Description:

A speaker panel with Researchers from the University of Hamburg, Germany on Shaping Climate Futures: The Social Drivers of Deep Decarbonization

This event is jointly organized by the Office of the Vice President for International Relations (VPIR) and the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN).

Lunch will be served! Free event. Registration required. 

In a new study from Universität Hamburg's (UHH) "Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society" (CLICCS), researchers found that keeping the 1.5°C temperature target is currently not plausible. The researchers came to this conclusion by analyzing social drivers and physical processes, taking disruptive events into account, such as the COVID19-pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The study finds that social drivers play a key role in decarbonization, but they are currently insufficient to reach deep decarbonization by 2050, which is necessary to attain the Paris Agreement temperature goals. Physical tipping points have limited influence on these temperature goals but are important in shaping the conditions for life on Earth. The study thus argues that desirable climate futures will only become plausible through multiple societal transformations. The speakers will discuss the plausibility of and ways forward to shape desirable climate futures. They will touch on topics such as climate justice and social inequalities in societal transformations toward deep decarbonization.

Speakers:

Dr. Anita Engels, Professor for Sociology, especially Globalization, Environment and Society, Universität Hamburg
          Anita Engels is a sociologist interested in climate change and social transformation. Her research covers company responses to a carbon-constraint business future as well as dynamics of climate governance at the municipal level. She invests much time in inter- and transdisciplinary research.

Dr. Jan Wilkens, Postdoctoral Researcher, Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climate Change and Society (CLICCS), Universität Hamburg
          Jan Wilkens is a political scientist and with a research focus on climate justice, energy transition, and the role of technology in the Middle East. He has followed the climate conferences in Glasgow and Sharm el-Shaikh. Conceptually he works on the intersection of norms, contentious politics, and climate justice in international relations. This interest is specifically informed by bringing together constructivist and postcolonial scholarship.

Dr. Andrés López-Rivera, Postdoctoral Researcher, Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climate Change and Society (CLICCS), Universität Hamburg
          Andrés López-Rivera is a political scientist who specializes in climate change. His research focuses broadly on the intersection of knowledge politics and socio-environmental conflicts in global climate governance. He is currently doing postdoctoral research at the Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climate Change and Society (CLICCS) at Universität Hamburg. His current work advances an integrative approach to the study of social change in climate research.