Changing minds or changing systems to avert dangerous climate change?

This event has ended.

The latest assessment reports of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are stark in their warnings. The world needs to make immediate and radical cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming to below 1.5⁰C. All regions of the world are being severely affected by the climate crisis, with droughts, floods and heatwaves becoming more frequent. Negative impacts on both human and natural systems, including a serious loss of biodiversity, are being triggered. Urgent responses are needed in both urban and rural areas, and international cooperation is critical to climate change mitigation.

The science is clear. Yet there is hesitance by politicians, the media and the public to prioritise the climate issue and take the necessary actions. How do we achieve the changes that are needed in our society and economy, in ways that are fair and inclusive? Do we rely on innovation and new technologies? Or does it need a change in attitudes and mindset towards the environment? If so, how, and by whom? Can we engage with and involve the public? Is it possible to generate active participation across the wider society? 

Join our panel of experts to discuss these critical issues, and identify what may work. You, the audience, will have the opportunity to pose questions and be part of the debate. Our webinar is free and open to all.

Our panel of experts

• Professor Karen O’Brien, Professor of Human Geography. University of Oslo; Co-Chair of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) Transformative Change Assessment
• Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Emeritus Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and Professor at TU Wien; Deputy-Chair of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission
• Professor Antje Wiener, Professor of Political Science & Global Governance, University of Hamburg
• Professor Matthias Karmasin, Director of the Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies (CMC) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Klagenfurt

Professor Ole Petersen, Vice-President Academia Europaea will chair the session.