Dr Roberta Boscolo

Posted by Nina Raoult

14 December 2023

Thanks so much to Dr Roberta Boscolo for joining us to talk about her work at WMO leading the energy services team and as a science communicator.

Roberta explained how the energy sector is relatively new to WMO (only established 4 years ago!), but nevertheless is a hot and important topic. It directly leads to policy decisions around sustainability and renewable energy, impacting the economy and society. She leads a small team in charge of integrated energy services. They have published reports on the state of climate series and the transition to net zero energy, always trying to maximise the important link to policy. They plan to publish annual reports on renewable energy capacity as these change from year to year with climate change and climate variability – the first of these reports will be launched at COP28. They also have capacity development plans, which includes training courses and an open-access portal. Since energy services is relatively new to WMO, Roberta’s team is involved in many projects and with many partners (e.g. UN energy hub, International renewable energy agency, and climate change Copernicus). Projects are varied, looking at the impact of climate climate on renewables (e.g., planning lasting nuclear Infrastructure) and the economy (e.g., climate impact on supply chain). Indeed, climate change and energy resilience impact all aspects of the economy and society, and so her team’s work plays an important role in decision making.

Roberta then spoke to us about her work communicating science to a wider audience. She spoke of her success on LinkedIn, learning how to use the right language to communicate complex ideas. She is now one of the “Top voices” on LinkedIn (with even more followers than WMO!). Her outreach and communication led her to be invited on the advisory panel of the “Earthshot prize” for the category “fix our climate”. In this capacity, she attended the UN General Assembly in New York as part of the WMO delegation and met some important political figures (e.g., Jacinda Ardern and Bill Gates). She was further awarded the “Golden Lion” for her science communication – an award from her home town in Italy and the first woman to ever get this award. She has also been named one of the “Global 50 women in sustainability”.

Roberta finished her talk by outlining these take-home-messages and life tips:

You need to communicate in a way that connects with society; that is how you will get the most exposure and opportunities
Communicating our work is a way to be valued for the work that we do, which is even more important as a woman
Never be afraid of embracing new things, you don’t know where it leads: give it a try and try to make it work
Be adventurous, and don’t be hard on yourself if you are on the wrong path
Find your message and be consistent – and always be yourself

We concluded the meeting with an open discussion. First we talked about ways to get involved in WMO. There are several entry points, including as a consultant or as part of wider projects (e.g., H2020). The best way however is to be nominated to be part of an expert team – more women are needed in these expert roles. We also talked more broadly about Roberta career before WMO. How she started as a science officer and then moved from research to application-based work – which she preferred since she felt this had an impact. Even if some of the impacts where small, it was rewarding to see the information being passed on to the users – to know that someone in the world had been helped to adapt to climate change. Finally, we talked about staying sane on social media. Roberta admitted that she is addicted but chooses to ignore trolls and amplify the right voices (e.g., Carbon Brief (UK) and Climate Nexus (US)). She mostly posts about WMO to make sure the reports are visible and that the state of the climate is communicated. We assume that everyone knows the state of the climate and what is causing it to change, but the majority don’t, which is why this communication is so vital.