Global Sustainability: A Nobel Cause

by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (Editor), Mario Molina (Editor), Nicholas Stern (Editor), Veronika Huber (Editor), Susanne Kadner (Editor)

Overview

Arising from the 1st Interdisciplinary Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability in Potsdam, this book brings together Nobel Laureates in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Economics and Peace – top-level representatives from politics and NGOs, and renowned experts on sustainability. In an unparalleled attempt to address humankind's transformation to global sustainability, the authors explore the best scientific and political strategies for reconciling our civilization with its physical and ecological support systems. The book features a radically interdisciplinary approach through a broad range of contributions, covering the latest insights from climate impact research, environmental economics, energy resource analysis, ecosystems science, and other crucial fields. It is for everyone interested in sustainability issues. Intellectually stimulating articles address the complex challenges arising from the need to avoid dangerous climate change, covering both advanced mainstream concepts and novel transformational approaches.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521769341
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/18/2010
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Potsdam University and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). He is also Chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change and was appointed Chief Government Advisor on Climate and Related Issues during Germany's G8 and EU presidencies in 2007. From 2001–5 he was Research Director of the British Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He is an elected member of, inter alia, the German National Academy (Leopoldina) and the US National Academy of Sciences. In 2004 he was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II, and in 2007 received the German Environment Prize.

Mario Molina studied physical chemistry and obtained his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1974, well before the first measurements of the Antarctic ozone hole, he co-authored a paper that described how chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases, widely used in industry at that time, destroy the atmospheric ozone layer. In 1995 Molina was honoured with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ozone depletion. As Professor of Chemistry and of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Molina continued his research on man-made changes in atmospheric chemistry. In 2004 he joined the faculty at the University of California in San Diego.

Nicholas Stern is I. G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Stern was head of the UK Government Economic Service from 2003–7 and Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2000–3 and of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 1994–99. He authored the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, reporting to the UK Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2005–7. He was knighted for services to economics in 2004, and was appointed to the UK House of Lords as Lord Stern of Brentford in 2007.

Veronika Huber is Scientific Personal Assistant to Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Previously, she worked on her doctoral thesis at the Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin and gained experience in climate policy at the UN Environmental Programme in Nairobi. She studied biology at École Normale Supérieure in Paris and at the universities of Konstanz and Potsdam.

Susanne Kadner has a research background in biology, chemistry and oceanography. She has worked for the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) in London, the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), and as G8 consultant to Hans Joachim Schellnhuber in his position as German Chief Government Advisor on Climate and Related Issues. She now works in the Technical Support Unit of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Working Group III.

Table of Contents

Foreword Angela Merkel; Preface Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Mario Molina, Nicholas Stern, Veronika Huber and Susanne Kadner; Prologue: save the boot room Ian McEwan; Part I. The Great Transformation: 1. Transformations of the twenty-first century: transitions to greater sustainability Murray Gell-Mann; 2. Commentary: integrated sustainability and the underlying threat of urbanization Geoffrey B. West; 3. Commentary: earth system analysis and taking a crude look at the whole Wolfgang Lucht; 4. Making progress within and beyond borders Johan Rockström, Katrin Vohland, Wolfgang Lucht, Hermann Lotze-Campen, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Tariq Banuri; 5. Towards a sustainable future James P. Leape and Sarah Humphrey; Part II. Climate Stabilization and Sustainable Development: 6. Scientific understanding of climate change and associated risks – consequences for a global deal Stefan Rahmstorf, Jennifer Morgan, Anders Levermann and Karsten Sach; 7. Towards a global deal on climate change Nicholas Stern and Su-Lin Garbett-Shiels; 8. Commentary: the German contribution to a global deal Sigmar Gabriel; 9. A 'just' climate agreement: the framework for an effective global deal Sunita Narain; 10. Commentary: carbon justice and forestation – the African perspective Wangari Maathai; 11. Carbon offsets, the CDM and sustainable development Diana Liverman; 12. Insights into the climate challenge Rajendra Pachauri; 13. Commentary: climate change – learning from the stratospheric ozone challenge Mario Molina; 14. Climate change, poverty eradication and sustainable development Nitin Desai; 15. Commentary: development and sustainability: conflicts and congruence Kirit Parikh; Part III. Institutional and Economic Incentives: 16. Robust options for decarbonization Thomas Bruckner, Ottmar Edenhofer, Hermann Held, Markus Haller, Michael Lüken, Nico Bauer and Nebojsa Nakicenovic; 17. Price and quantity regulation for reducing greenhouse gas emissions Ottmar Edenhofer, Robert Pietzcker, Matthias Kalkuhl and Elmar Kriegler; 18. Commentary: controlling climate change economically James Mirrlees; 19. What is the top priority on climate change? Paul Klemperer; 20. Research and technology for sustainability – a global cause Annette Schavan; 21. Commentary: energy research and technology for a transition toward a more sustainable future Nebojsa Nakicenovic; Part IV. Technological Innovation and Energy Security: 22. A world powered predominantly by solar and wind energy Walter Kohn; 23. Low cost 'plastic' solar cells: a dream becoming a reality Alan Heeger; 24. Smart grids, smart loads and energy storage Joachim Luther; 25. The SuperSmart Grid – paving the way for a completely renewable power system Antonella Battaglini, Johan Lilliestam and Gerhard Knies; 26. Getting the carbon out of transportation fuels Felix Creutzig and Daniel Kammen; 27. Opportunities for technological transformations and the dawn of a CO2-negative industry: from climate change to climate management? Maria Magdalena Titirici, Dieter Murach and Markus Antonietti; Part V. A Global Contract between Science and Society: 28. Promoting science, technology and innovation for sustainability in Africa Mohamed Hassan; 29. Information flow: the basis for sustainable participation John Sulston; 30. Commentary: educating and motivating global society Susanne Kadner; 31. Commentary: democracy and participation Achim Steiner; Part VI. The Potsdam Memorandum: 32. Potsdam Memorandum; 33. Commentary: the Potsdam Memorandum: a remarkable outcome of a most important conference Klaus Töpfer; Appendix: glossary; Co-authors' biographies.