Dr Jennifer Schooling OBE, Director of CSIC, is a co-author of Cambridge Zero Policy Forum's green recovery report, ‘A Blueprint for a Green Future’, which is now published and available to download at the Cambridge Zero website.
The multidisciplinary report was launched at a panel discussion at the week-long Cambridge Zero Climate Change Festival on 6 November and brings together ideas from senior academics from the University of Cambridge to present a series of recommendations for policymakers and industry. The Cambridge Zero Policy Forum panel discussion featured a number of the authors of the new report who talked about how we can ensure a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Schooling, who spoke at the Cambridge Zero panel event, said: “Despite the Covid-19 pandemic having a dramatic impact on all or lives, its impact of CO2 emissions has been relatively small. Our trajectory for recovery must not return to pre-pandemic levels – we must do more. Collaborative action will be crucial to securing the changes to reach net zero by 2050; the consequences for not acting now will be devastating for many.”
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic having a dramatic impact on all our lives, its impact on CO2 emissions has been relatively small. Our trajectory for recovery must not return to pre-pandemic levels – we must do more. Collaborative action will be crucial to securing the changes to reach net zero by 2050; the consequences for not acting now will be devastating for many.
Dr Jennifer Schooling
The panel discussion featured: Dr Robert Doubleday, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Policy, will chair the event which features a panel including: Dr Emily Shuckburgh, Director, Cambridge Zero; Dr Anna Barford, Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellow in Pathways to a Circular Economy, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership; Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor, University of Cambridge; Dr Jennifer Schooling OBE, Director, Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC), Cordula Epple, Senior Programme Officer, Climate Change and Biodiversity, UN WCMC; Professor Sir Richard Friend, Cavendish Professor of Physics; Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Diageo Professor in Organisation Studies, Cambridge Judge Business School; and Dimitri Zenghelis, Special Advisor: The Wealth Economy, Bennett Institute for Public Policy. The event will include questions from the audience.
The full programme for the Cambridge Zero Climate Change Festival, which is a new virtual event led by Cambridge Zero and Cambridge University Press, free and suitable for all ages, features a range of live sessions and on demand content – from the opening talk titled ‘Emergency on Planet Earth’ by television presenter and science communicator Dr Emily Grossman to a climate change boardgame, a virtual gardening club and a discussion about making sustainable food choices.
• The Cambridge Zero Policy Forum is run by Cambridge Zero and the Centre for Science and Policy, and brings together more than 80 senior academics from across the University to help tackle the policy challenges posed by the transition to a net zero society.