This talk is organised by the Oxford Martin Programme on the Post-Carbon Transition
The industrial revolution brought about significant progress to humanity. Population increased sevenfold, life expectancy doubled, economic output increased hundredfold and there are as many telephone connections as people in the world. However, at the same time, many people have been left behind. Some three billion do not have access to modern cooking and sanitation. Close to a billion go home hungry and do not have access to electricity yet many of them have to charge their phones. Those left behind are the most vulnerable to negative consequences of the industrial revolution which range from climate change to biodiversity loss. Humanity is at a crossroads. Unbounded growth is endangering planetary support systems and increasing inequalities, the rich are getting richer and the poor even poorer. The transformation toward sustainable future is an alternative possibility for people and the planet – a just and equitable world for all. This is exactly what the United Nations 2030 Agenda offers and is thus a great gift to humanity; it offers a new social contract with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is an aspirational and ambitious vision for future betterment of humanity and it gives a strong reason for fact-based understanding of interrelationships and synergies among the SDGs.
The lecture will build on IIASA’s (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) long and successful history of developing systems-based, integrated solutions and policy advice for some of the world’s most pressing problems, from poverty eradication to global change and The World in 2050 (www.TWI2050.org) initiative to provide greater understanding of how to achieve the necessary transformations toward a sustainable and just future for all.
About the speaker
Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic is Deputy Director General of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). Until 2014, he was full Professor of Energy Economics at Vienna University of Technology. Among other positions, Professor Nakicenovic is the Executive Director of The World in 2050 (TWI2050); Member Ad Hoc Informal Multi-stakeholder Technical Group of Advisors on Sustainable Development Goal 7, United Nations; Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute for Networked Energy Systems Analysis; Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Potsdam Institute from Climate Impact Research (PIK); Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM); Member of the Panel on Socioeconomic Scenarios for Climate Change Impact and Response Assessments; Steering Committee Member of the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21); Member of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences; Member of the International Advisory Board of the Helmholtz Programme on Technology, and Member of OMV Advisory Group on Sustainability.
He is Editorial Board Member of the following journals: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, Energy Strategy Reviews, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, Environmental Research Letters, International Advisory Board, Energy Policy, International Journal on Climate Policy, Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Professor Nakicenovic holds bachelors and master’s degrees in economics and computer science from Princeton University, New Jersey, USA and the University of Vienna, where he also completed his PhD. He also holds Honoris Causa PhD degree in engineering from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Among Professor Nakicenovic's research interests are the long-term patterns of technological change, economic development and response to climate change and, in particular, the evolution of energy, mobility, and information and communication technologies.