Dr William F. Lamb

William is a global expert on anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, their sources, drivers and dynamics. He led the analysis of emissions trends in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Working Group III report, where he was a contributing author in seven chapters, a lead author of the Technical Summary, and a drafting author of the Summary for Policymakers. William leads the annual Emissions Trends chapter of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report, and the emissions section of the Indicators of Climate Change collaboration (Forster et al.).

In his work on emissions, William aims to provide an accurate and balanced portrayal of trends and drivers at different scales, but also to make this research more accessible for experts, policymakers and the public. He follows open science principles and provides full access to his code, data and analysis via Github, while also sharing resources with the community, including:

• The Tidy GHG Inventories dataset based on national emissions reporting under the UNFCCC
• Emissions figures and data for all countries based on the UNEP Emissions Gap Report analysis

William is interested in climate policy analysis, particularly from an evaluation perspective using systematic evidence synthesis methodologies. He has been involved in the development of the Evidence for Climate Solutions group's agenda for assessing what policies work, under what conditions, and why. William is also involved in an international collaboration to evaluate the "State of Carbon Dioxide Removal", where he tracks national targets and policies for scaling carbon dioxide removal and their implications for reaching global climate objectives.

In 2020, William led the team that published "Discourses of Climate Delay". This article pointed out that new types of arguments are emerging in the public discourse that do not deny the existence of climate change, but rather aim to justify inaction or inadequate efforts. Climate delay rhetoric attempts to portray climate policies and action as unfair, unnecessary and ineffective. This article is heavily cited, is regularly featured in news pieces and analysis of climate policy, and has led to the generation of resources that include comics, infographics, games, and a book. [My favourite summary of the concept is the German tagline: "Nicht ich. Nicht jetzt. Nicht so. Zu spät."]

William is a highly cited researcher and has published in Nature, Nature Climate Change, Nature Sustainability, Global Environmental Change, Environmental Research Letters, Earth System Science Data Discussions and others. He sits on the editorial board of Environmental Research Letters and Campbell Systematic Reviews (Climate Solutions).