Tackling climate change must be a priority
WHILE the world’s attention has been fixed on the coronavirus pandemic, climate change remains a huge challenge for current and future generations.
High concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continue to cause extreme weather patterns and rising sea level.
Urgent reductions are needed to prevent scenarios referred to by climate scientists as ‘dangerous levels of warming’.
Even if we meet the greenhousegas targets agreed in Paris in 2015, the climate will continue to change and the transition to sustainability will last decades, if not centuries, so we need radical action now.
The world’s recovery from coronavirus offers an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate that transition. As cities rebuild, we need to make sure that the economic and social changes we make lead to a greener, fairer future.
The world’s governments are expected to agree on a delivery plan for that greener and just future in Glasgow in November 2021 at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26.
Climate change isn’t slowing down and neither should we.
Larger towns and cities can act now to lay the foundations needed to successfully mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to new ways of living.
Glasgow has made big steps towards making real change by setting an ambitious carbon-neutral target for 2030 and the University of Glasgow, in 2014, was the first UK university to announce it would divest from fossil fuels within the decade.
In the search for practical solutions, the University’s Centre for Sustainable Solutions with Policy Scotland, has partnered with Glasgow City Council for three Green Recovery Dialogues focused on key aspects of how Glasgow will live, work, travel and consume in the future.
By bringing together environmental scientists, engineers, town planners, policymakers and others to work through proposals to bring about meaningful and measurable change, we are mobilising knowledge to progress change at city scale.
In our first session, we discussed how the city can make the most of its natural resources to help improve biodiversity and what we can learn from efforts to encourage active travel during COVID-19.
In our second session, we explored how smart technology can help us use energy more effectively and how we can decarbonise the city’s heating systems through more energy-efficient homes and buildings.
We also examined the prospect of using geothermal energy from water trapped in mine workings under the city as a source of zerocarbon heat.
In our final session, on December 4, we’ll be rethinking consumption and exploring how a green recovery can be combined with transition to a more caring economy where sharing and inclusivity are central.
All of the proposed solutions from the dialogues will be reported to a leadership round table early next year.
Senior leaders from councils, universities, business, third sector organisations and communities will consider how they can work together to implement change.
Their insights and recommendations will be shared at the Sustainable Glasgow summit, due to take place in early 2021.
The eyes of the world will be on Glasgow during COP26. We’re proud to be working in collaboration with the City Council and other civic partners to build a greener, fairer, safer future for everyone.
We know other cities will be looking at Glasgow over the next twelve months and we aspire to lead by example on how universities and cities can partner to deliver the changes needed.