This event is now full. It will be recorded and available on the Energy Futures Lab YouTube channel as soon as possible after the event.
Abstract
A surge in research activity is needed to switch the global economy away from its present reliance on fossil fuels.
The challenge is technological, and the need is urgent. An international programme with funding commensurate to the challenges posed by climate change will be discussed. Worldwide, publically funded RD&D on renewable energy is only $4 billion a year. This does not measure up to the gravity of the threat we face. The roll out of primary renewable sources over the past decade has produced substantial improvements in the competitiveness of solar- and wind-based energy production. But considerable effort is now needed in energy storage and smart grids, so that new-build base-load renewable energy becomes cheaper than new-build coal in all parts of the world. This programme will need a concentrated effort from policy makers, university researchers and the private sector.
Biography
Sir David King has been the Foreign Secretary Special Representative for Climate Change since September 2013. Sir David was previously the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor from 2000 – 2007, during which time he raised awareness of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the Energy Technologies Institute.
Sir David has published over 500 papers on science and policy, for which he has received numerous awards, and holds 23 Honorary Degrees from universities around the world.
Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991, a Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and knighted in 2003, Sir David was also made an Officier of the French Legion d’Honneur in 2009, for work which has contributed to responding to the climate and energy challenge.