Each year during the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, upwards of 17,000 scientists gather to share some of the most recent scientific breakthroughs in their field. This includes many areas that are relevant for policy including those related to climate change, natural hazards, energy, agriculture and ocean health. This year, the EGU is moving many of its General Assembly activities and scientific sessions online as part of EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online.

Participants can join Sharing Geoscience Online completely free of charge. This will allow anyone to select specific scientific areas or sessions of interest within the programme, view the research and presentations that have been uploaded and participate in text-based chats with scientists to get more details on each topic presented. Each session has a dedicated time for the text-based chat, and you can also view and comment on the uploaded research anytime from now until the end of May. There will also be ten live-streamed keynote symposia and debate sessions taking place during the week.

Sessions likely to be of interest to policymakers working in geoscience-related fields include:

Climate change & its impacts

• Are forests a solution to climate change? (Tue, 05 May, 14:00–15:00)
• Emission pathways, carbon budgets, and climate-carbon response: governing mechanisms, limitations, and implications for policymakers (Tue, 05 May, 17:00-20:00)
• Climate Extremes, Tipping Dynamics, and Earth Resilience in the Anthropocene (Wed, 06 May, 14:00–18:00)
• Science-based Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimates in Support of National and Sub-National Climate Change Mitigation (Wed, 06 May, 14:00–18:00)
• Economics and Econometrics of Climate Change: evaluating the drivers, impacts, and policies of climate change (Thu, 07 May, 08:30–10:15)
• Climate services for insurance and adaptation: catastrophe and extreme climate risk assessment (Thu, 07 May, 10:45–12:30¬)
• Communicating A Global Climate Crisis: If our house is on fire, why haven’t we called the fire brigade…? (Fri, May 8, 2020 10:45)

Polar research

• Arctic changes – processes and feedbacks in climate, ocean and cryosphere (Mon, 04 May, 16:15–18:00)
• The Antarctic Ice Sheet: past, present and future contributions towards global sea level (Tue, 05 May, 10:45–12:30)
• Changes in the Arctic Ocean, sea ice and subarctic seas systems: Observations, Models and Perspectives (Thu, 07 May, 08:30–12:30)

Natural hazards

• Seismic Hazard and Disaster Risk: Observations, Assessment, Testing and Implementation Policy/Diplomacy (Wed, 06 May, 08:30–10:15):
• Climatic, environmental and societal impacts of volcanic activity (Wed, 06 May, 08:30–12:30)
• The Role of Fire in the Earth System: Understanding Interactions with the Land, Atmosphere, and Society (Wed, 06 May, 14:00–18:00)
• Natural Hazards Education, Communications and Science-Policy-Practice Interface (Wed, 06 May, 16:15–18:00)
• Reducing the impacts of natural hazards through forecast-based action: from early warning to early action (Thu, 07 May, 08:30–10:15)
• Resilience to natural hazards: assessments, frameworks and tools (Thu, 07 May, 10:45–12:30)
• Natural hazards and climate change impacts in coastal areas (Thu, 07 May, 14:00–15:45)

Energy & minerals resources

• Towards a safe nuclear waste repository – assessment of barrier integrity, geoscientific, technological, societal and regulatory challenges and approaches (Mon, 04 May, 08:30–12:30)
• Rethinking the energy transition in light of the Sustainable Development Goals: Maximizing synergies and minimizing trade-offs (Mon, 04 May, 14:00–15:45)
• Marine renewable energy; resource characterisation, interactions and impacts (Tue, 05 May, 10:45–12:30)
• Managing our mineral resources for a sustainable future: The role of earth scientists (Fri, 08 May, 14:00–15:00)

Ocean sciences

• Rapid changes in sea ice: processes and implications (Mon, 04 May, 08:30–10:15)
• Marine Pollution Monitoring, Predictions and Risk Mapping (Mon, 04 May, 10:45–12:30)
• The North Atlantic: natural variability and global change (Tue, 05 May, 08:30–12:30)
• Deoxygenation in the marine environment: drivers, trends and challenges (Tue, 05 May, 14:00–15:45)
• Plastic in the marine environment: observing and explaining where it comes from and where it goes (Wed, 06 May, 08:30–10:15)
• Cryosphere change impacts on marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling (Thu, 07 May, 16:15–18:00)

Agriculture-related topics

• Plastics in terrestrial ecosystems: detection, quantification and description of their effects on soils and plants (Tue, 05 May, 08:30–10:15)
• Geochemistry, soil contamination and human health: theoretical basis and practical approaches towards improvement of risk assessment (Tue, 05 May, 14:00–18:00
• Solutions for sustainable agri-food systems under climate change and globalisation (Thu, 07 May, 10:45–12:30)

Water resources & quality

• Plastic in freshwater environments (Tues, 05 May, 14:00–18:00)
• From the Source to the Sea – River-Sea Systems under Global Change (Mon, 04 May, 14:00–15:45)
• Water resources policy and management: digital water and interconnected urban infrastructure (Mon, 04 May, 16:15–18:00)
• Water resources policy and management – managing trade-offs at the nexus between water, food and energy (Tue, 05 May, 14:00–15:45)
• Water Security Frameworks, Assessment Tools and Indicators to inform Water Governance (Wed, 06 May, 08:30–10:15)
• The Science-policy interface in hydrology – essentials for more impactful science (Wed, 06 May, 10:45–12:30)
• Water resources policy and management – forecast and control methods (Wed, 06 May, 14:00–15:45)
• Water resources policy and management – systems solutions in an uncertain world (Wed, 06 May, 16:15–18:00)

Earth observation & monitoring

• The future of Earth and Planetary Observations from Space (Tue, 05 May, 10:45–12:30)
• Enhanced ESA-NASA Cooperation in Earth Observation (Tue, 05 May, 19:00–20:00)
• Application of remote sensing and Earth-observation data in natural hazard and risk studies (Thu, 07 May, 14:00–18:00)

Big data and infrastructure

• State of the Art in Earth Science Data Visualization (Tue, 05 May, 16:15–18:00)
• Big data and machine learning in geosciences (Thu, 07 May, 08:30–12:30 & 14:00–15:45)

Overarching sessions of interest

• Geoethics: how and why should geosciences serve society? (Thu, 07 May, 08:30–10:15)
• Geosciences and UN Sustainable Development Goals: pathways for the future (Thurs, May 7, 2020 10:45)
• Values versus facts: should geoscience get personal? (Thurs, May 7, 2020 16:15)

• Sharing Geoscience Online: general information
• Scientific programme