The World faces unprecedented environmental challenges. The Earth system is confronted with unsustainable exploitation of its natural resources, significant and potentially irreversible changes to its climate, combined with a continued loss in biodiversity that threatens the stability of the living systems on which it depends. These challenges will be exacerbated by a world population which is expected to increase by more than 30% in the coming years. If we carry on using resources at the current rate, by 2050 we will need, on aggregate, the equivalent of more than two planets to sustain us, and the aspirations of many for a better quality of life will not be achieved (Europe 2020).
The ERCE fosters a broad approach to environmental research that ranges research aimed at new knowledge creation, to applied research designed to generate solutions to specific environmental challenges through to contract-based work for industry and Government bodies. This breadth of research enables a seamless transmission of new knowledge from laboratory to industry/policy for the benefit of all in society. The interdisciplinary research environment at the ERCE enables researchers to work together in large, multi-skilled teams that draw on each discipline’s core competences to address scientific questions of environmental relevance in a synergistic manner.
