With Professor Jacqueline McGlade.
As carbon emissions from fossil fuels rise inexorably from the world’s greatest industrial powers, it is clear that on our present course there is no hope of meeting the zero carbon emissions target that scientists say is essential to prevent catastrophe. Although huge strides have been made in the search for carbon free power, it has so far proved impossible to reduce dependence on fossil fuels generally and coal in particular. Worldwide, governments have failed to deliver coherent programmes that will deliver the economic and social changes required for zero carbon emissions; political institutions and political elites seem unable to meet the existential challenge that faces us. Jacqueline McGlade is Professor of Resilience and Sustainable Development in the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL and Professor of the Environment at Gresham College. A Marine Biologist and Environmental Informatics specialist she was Executive Director of the European Environment Agency from 2003 to 2013 and Chief Scientist and Director of the Science Division of the United Nations Environment Programme between 2014 and 2017. Over a long period she has worked at the interface of sustainable development, science, society and policy, and her research on biodiversity, climate change, ecosystems, oceans and social dynamics has been of great importance. She will talk about the changes that will be necessary in political, economic and social systems to avoid climate catastrophe and how these changes can be brought about.