Vivian Scott

Dr Viv Scott is a climate scientist and policy practitioner. His work on emissions scenarios, greenhouse gas removals, energy systems transition, and technology innovation and demonstration is interdisciplinary. He works on the UK, European, and international levels. 

Viv’s current research focuses on the necessity of greenhouse gas removals to achieve net zero, both as a solution for hard-to-abate sectors and to address the overshooting of global emissions budgets. His scope includes the technical science of removals and the implications for the political economy and geopolitics of climate action. 

As a public servant in the secretariat of the UK Climate Change Committee, Viv led analysis of greenhouse gas removal technologies and the implications for UK policy and sectoral pathways. He established international collaborations with other pioneering climate councils and helped to found the International Climate Councils Network (ICCN). The ICCN membership now covers over 20% of global carbon emissions. 

At the University of Edinburgh and Geomar Helmholtz, Viv co-founded the Carbon Dioxide Removal Model Intercomparison Project which became a key input on the climate system implications of emissions budget overshoot to the International Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report. 

Background 

Viv holds a PhD in climate science from the University of Edinburgh (2010) and subsequently held research roles in the UK and Germany. He joined the UK Climate Change Committee in 2020. 

Research interests

• Greenhouse gas removals
• net zero emissions pathways,
• emissions budget overshoot
• national climate governance structures
• energy transition
• climate change diplomacy.