On 5-14 January, Prof. Josep G. Canadell, a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) Distinguished Scientist, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, visited the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) and delivered an invited lecture at the Hongye Forum. The forum was chaired by Prof. FENG Xiaojun, Deputy Director of IBCAS, and attracted more than 100 faculty members and students from multiple institutions.

In her opening remarks, Prof. FENG welcomed Prof. Canadell and briefly introduced IBCAS, highlighting its major research directions. She also presented Prof. Canadell with the PIFI Distinguished Scientist Certificate and the honorary certificate of the Hongye Forum.

Prof. Canadell delivered a lecture entitled “A Biosphere in Transition: Climate Change Impacts and the Need for Global Scientific Collaboration”. His presentation systematically outlined frameworks for greenhouse gas budgets at both global and national scales, emphasizing the critical roles of non-CO₂ greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, as well as reactive gases including hydrogen in the climate system. He underscored key challenges facing climate mitigation efforts, including continued growth in fossil fuel emissions, the limited mitigation potential of land-use change and reforestation, and the clear insufficiency of current emission reduction trajectories. From a global perspective, he highlighted the urgent need for broader and deeper international scientific collaboration to address these challenges.

The forum was followed by an animated discussion with participants, focusing on global and regional carbon budgets, as well as the role of national-scale Earth system accounting in identifying feedback mechanisms and informing governance pathways.

During his visit, Prof. Canadell also visited several other CAS institutes, delivering several academic presentations and engaging in extensive discussions, which significantly promoted academic exchange and in-depth cooperation between Chinese and Australian scientists in fields such as global change.