Iconic Australian celebrity scientist Karl Kruszelnicki has been chosen by TikTok as one of four global creators to attend this month’s COP31 climate talks in Turkey.

The author, doctor, physicist and media presenter best known to most Australians as Dr Karl said his appearance at the event would come 45 years since he first reported on global warming and in a very different context. 

Back then, scientists were still investigating the causes of rising temperatures and looking for clues from sources including insurance companies, Kruszelnicki said.

By the early 2000s, the evidence humans were driving global warming had become stronger – a message he remains passionate about explaining to the public. 

”Even if you can’t do everything, you’ve got to do something and this is my something, beginning in 1981,” Kruszelnicki said.

”It’d be nice if I didn’t have to do it but I’m working on the hope that irrational optimism will do better for you than realistic pessimism.”

Kruszelnicki said he learned his optimistic approach from his father, and it was one he would apply to climate ambitions at COP31. 

Kruszelnicki has been reporting on climate change since the 1980s. Photo: ABC

He said renewable energy technology had allowed him to generate more power than his household needed in the past four months. Solar panels and a battery fuel his electric car and allow him to sell electricity back to the grid. 

Greater investments in electrification and clean energy sources would help nations reduce their use of fossil fuels, and should be prioritised at the summit, along with a plan to phase out fossil fuels, he said.

”Why I’m going to COP31 is for two things – one, I want them to actually put as a resolution that the goal is to keep fossil carbon in the ground, that’s coal, gas and oil,” Kruszelnicki said.

”Secondly, that they’ll go full-speed ahead on the alternatives. I want to go to COP to [hear] the latest things they’re saying.”

Kruszelnicki will hold a live question-and-answer session on TikTok during COP31 and post videos alongside TikTok’s three other creators – Mexican physicist Fernanda Torres, French visual artist Marlene Diard and Turkish singer Goktug Tavacı. 

The social network will also fund $200,000 in advertising to support climate organisations spreading factual information on its platform, including the Australian Conservation Foundation, WWF Australia, and Doctors for the Environment. 

COP31 runs from Monday to November 20.

-AAP