Q. What is the connection between maths and climate action?

Lars: I think a lot of discussions around the climate crisis will revolve around and rely upon the accuracy and trustworthiness of the mathematical models. Let us take Edinburgh for example. Given the flood risk the city faces, the sea level prediction models are really useful for determining, say, how we can prepare Leith and the surrounding areas to be flood ready. Some important details are not always accessible to us simply via observation, but mathematics and climate models unlock that access for us indirectly.

On a personal front, I come at the maths-climate action nexus from the perspective of mathematical optimisation, that is all about contending with questions like -- What is the quickest way to do something? What is the cheapest way of doing something? My research is concerned with different spaces of energy, modelling pipeline networks, and so on. I was working with the National Grid Electricity Operator Network on electricity networks and outage planning, and that is what the talk was all about – I spoke about the methods we were using to solve the problems and their connection with maths, which feeds back into the first question.

Q. How do you think more mathematicians can get involved in the fight for our planet?

Lars: We have many mathematicians willing to engage actively with the climate crisis. The main obstacle is that, in many cases, it is often difficult to explain the value that mathematics can bring. There is also the issue of the intermediate barriers that impede communication – for example, people often talk to engineers, who then talk to mathematicians, instead of approaching the mathematicians directly in the first place. That said, this is slowly getting better, as an increasing number of people are seeing how data science and AI can help solve some of the pressing climate issues. Earlier, there was this perception that general mathematicians do not really have the knowledge to add value to domain-specific issues. But this, as I said, is slowly changing.

Q. How did you first get involved with the Edinburgh Earth Initiative?

Lars: I had always been a part of the discussions around Energy@Ed, and I knew Jamie via that, well before the Edinburgh Earth Initiative was instituted. My secondment stemmed from the plans I had of working internally with the School of Mathematics and also with the School of Geosciences. The discussion was that it would be good to have some dedicated time to work on those plans, and the secondment has helped on that front. Further, I joined the University in 2019, and I had just enough time to get to know people before we entered the lockdown. So, I saw the secondment as an opportunity to get to know people outside my own little area of research.

Q. What were your key takeaways from the secondment?

Lars: Getting to know people outside of my research field and project helped immensely. Major portions of the secondment were built around my work with the Energy Grid, and that was extremely useful as well.

Q. Can you tell us a little about how Maths scholars are connecting with climate change in the School of Maths?

Lars: The previous Director of Sustainability at the School of Mathematics, David Jordan, came up with the idea of ‘Innovating the Climate Transition’ lecture series. The main aim was to understand how we make maths and its operations more sustainable. As a part of this, we also looked at what related Schools are doing in terms of research into sustainability. These talks were a part of that. I think it is important that the lecture series was directed towards students. In maths, the structure is often very traditional and classical, which means that students encounter the field’s application in practise very late in their studies. It is important to me that students can see very early on what the uses of mathematics are in practical settings. I find that students are very aware of the climate crisis and of their need to combat it, but less so when to comes to applying their maths knowledge and training to it.

Useful Links

The School of Mathematics is committed to making positive change in areas surrounding climate and sustainability. The School is aiming to do this via its world-leading research and our engagement with industry, as well as through our curriculum to inspire the next generation of mathematicians. The School is also committed to conducting our own research and teaching as sustainably as possible: Sustainability & the School of Mathematics.