Research a key tool against climate change
Pandemic showed how scientists can mobilize to produce solutions, Alejandro Adem says.
My father's profession was climate modelling, so trends in weather were everyday topics of conversation around our home. In fact, I remember very clearly the day, more than 30 years ago, when he said, in his memorably reserved scientific tone: “If carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase, the models indicate that this will cause significant global warming much sooner than we anticipated.” It was the first time I heard about the threat of climate change in our lifetimes.
In 2021, of course, warming has become a topic of both national and global concern. Later this year, Canadian officials will join policy-makers from around the world for the COP26 United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow. The COP26 conference will bring a new sense of commitment to the fight against climate change. The U.S. has rejoined the Paris Accord, and governments and the private sector are increasing investments in renewable energy and low-carbon technologies. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will enhance its emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement to 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
The current COVID-19 pandemic and the challenge of climate change serve as stark reminders of the role that science plays in our world. Both of these are so-called wicked problems, but the engagement of the global research community offers hope for solutions. The pandemic has shown how international scientific networks, when presented with the gravest of problems, can effectively mobilize to produce solutions. It has also driven home the importance of aligning science, public policy and social justice, as well as the case for better co-operation between institutions, communities and the private sector.
These same lessons will be of tremendous importance in the coming decades with the fight against climate change. Given the monumental scale, it requires relentless attention and increased investments across the ecosystems of academia, government and the private sector, as well as open international collaboration.
Canada's granting councils support important ongoing research at universities and colleges to tackle societal, health and environmental issues connected to climate change, and for developing clean technologies. On an annual basis, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) spends more than $200 million supporting research in areas like environmental sciences, renewable energy, power storage, hydrogen fuel, bio-fuels, sustainable electric vehicle batteries, and carbon capture and storage. Moreover, this funding is highly leveraged to amplify its impact. For example, NSERC has long partnered with Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada to fund collaborative efforts among federal scientists and the academic community to advance policy-relevant climate change science.
The engagement of the private sector is critical. Jeff Dahn, the NSERC/TESLA Canada Industrial Research Chair at Dalhousie University, has made ground-breaking discoveries on battery technology, which are seen as critical for the success of electric vehicles. At the University of Windsor, Narayan Kar, an engineering professor and Canada Research Chair, is leading a new $1.8 million NSERC Alliance research project to make better electric drive systems in collaboration with Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International and Ottawa-based power device company GAN Systems.
In our day-to-day lives, most of us don't see what goes on in university research labs. We are surrounded by the fruits of those efforts, but the creators of technology remain, mostly, off stage. Spurred by the pandemic, we are hopefully entering a period in which we will be less inclined to take for granted the value of research and its tangible benefits. Critical turning points in the battle against global warming are looming this decade. It is imperative for our country to increase investments and create broad partnerships to effectively deploy the full scope of Canada's world-class research expertise in addressing climate change, the existential crisis of our time.