As themes of climate change, environment, nature, and hazards dominate global headlines, the need for sound, timely, and digestible scientific advice in public policymaking is on the rise. Many Unions and Societies representing breadth of the geoscience community are working to put geoscience at the heart of emergent and evolving policy topics by operating some kind of science-policy function. By working to promote evidence-informed solutions to global societal challenges, these units aim to integrate science into global policy, and represent the geoscience community in global policy considerations, but are they delivering?

This debate will explore the challenges and successes geoscience unions and societies worldwide have experience by engaging in various ways with the science policy process. It will explore whether such representative organisations are fulfilling the expectations of the communities they represent, and ask how they could expand and evolve the science policy service that they provide.