Climate Change and Environmental Technology Special Interest Group (ETSIG) Event: Technology & Innovation For Transition To A Low Carbon Future
The Systems Council Chapter Climate Change and Environmental Technology Special Interest Group (ETSIG) had its first public lecture on 23 May 2018 in London.
Dr. Jane Dennett-Thorpe gave a lecture with a focus on innovative technologies and transition to a low carbon economy. In her talk, she described how human activities and emissions of greenhouse gases has increased global average temperature, which would cause a worldwide problem, with unknown and unprecedented consequences.
Dr Dennett-Thorpe explained that climate change impacts would not be limited to melting arctic sea and damaging ecosystems and will affect public health, infrastructures and the entire food-water-energy nexus. Essential actions required to mitigate global warming including Paris Accord (agreed by 195 countries in 2015 and due to come into force in 2020) were covered. She also talked about key features of the expected transition to a low carbon future and suggested that; a dramatic increase in low carbon electricity production, innovation to improve energy efficiency, matching supply and demand, resource efficiency and novel emission management technologies are the essential part of this transition.
Dr. Jane Dennett-Thorpe has a varied career spanning science and policy roles and has been committed to helping bring about a sustainable future. She is currently Managing Director for the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research: setting up a new partnership between the University of Manchester and the Health and Safety Executive. She was Deputy Head of Science at the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) from 2014 to 2016.
Before that, she held policy and strategy roles in government, primarily on the low carbon agenda, for both DECC and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since 2004. She has advised the UN Development Programme on energy matters. She has worked in international environment and development organisations in the Netherlands, and has been involved in and set up a number of initiatives to empower individuals and communities through innovations including internet radio and community renewables.
