Abstract
Political struggles are about political will. That is not a mysterious force of nature, impervious to human design. Political will can be constructed and shaped. That’s happening around us all the time. How can we summon the political will to deal effectively with climate change?” (Tyndell Assembly 2013 Lecture)
“I sometimes think we overcomplicate the question of climate change. We need to deal with climate change because if we don’t the stresses it unleashes could easily overwhelm our ability to manage them. Stresses in the systems we rely on for food, water and energy form a single nexus, locked together and amplified by climate stress. If we cannot offer a prospect of food security, water security and energy security to the 10 billion or so people with whom we will soon be sharing our world, then it is likely to become an uncomfortable place for all of us” (Tyndell Assembly 2013 Lecture)
“Never in modern times have so many young people had so little confidence in our establishment, our institutions, our politics, across all the parties.” (Trades Union Congress Climate Change Conference 2013 Lecture)
Biography
John Ashton is an independent commentator and adviser on the politics of climate change. He is also well known for the role he has played in climate diplomacy.
From 2006-12 John served as Special Representative for Climate Change for three successive UK Foreign Secretaries, spanning the current Coalition and the previous Labour Governments. The UK Foreign Office pioneered during this time a diplomacy-led approach to climate change that came to be widely admired.
He was a cofounder and, from 2004-6, the first Chief Executive of the think tank E3G. From 1978-2002, after a brief period as a research astronomer, he was a career diplomat, with a particular focus on China.
He is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London. He holds visiting professorships at the London School of Economics and the London University School of Oriental and African Studies. He is a Trustee of the UK Youth Climate Coalition and Tipping Point, and a non-executive Director of E3G.