The group on earth observations carbon and greenhouse gas initiative

An improved understanding of the global carbon cycle is important to the success of efforts to mitigate climate change, such as agreed in the Paris meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties in 2016. Climate change mitigation and adaptation requires action by individual countries, municipalities, cities, and their citizens. These actions require a diverse range of information. Current efforts responding to the need for these carbon observations are, however, fragmented. There is a need to coordinate observations on carbon, GHG measurements, and ecosystem processes related to carbon cycle dynamics. The GEO Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Initiative (GEO-C) was launched to further support continuity and coherence of the ongoing efforts and facilitate their cooperation and interoperability. The GEO-C Initiative (1) supports the development of a holistic cross-domain, global carbon cycle and GHG monitoring system that provides long-term, high quality, and open access; (2) engages with users and policy makers and ensures the fitness for purpose of the observation and reporting system; and (3) aims to establish a common terminology (including scientists and decision makers) involved in addressing GHG emissions. This chapter describes the background of the GEO-GHG initiative and describes the main aims of the initiative and first steps toward implementation.