Leading climate experts to convene at Solutions for a Sustainable Future conference at USC

Science has firmly established that humans are rapidly warming the planet.

The question is: What can we do about it?

A group of world-leading experts will discuss answers to that question at a conference on Tuesday titled Solutions for a Sustainable Future. Registration and an agenda for the free conference at Town and Gown on the USC University Park Campus can be found online.

Experts from USC and elsewhere, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will take a clear-eyed look at some of the options to address three aspects of climate change: energy and technology, food and water, and human behavior. The conference will also feature a student art installation, videos of students describing their work in sustainability, and a reception during which the audience can interact with the keynote speakers, moderators and panelists.

The conference will open with a keynote address by Hoesung Lee, recent chair of the IPCC, the world’s most authoritative source for evidence-based information about climate change and responses to it.

SOLUTIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

• When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17.
• Where: Town and Gown on the USC University Park Campus.
• Register: Sign up for the free event online.

“I began my chairmanship of the IPCC in 2015 with a commitment to showcase the many options the world has for confronting climate change,” said Lee, whom Time Magazine named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2019.

“The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report did not shy away from the peril that awaits us if we do not dramatically accelerate action,” Lee said. “But it also emphasized that there are multiple feasible and effective options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change that can secure a livable and sustainable future for all. I look forward to exploring those options at the conference.”

The conference will also feature a discussion with Sue Biniaz, deputy special envoy for climate for the Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. Biniaz was one of the architects of the Paris Agreement and remains one of the nation’s point persons in negotiating global climate agreements. She will be interviewed by Mahta Moghaddam, vice dean for research at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and co-chair of USC’s Presidential Working Group on Sustainability.

The conference is being sponsored by the USC Price School for Public Policy, USC Viterbi and the USC Center for Sustainability Solutions. Helping to promote the conference are the Center for the Political Future at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability.

Panels at Solutions for a Sustainable Future conference

ENERGY AND TRANSPORTATION NEXUS: Panelists will discuss realistic and timely options to reduce emissions from energy production and transportation.

Moderator: Detlof von Winterfeldt, executive director, USC Center for Sustainability Solutions

Panelists:

• Jacquelyn Birdsall, senior engineering manager of the Fuel Cell Integration Group at Toyota Motor North America Research and Development
• Marlon Boarnet, director of METRANS Transportation Consortium
• Nebojsa Nakicenovic, former deputy director general/chief executive officer, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

FOOD AND WATER NEXUS: This panel will explore approaches to developing more sustainable supplies of fresh water and food as the planet warms.

Moderator: Robin Craig, Robert C. Packard Trustee Chair in Law, USC Gould School of Law

Panelists:

• Pat Brown, founder of Impossible Foods
• Claudia Faunt, program chief, Groundwater Availability and Use Assessments, United States Geological Survey
• Michael Obersteiner, director of the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
• Fran Pavley, environmental policy director, USC Schwarzenegger Institute; former California state senator who authored much of the state’s groundbreaking climate legislation

THE HUMAN CONDITION: Experts will look at how to overcome human resistance to climate action.

Moderator: Monica Dean, climate and sustainability practice director, USC Dornsife Public Exchange

Panelists:

• Joe Árvai, director, USC Dornsife Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability
• Wändi Bruine de Bruin, USC Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology and Behavioral Science; director, USC Behavioral Science and Well Being Policy Initiative
• Gale Sinatra, professor of education and psychology, USC Rossier School of Education