“Urgent” research into water degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss on the islands of Ireland and Britain will be led by a new 41.3 million euro climate research centre based at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD).

The Climate+ Co-Centre will initially be funded over six years by Science Foundation Ireland, the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and UK Research and Innovation.

It will also receive more than 30% co-funding from 29 industry partners, and will begin work on January 1st 2024.

The funding was officially announced by several ministers on both sides of the border at the British and Irish Intergovernmental conference at Farmleigh House,Dublin.

They included Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris, Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Katrina Godfrey, Permanent Secretary at Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

The centre will bring together over 60 leading researchers from 14 academic partner institutions in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain.

Yvonne Buckley, Professor of Zoology at Trinity, and Co-Director of Climate+, said that “we need transformative changes to all sectors of society and the economy to tackle the climate, biodiversity and water crises”.

“Climate+ includes a team of outstanding researchers across 14 different universities and research institutes,and we will combine our diverse research skills and knowledge to develop solutions for these important challenges,”she said.

“It is clear from the scientific evidence that business as usual is no longer an option, and we are delighted to be working with forward thinking and progressive industry partners who will collaborate with us on research to provide sustainable solutions for their services and products,”she said.

TCD Provost Dr Linda Doyle said the university is “committed to pursuing research across traditional disciplinary boundaries to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and water degradation, and to develop actions and solutions for a more fair, equitable, and liveable future”.

“It is clear we need new visions and evidence, nationally and internationally, to provide for truly sustainable alternative futures and spark change across society and the economy, and this new approach can make a major impact in that most important and pressing endeavour,”she said.

Professor Mark Emmerson, Queen’s University Belfast, and Co-Director of Climate+ said that the centre would “provide a mix of integrated solutions drawing on expertise from across the natural, social and physical sciences to help mitigate, and adapt to, the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and water quality declines”.

The Climate+ academic partner institutions are: Trinity College Dublin; Maynooth University; University of Galway; University College Cork; Dublin City University; University College Dublin; Atlantic Technological University; University of Limerick; Queen’s University Belfast; Ulster University; Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute; University of Reading; Newcastle University; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

TCD said that industry partners include SECAD (renewable energy); Ørsted (renewable energy); FarmEye (agriculture); Natural World Products (agriculture); Anglian Water (utility).