'Frustrating as hell': Graeme Pearman’s climate research should have warned the world - video

In the 1970s, Graeme Pearman measured rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, briefing three prime ministers on what that meant for the planet. After decades leading Australia's climate research, Pearman, now 82, speaks of the frustration that the science didn't lead to meaningful change. Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

This video is part of Weight of the World: a climate scientist's burden. The series features three pioneering Australian climate change scientists - Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. The series tells the story of how the three scientists made their discoveries, how they came under attack for their science and the personal toll it has taken on them. And importantly, how they stay hopeful.

• See the other pieces in our series Weight of the world: a climate scientist's burden

• Where did I go wrong?' The scientist who tried to raise the climate alarm

• Podcast: The climate scientists who saw the crisis coming - Weight of the world, part 1

• If I was feeling hopeless about the climate, what of the scientists? So I asked them | Graham Readfearn