U.S., U.K. partner on climate change study

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The world must substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions if it is to escape the worst impacts of climate change, U.S. and British scientists say.

Climate scientists from both countries reached the conclusion at a meeting in Washington on the United Kingdom's AVOID program, a release from the National Center for Atmospheric Research said Thursday.

The AVOID program is an interdisciplinary research collaboration across the physical sciences to study climate impacts and the technical and socio-economic implications of climate change, the release said.

The program aims to provide policy-focused research and evidence needed to allow policymakers to develop mitigation and adaptation policy strongly grounded in scientific evidence, the center said.

"This workshop has provided the opportunity to compare approaches in the United Kingdom and the United States to identify the results that are the most robust," Jason Lowe, head of mitigation advice at the Met Office, United Kingdom, and chief scientist for the AVOID program, said.

"The aim now is to work together to find concrete ways of taking forward the best U.K. and U.S. science for the benefit of policymakers," Lowe said.