Society and Sustainability

Meeting the energy demands of our increasingly urbanised society while also cutting greenhouse gas emissions seems like an almost impossible task. It’s a formidable challenge that sees the energy sector at the crossroads. This month on Commentvisions.com we’re discussing the role that society can play in delivering a clean energy future. And we’re looking back, in this programme, at the last year in which we’ve discussed energy and the future with experts across Europe.

Discussion: What role does society have in delivering a sustainable energy future?

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Live debate: De-carbonised transport: with or without biofuels?

Live Debate -- Not in my backyard? Can Europe win public acceptance for low-carbon infrastructure projects?

Discussion: Climate change threatens to overwhelm society this century, so how can we prepare?

Since the industrial revolution our planet has grown richer and its inhabitants healthier and longer-lived. The great challenge is how to continue that trend, encourage the same stable growth in the developing world, while also answering the global call to action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our impact on climate change.

Which energy sources will we be using in 2050? How does that compare to the current situation? Which clean energy source is forecast to see the greatest growth by mid-century, and which current energy source is forecast to see a downturn by 2050?

Discussion: Which energy sources will we be using in 2050?

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Discussion -- Which technology innovations will meet the world’s energy challenge?

Live Debate -- Not in my backyard? Can Europe win public acceptance for low-carbon infrastructure projects?

Video Library

Many cities around the world are facing huge challenges when it comes to sustainability. With a rising population and higher energy demands not only problems about waste reduction and water supplies have to be solved, but also transport and energy efficiency in buildings have to be changed in order to make “Megacities” greener and more sustainable.

Discussion: What can we do to ensure cities are sustainable now?

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Discussion: Are we doing enough to ensure a rapid and smooth transition to carbon neutral transport systems this century?

Discussion: By how much should we expect renewables to replace fossil fuels over the next 20 years?

Live Debate: Can Europe de-carbonise transport?

We are at a pivotal moment in history. The decisions we make now about how we generate energy will echo down the coming centuries. For one hundred years we have relied upon fossil fuels to build an industrial society unequalled in history. Now we have a new task: to continue supplying power to maintain growth, while at the same time reducing the greenhouse gas emissions which threaten rapid climate change. Many scientists say we have only a few years to accomplish this transition.

Discussion: What would it take to really speed up the transition to a carbon neutral society?

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Live Debate: Not in my backyard? Can Europe win public acceptance for low-carbon infrastructure projects?

We are in Freiburg, a city of around 220,000 people, a city which committed itself to green energy 20 years ago. What do the city fathers think will be the future of energy in the next 20 years? Freiburg has already reduced its GHG emissions by a substantial amount. Freiburg encourages the use of solar and methane gas which generates base load electricity  (which is on all the time). The suburb of Vauban is vehicle free, people willingly have given up their cars for bicycles. How could Freiburg become a model of energy efficiency that every city in the world can learn from.

Discussion: By how much should we expect renewables to replace fossil fuels over the next 20 years?

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Programme: Energy: the Next 20 Years Part 1.

Live Debate: After Copenhagen: the next steps

The great task of the 20th Century was the creation of industrial might, the 21st Century’s challenge is climate change.

Renewable energy’s contribution to our energy creation must grow, we are told, because we must reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases, or risk a climate catastrophe. And yet, we expect to have electricity available all the time
which renewable energy sources do not provide. What then will we rely on to provide base load power?

The next 20 years are critical in establishing a new energy mix that will provide constant electricity and still reduce emissions.

Discussion: By how much should we expect renewable energy to replace fossil fuels over the next 20 years?

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The issue: The COP15 conference was widely seen as a setback for the EU. The agreement that was reached fell short of the global deal to replace the Kyoto protocol that the EU had sought.

What lessons should the EU draw from Copenhagen? Can the EU still be a driving force in global climate politics? Should the EU continue to push for a global agreement, or should it consider other options, such as bilateral agreements? Should it even take unilateral action, as advocated by some European stakeholders, and increase its emissions reduction target from 20% to 30% without waiting for the US and China to follow? Is a global deal still possible, and when might it be reached?

These are just some of the questions that Comment:Visions invites you to debate with a panel of senior EU decision-makers and stakeholders.

Discussion: After COP 15, who or what will drive the push towards developing clean energy?

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Live Debate - After Copenhagen: the next steps

The Earth’s atmosphere is the result of billions of years of geological activity and interaction with living organisms. Until recently, the stability of its composition has been something we have taken for granted.

The climate change conference in Copenhagen ended without a binding global agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

So, if governments cannot agree on measures to mitigate climate change, who then will provide the incentives and initiatives and perhaps more importantly the finances, that are needed? A growing number of leaders are beginning to look to the private sector to provide solutions. With regard to climate change, is it business to the rescue?

Discussion: Are commercial partnerships between science and industry the best way to reduce GHG emissions?

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Live Debate - After Copenhagen: the next steps

Live Debate - Can Europe de-carbonise transport?

Discussion: As the first decade of the 21st Century closes, can we be pleased with the progress we have made in the development of energy efficiency and the mitigation of climate change?

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The emission of greenhouse gases has been the heart of the matter in environmental discourse throughout its growth and development. For as long as the science has told us that the levels of greenhouse gases in the earth atmosphere are damaging the planet, political attempts to reach agreement on a reduction of emissions have been ongoing.

In this month’s Comment Visions we travel to Norway to talk to a man whose career has involved studying the changing nature of our planet. Dr Pal Prestud is an ecologist and serves as the Director of the Centre for Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo. His work has focused on the Polar Regions, which have acted as an early warning system for the sort of climatic changes greenhouse gases are driving.

Discussion: How must society adapt to rapid climate change to minimise severe upheaval?

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