified U.S. Government Systems During Security Test

Anthropics advanced artificial intelligence model identified vulnerabilities in classified U.S. government computer systems during a recent security testing exercise, according to a report by the Associated Press citing a...

Samsung Electronics Stock Surges on Report of Massive $59 Billion Share Buyback Plan

Samsung Electronics shares rallied sharply on Wednesday after a report suggested the company could launch a substantial share buyback program worth nearly 90 trillion won ($59 billion) over the next three years. The...

SK Hynix Moves Closer to New York ADR Listing Amid AI Chip Boom

South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix is reportedly preparing to take a major step toward a U.S. market debut by filing documents for an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) offering with South Koreas financial regulator....

Cerebras Revenue Forecast Tops Expectations, but Margin Concerns Weigh on Stock

Cerebras Systems delivered a strong revenue outlook for 2026 that exceeded Wall Street expectations, but investors remained cautious as the companys profit margin forecast highlighted the challenges of competing with AI...

SpaceX Stock Rebounds After Sharp Selloff, But Valuation Concerns Persist

SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) recovered modestly on Tuesday, closing 0.9% higher at $156.06 after briefly falling below its post-IPO opening price during intraday trading. The stock touched a low of $147.11, slipping beneath the...