Press release: Tackling the climate emergency?

5 Novermber 2024
Net zero for all? How can we help the many tackle the climate emergency? New free lecture from Gresham College aims to share ideas and inspiration
Gresham College’s Frank Jackson Foundation Professor of the Environment Myles Allen to give talk on Tuesday, 26 November, online and in central London
A call to speed up the transition from fossil fuels was one of the key takeaways from the Dubai COP28 conference.
Countries were called on to switch to renewables such as wind and solar power in a bid to mitigate potential global temperature increases.
As we head towards COP29, which takes place in Baku 11-22 November, what progress has been made – and will governments come away with fresh mandates for action?
In March, oil and gas industry leaders flew to Houston to take part in CERAWeek 2024. At the time, oil was trading at $80 (£62) a barrel and demand had never been higher. Prices have dipped slightly but remain high.
While in July, days after Hurricane Beryl destroyed or severely damaged 98% of homes on his native Carribean island of Carriacou UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiel called for bolder action from all nations, particularly the G20.
“The climate crisis is hitting every nation's security, economy, and people, with rising fury and spiralling costs,” he said.
Just how do we change the narrative on fossil fuels?
Professor Myles Allen will explore possibilities during his lecture.
Professor Allen said: “To me, the most frustrating aspect of the climate problem is that what we spend on fossil fuels, compared to what they actually cost to extract, refine and deliver, would be more than enough to stop them causing any further global warming.
“Instead, that ‘resource rent’ goes into taxes, pension funds, luxury goods and property, propping up dictators and funding wars.”
What are the alternatives to fossil fuels, and how can those with the ability and resources to solve the climate problem be encouraged to stand up and act?
Achieving net zero by 2050 will limit global warming to below 2ºC and would limit its impact. Can it be done, without exacerbating political divisions and delivering the wants of 10 billion people?
With one eye on what happened at COP29, Professor Allen will argue that all sides can raise their game by not making promises that cannot be kept, such as costless decarbonisation or costless delay.
“In this lecture, we’ll look at the so-called ‘net zero plans’ of some of the world’s major fossil fuel companies, and how few of them actually add up,” he continued.
“As our government announces £3.9 billion to kickstart – at long last – the UK’s carbon capture and storage industry, we have to ask ourselves, how has an industry that is so profitable convinced itself, and everyone else, that it desperately needs state subsidies?”
Gresham College is London’s oldest higher education institution. Founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, it has been delivering free public lectures for over 427 years from a lineage of leading professors and experts in their field who have included Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Iannis Xenakis and Sir Roger Penrose.
The lecture will be given at Gresham College in Holborn, London on Tuesday, 26 November.
Starting at 6pm, entry is free, and it is also broadcast live online. It will last an hour.
In-person places can be booked online via Gresham College’s website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/fossil-fuel-industry
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Images available on request
For more information about this story or to arrange an interview with a Gresham Professor please contact: Phil Creighton press@gresham.ac.uk
About Gresham College
Gresham College has been providing free, educational lectures - at the university level - since 1597 when Sir Thomas Gresham founded the college to bring Renaissance Learning to Londoners. Our history includes some of the luminaries of the scientific revolution including Robert Hooke and Sir Christopher Wren and connects us to the founding of the Royal Society.
Today we carry on Sir Thomas's vision. The College aims to stimulate intellectual curiosity and to champion academic rigour, professional expertise and freedom of expression. www.gresham.ac.uk
Gresham College is a registered charity number 1039962 and relies on donations to help us encourage people's love of learning for many years to come. For more details or to make a gift, visit our website.
About the How Net Zero? series at Gresham College
Achieving net zero is what it will take to halt global warming. If we can manage this by or soon after mid-century, we would limit overall warming to well below 2°C. Impacts would be serious, but likely not catastrophic. Can it be done, and without exacerbating political divisions?
We are often told that climate change is a complex, “wicked” problem, requiring daunting social change. It is neither. Stopping fossil fuels from causing global warming requires safe, permanent disposal of all the carbon dioxide they generate.
Delivering to the wants of 10 billion people is already a complex challenge, made only marginally more so if it is to be done without dumping that carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This lecture series explores how we can – and will – rise to this challenge.