Despite over two and a half decades of coordinated international negotiations on climate change, the dialogue, only recently, the focus of the climate change debate has moved from being mainly a scientific, environmental and social responsibility issue to one of the core drivers of socio-economic development and risk management. There is now widespread global recognition of climate change science and the associated socio-economic impacts as set out by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To reach climate change goals as set by the Paris Agreement (United Nations 2015), and pivot away from fossil fuel dependence, policy advisors are outlining the need for dramatic changes in business models in different economic sectors and profound changes needed in everyday life impacting core and essential sectors of the world economy. However, while governments have submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the development of public policies for an orderly transition to a resilient low carbon future has been stubbornly slow. An orderly transition requires coordinated efforts and scale. A disorderly (unplanned or not-well-planned) transition, could disrupt the global economy, and those who do not steer a course through it and who are left holding devalued investments and assets – whether carbon-intensive or carbon-reliant.

Maryam Golnaraghi (The Geneva Association) will present in the
2021 Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge Seminar Series:

• Most Mondays, Spring Semester 2021, 2:45-4:00pm
• Available as a Zoom Webinar
   

This university-wide seminar series is open to the public, and provides important views on the critical issue of climate change, drawing from many perspectives and disciplines. Experts from Cornell University and beyond present an overview of the science of climate change and climate change models, the implications for agriculture, ecosystems, and food systems, and provide important economic, ethical, and policy insights on the issue. The seminar is being organized and sponsored by the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.