Submitted by Administrator on Tue, 29/12/2015 - 06:02
What now? Climate change and energy after Paris
A multidisciplinary conference hosted by the University of Cambridge
Centre for Environment, Energy & Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG)
Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) – Judge Business School
Department of Politics and International Studies and Centre for Rising Powers
In association with the Climate Policy Journal
Selwyn College, Friday, 22nd January 2016, 9:00 – 18:00
Registration is free and through Eventbrite, at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/post-paris-cop-21-conference-tickets-19317782006.
The 2015 Paris Climate Change Summit marked a turning point in international efforts to combat climate change. This multidisciplinary conference will bring together a wide range of experts to discuss the outcome of the Paris negotiations and their implications, focused on four main themes.
Confirmed speakers include: Richard Kinley (UNFCCC Deputy Executive Secretary), Sir David King (Special Representative to the UK Foreign Secretary), Emily Shuckburgh (British Antarctic Survey), Niklas Höhne (New Climate Institute), Farhana Yamin (UCL), Simon Sharpe (UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office), Asad Rehman (Friends of the Earth), Michael Grubb (UCL), Kun-Chin Lin (Cambridge), Michael Mehling (MIT), Jill Duggan (Carbon Policy Associates), Wu Fengshi (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), Jim Watson (UK Energy Research Centre), Paul Ekins (UCL), Mark Campanale (Carbon Tracker), Ben Caldecott (Oxford), Ted Shepherd (Reading), Jean-Francois Mercure (Cambridge), Anju Sharma (ECBI, IIED), Mohammed Nasr (Egypt), Myles Allen (Oxford).
1. Are we any closer to avoiding dangerous climate change? An assessment of the Paris Agreement
Under the Paris Agreement, governments will aim to limit global temperature increase to “well below” 2 degrees. And yet the national plans (NDCs) they have submitted are neither legally binding, nor sufficient to meet this collective goal. Will we really avoid dangerous climate change thanks to the Paris Agreement, or were the compromises needed to forge a global agreement simply too great?
2. Climate geopolitics and governance: who has the power to deliver the low-carbon transition?
The geopolitics of climate change are shifting, with the large emerging emitters, notably China, far more positive in their approach. The US is also back on board. But national governments alone cannot shift the world’s economy onto a low-carbon path. Could the most committed governments join together in a ‘club of ambition,’ perhaps with other actors, such as cities and businesses?
3. The investment transition: matching the rhetoric with money
There remains a disturbing disjuncture between the rhetoric of global commitment to a maximum 2 degree temperature rise, and the direction of global financial flows, notably in the energy sector. One of the aims of the Paris Agreement is “making finance flows consistent” with a low carbon pathway. How could this happen?
4. Who should pay for the impacts? Adaptation and beyond
The world is already committed to a certain amount of climate change, with inevitable impacts, notably on the most vulnerable. Given the stakes involved, it is not surprising that the issue of “loss and damage” was one of the key sticking points in Paris. This final panel will address current thinking on paying for the impacts of climate change, and the allocation of responsibility.
