Luke Parsons

Luke Parsons is a climate scientist on The Nature Conservancy’s Climate Science line on the Global Science team. He is responsible for application of climate data in the design and evaluation of conservation and climate adaptation and resilience strategies, including integration of quantitative climate projections into planning efforts. Luke engages in research on climate change, land use change, and air pollution impacts across a variety of geographies using the latest observations, reanalysis, and climate model data. Luke will help apply the latest climate methods, tools, data, modeling, and analysis across The Nature Conservancy.

Luke has conducted field work in North America, South America, and South Asia and has led research focused on climate impacts on global, regional, and local scales. Past work has included drought risk assessments in North and South America, local temperature, health, and well-being impacts of tropical deforestation, global air pollution exposure and health consequences, and local and global impacts of humid heat exposure on labor, health, and the economy. In recent work, Luke has combined climate and air quality data with spatial population and social vulnerability data to assess disproportionated climate change and air pollution impacts on vulnerable populations and communities. Luke hopes he can use his work to help stakeholders make science-informed decisions about the direction of resources related to climate mitigation, conservation, and adaptation efforts.

See Luke’s photographs on his Photography Website and on Instagram.