VOICES JUDITH REES
Climate change champion J
udith Rees is not someone to get annoyed easily. But she shows every sign of irritation when she describes how, following the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, the whole process of attempting to reach an international agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions is described as a failure. For her, our future approach to climate change may not involve a big international treaty like the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Instead, she thinks that solid progress on mitigating climate change and adapting to it will come from modest agreements such as those struck at Copenhagen and a year later at Cancun. These should be regarded as important stepping stones towards the strong international framework that will still be needed. The ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy is a joint venture with the Sustainability Research Institute at the University
“ The generally accepted scientific
picture of climate change has become embedded in the life of decision makers in the UK at a national level
of Leeds, where her co-director Andy Gouldson is based. At the LSE the Centre is situated alongside the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, of which Professor Rees is also director. Together this has created perhaps the UK’s biggest group of researchers into the politics and economics of climate and environmental change. It numbers about 70 people in all, including associates based in other departments, visiting fellows and PhD students. Professor Rees’ original academic interest is in water and other natural resources, and she has undertaken research on the energy industry. She says that once climate change emerged as an issue: “It was always obvious that I would be involved.” For one thing, climate change can have big effects on water resources. Professor Rees points out that our ability to adapt to climate change will depend critically on how we manage water to ensure food security and minimise the effects of extreme events such as floods and droughts. Additionally, the policy instruments available for cutting carbon emissions are basically the same as those which have already been used in attempts to manage water demand and curb water pollution. They include one family of measures which involves
26 SOCIETY NOW SPRING 2011 ”
Professor Judith Rees, director of the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, talks toMartin Ince about local, national and global initiatives to tackle climate change and how evidence informs climate policy
trading and taxing emissions, and another which involves regulation and enforcement. As someone who speaks often to policymakers, business executives and politicians, Professor Rees is reassured by how rarely she encounters full- blown climate change scepticism. She believes: “The generally accepted scientific picture of climate change has become embedded in the life of decision makers in the UK at a national level. People in the street are less convinced, and still ask why we have cold winters if the world is getting warmer. But I am impressed by the way in which both the last and the new UK government seem to regard managing the risks of climate change as a central aim.”
She is aware that the picture is less clear in the rapidly developing countries, which are now major emitters of greenhouse gases. “On a recent trip to India, it was evident that climate change seems to be accepted as a reality and is blamed for droughts and for changes to weather patterns and growing seasons. But there was still a strong view that the problem was caused by the advanced nations and had to be solved by them.” However, it is now clear that action by the advanced countries alone will not be enough to solve climate change. Professor Rees sees that there is growing acceptance in India and other emergent economies of the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions and pursue low-carbon growth strategies. In China the new five-year plan has major commitments to carbon reduction including big renewable energy targets. “The argument in China is not about climate change,” she says. “It is expressed in terms of energy efficiency, competitive advantage and new jobs.” The Centre is at the forefront of efforts to bring this sort of thinking to the UK. ‘Green growth’ is one of the themes of its ESRC-funded programme, which is looking at the opportunities for new jobs and industries, and at the barriers to success. The Centre’s researchers are aware that carbon reduction policies cannot be considered in isolation from the need to encourage economic recovery and reduce world poverty. They regard green investment and growth as ways of promoting economic development without unsustainable natural resource use. Professor Rees says: “The UK needs to become more serious about these opportunities. The Danes got first-mover advantage in wind power, and India and China are pushing ahead with solar energy. But there is scope to encourage innovation
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