Submitted by E.M. Williams on Tue, 18/10/2016 - 10:19
18 October 2016 – In a lecture hosted by CISL, Professor Jorgen Randers, Professor Emeritus of Climate Strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School and practitioner in the field of future studies, presented his forecast for the future. The lecture has been recorded for you to view on demand.
Watch the webinar recording of the entire lecture and Q&A
Download Jorgen Randers’ lecture slides.
In his presentation to almost 220 leaders in the CISL Network, Professor Jorgen Randers discussed findings from his book 2052 – A Global Forecast for the next 40 years about the future he feels is most likely to emerge as a result of climate change. Jorgen also discussed potential solutions to these challenges, drawing on his new book Reinventing Prosperity – Managing Economic Growth to Reduce Unemployment, Inequity and Climate Change (2016).
Jorgen opened his lecture by explaining that the world is less sustainable today than it was in 1972, and whilst there has been some progress in addressing climate risk, avoiding serious climate change will require truly extraordinary action. Jorgen’s forecast suggests that the world population and economy will grow more slowly towards 2052 than expected but will still grow fast enough to trigger a climate crisis. In the meantime consumption growth will slow as society is forced to spend more of its labour and capital on repair and adaption. Jorgen believes the underlying cause of this development is the short-term nature of humans and their slow response in taking meaningful action on climate change.
Jorgen went on to discuss action which could significantly reduce the implications of climate change. This includes the adoption and acceleration of five recommended solutions which focus on the reduction of fossil fuels for electricity, transport and building insulation, climate-friendly procedures in agriculture, forestry and waste handling, and new technology for carbon capture and storage. Jorgen argues that we need a state intervention which implements the right subsidiaries, bans and legislations to support a sustainable world.
