Katherine Richardson

Katherine was Chairman of the Danish Commission on Climate Change Policy, which reported in 2010 and presented a roadmap for how Denmark can become independent of fossil fuels by 2050. She is a lead author on the book Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and co-authored with Stefan Rahmstorf Our Threatened Oceans (2009).

Katherine is a principle investigator in the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, where her research focuses on the importance of biological processes in the ocean for the uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere and how ocean biology, including diversity, contributes to ocean function in the Earth System. She is a co-author on the Planetary Boundaries initiative.

Katherine is active both as a member of or chairperson for a number of national and international research committee/advisory boards. She was Vice President of European Science Foundation from 2001–2008, and Chairman of the Earth System Science Evaluation Panel for European Research Council Starting Grants from 2008–2010. Katherine has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters.