Does climate mitigation trump other concerns?

Balancing mitigation actions and their impacts. Dilemmas in implementing rapid transformation of the energy system to reach the Paris targets are many. Our expert panel will present and discuss major challenges and possible conflicts between the SDG goals.

About the meeting

The Meeting was held in conjunction with the 2019 Annual national conference on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a collaboration between Academia Europaea and the UiB Program for Climate and Energy transformation. We hope for a broad audience of academics, people from the energy sector, NGOs and the general public.

The speakers are leading academics working on the climate change and mitigation areas with broad expertise in energy systems, climate action, biodiversity and ecosystems, energy transition, climate policies in Europe, USA and China and nuclear energy.

The speakers presented major challenges and possible conflicts between the SDG goals, followed by a moderated panel discussion and questions from the audience.

Topics

It is urgent for society to reduce CO2-emissions, and to achieve the Paris targets. The available remaining carbon budget which needs to be kept to be within the Paris targets of 1.5 or 2 degrees warming above pre-industrial levels is very limited. This calls for unprecedented and extremely rapid changes in energy production and consumption, as well as other mitigating efforts. The urgency of the energy transformation requires a major restructuring and a quest for alternatives to fossil fuel based energy.

Does climate thus trump other concerns in balancing mitigation actions and their impacts? Does this imply that all renewable energy production should be welcomed? Can renewable energy sometimes come with a too high cost with respect to biodiversity, food supply and health? Do we need nuclear energy to meet the Paris targets?

When strong mitigation policies are implemented, we experience conflicting concerns. The event will discuss such conflicting issues. How far can we go to reach the climate mitigation goals, and how can we balance concerns and impacts while working towards SDG Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG Goal 2 – Zero Hunger, SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being and SDG 13 – Climate Action?

The speakers are leading academics working on the climate change and mitigation areas with broad expertise in energy systems, climate action, biodiversity and ecosystems, energy transition, climate policies in Europe, USA and China and nuclear energy.

The speakers will present major challenges and possible conflicts between the SDG goals, followed by a moderated panel discussion and questions from the audience.

Speakers

Professor Matthias Kaiser – UiB

Professor Jeroen van der Sluijs – UiB

Professor Vigdis Vanvik – UiB

Professor Tore Furevik – UiB

Professor Miranda Schreurs – TU Munchen

Moderator: Hans-Kristian Ringkjøb, PhD student in UiBs renewable energy programme.