Today is International Women’s Day, and so there is no better time to start our series celebrating inspiring women working in the climate action field.

Women have long been a force in demanding and driving change in how we treat our planet and each other. While still often underrepresented there are innumerable women leading on climate science, technology and action. In this series we want you to meet and learn from some of them. To kick things off, we talked to Valérie Masson-Delmotte, a French climate scientist, Co-chair of the IPCC’s Working Group 1, which is devoted to understanding the physical science underpinning past, present, and future climate change.

Valérie Masson-Delmotte is a renowned climate scientist living and working in Paris. She describes her work as “understanding the causes and processes of past climate variations and what we can learn from the past as well as what can inform confidence in models that we can use to explore future projections.” She was elected Co-Chair of Working Group 1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2015. She has won numerous awards including the Martha T. Muse prize for contribution to Antarctic science, the Irène Joliot-Curie prize for the woman scientist of the year, was awarded an honorary doctorate and was associated with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC.

Were you always interested in science?

I was always interested in observing the world around me, and I spent a huge amount of time dreaming and watching clouds when I was a child. It is interesting that because my own research is related to understanding the origin of moisture from water isotopes in polar ice, there is a link between my childhood dreams and my own work today.

Does that childhood passion ever wane?

I still get joy from being a scientist and joy from gaining new understanding. I also get joy from reading scientific papers by colleagues which are associated with major breakthroughs. Everything I do is still driven by curiosity and the wish to understand.

What was the best leadership advice you have been given?

The best leadership I experienced was from my supervisors expressing trust in what I could do. That trust meant I worked hard and took risks when moving from one area to another, and meant I applied to roles such as the Co-Chair of the IPCC Working Group. It is because of those experiences that I am really happy to mentor early-career scientists, so they can develop that trust in themselves in order to realize their full potential. When I go to climate science meetings around the IPCC reports, I see a lot of bright female scientists, but they often don’t apply to roles they are capable of. It is a form of self-censorship, and we need to be more proactive in encouraging early-career female scientists to apply for roles with more responsibilities.

What would you like to tell the next generation of female leaders?
Whoever you are, your voice matters. As a scientist, your voice in producing and sharing new research; in contributing to international research assessments and in bridging the science-policy gap is really important. I think the diversity of perspectives among contributors makes a big difference. The more diverse a group is, the more you avoid thinking in the same way. For me, it has been a joy to have academic freedom, with the opportunity to develop new cutting-edge research and to exchange ideas with students in a teaching context. I have also enjoyed the opportunities that come from communicating knowledge to decision makers and the public, so there really are multiple ways to find satisfaction in a professional career.

How can we encourage more young women to go into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics?

When I was a teenager, I watched a female astronaut go into space, and I remember thinking if she could go into space, then I could go into science. I would tell young girls that if they are curious, if they like to understand things, if they like to develop their own creative path, or work in a team in an international context, then there are many ways to fulfil their aspirations through a career in science. It is a diverse field, full of opportunities, and it has nothing to do with your gender.

What is the most challenging aspect of what you do?

I think the most challenging aspect is the need for patience. My own research is related to the Antarctic ice sheets; understanding what has changed in the past, and what the effect of past climate variations on the dynamics of the ice sheets are. Sometimes when you obtain new samples you have a timespan of ten years, so patience is important. You are also forced to work with others, so you need to build on the skills of colleagues around the world, so that everyone can make the best use of the precious samples that are obtained.

Another challenge is related to sharing climate science knowledge with society. I have seen the gap between the knowledge scientists have and the public has since I was a PhD student. I decided to spend a large amount of my time sharing that knowledge though laboratory visits, outreach events, and by talking to local policy makers. These events have been very important in order for me to understand people’s ideas of climate change and what questions they have, which in turn has helped me think of climate change differently, both in terms of my own research and how I communicate my findings from that research to the public.

Is the public more science-literate these days?

What has been striking for me over the past few decades is that climate change used to be perceived as something quite abstract, and now it is understood by more and more people as an [everyday] reality. So, there is an opportunity to combine academic understanding with peoples’ own experiences, in order to help people connect the dots. I see climate change like an impressionist painting with many touches of colour. If you are close to one touch of colour – such as a piece of climate change news, or an extreme weather event – you don’t see the big picture. But if you stand back, you see how all these touches of colour go together and make up this big picture. I think that is what I try to do when I have the opportunity to talk to people: help them understand how each touch of colour fits into that big picture.

Are you optimistic about climate action?

There is growing understanding and awareness about the severity of uncontrolled climate change, but there is still a gap in awareness and what needs to be done and what can be done at different scales: on the individual scale, the local community scale, the national scale and the international scale. It is striking to see a growing number of people of different ages and backgrounds creating networks where collective action can take place. That is the major difference I see now compared to a few years, or decades ago.

What climate action can people take right now?

At the personal scale, it is important to understand what consequences your own lifestyle has in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. There are lots of user-friendly tools where you can make a calculation of your carbon footprint, so you can make well-informed choices. You can also see how many of these choices are in the hands of your local community and your national government. It is really important to identify who can act and at which scale, and to be proactive in ensuring that all the solutions that can be deployed are deployed.