Greta's Generation

At last I, Dr. Kyle S. Herman, am on the hotseat. I talk about how my career developed through the climate / environmental space, my own trials and tribulations, and I (hope) that I provide some scope and hope to future generations about to begin their careers.

For now, Greta’s Generation is signing off. We hope to renew our funding through my new University, University of Sussex, Business School (SPRU).

Global Environmental Politics (Kuetting and Herman, 2018)

Kyle S. Herman Publications

Matteo is a unique interviewee since he has managed to straddle three careers: academia, private finance, and public institutions. In this episode we try to pin down what ESG (Environmental and Social Governance) means for a company, how investors consider their scores when making "sustainably-minding" investments, as well as emerging private actors such as the CDP, TCFD, and SBTi.

Linkedin Profile, Corporate Climate Efforts

We had the pleasure to meet and research together while she was visiting SPRU, at University of Sussex. In this episode we talk about what it is like to enter, and begin to make a name for oneself, in academia and research. We eplore themes in sustainability studies, including socio-technical transitions, niche innovations, and incumbent industries (including resistance and acceptance).

Finally, we also discuss research questions, developing testable hypotheses, and how academics bring their research out of the University and into society. Sustainability Transitions Research Network, Sustainability Transitions Research, Sam Lu, Linkedin Profile

Andy has been a professor at SPRU since 2006, co-directing the ESRC STEPS Centre from then until 2021. He was elected a fellow of the UK Academy of Social Science in 2017. He has won a series of externally-resourced grants, including the ESRC, AHRC, EPSRC at UKRI, as well as the Wellcome Trust, businesses and charities and agencies and ministries of UK and other governments and the EU. He has also led as deupty director for the DEFRA/ESRC Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group (2010-2014) and Sussex PI for the ESRC Nexus Network (2014-2017). Prior to becoming an academic, he worked for Greenpeace on international nuclear disarmament and energy campaigns.

Andy Stirling, SPRU

This is an exciting episode with a new colleague of mine at SPRU, in Sussex Business School. Marc Hudson is a Research Fellow in the Politics of Industrial Decarbonisation Policy, part of the IDRIC project, which is investigating the UK’s NetZero Industrial Clusters.

Many researchers and policymakers frequently call for “a price on carbon” to efficiently drive widescale emissions. But Marc discusses how “carbon policies” have thus far stalled more rapid transition to technologies such as renewable energy and energy efficiency because they have, so far, led to a game of “Whac a Mole.”

While carbon markets have proliferated throughout the globe, all types of emissions continue to rise at alarming rates. In countries which have reduced their net emissions (for example in Europe), researchers have shown that emissions are largely offshored to regions and countries with much weaker policies.

His frequently updated blog also discusses a range of issues regarding climate change policy and, to put it plainly, inaction.

Professor Raimund Bleischwitz acted as the Deputy Director of the Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London (UCL), from  2013 to 2018. From 2018 to 2021 he was the Director of UCL's Bartlett School of Environment Energy & Resources. In January 2022 Bleischwitz was appointed Scientific Director at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen, Germany.

Beginning in the German Parliament during the 1980s when, indeed, caring about the environment  was still in its infancy if one can believe, he then pursued a Ph.D. because he had several burning questions which he sought to answer through research.

His research and courses focus on the “triple challenge” of dealing with the economic, the socio-political, and the environmental dimensions of using the worlds resources, especially as they become more hotly contested the world over. Quite often there is a tendency for actors to focus on only one of these dimensions, either predominantly supply-oriented (“raw materials strategy”) or demand-oriented (“resource efficiency, “sustainable consumption and production”). Last, he has done much work on a hot topic, “rare earth materials”, which are key ingredients to modern technologies, foremost among these renewable energy technologies

This is an exciting episode with a very close colleague of mine at UCL, Julia Kreienkamp at the Global Governance Institute (GGI). We have the unique connection of having the same two bosses (and the three of them published an important book on climate governance)! GGI is truly a great place to research, work, and connect with policy-makers, academics, and business leaders. It also has its own podcast, found here. She discusses details about biodiversity and climate change, and looking for nature-based solutions (e.g. not “technological fixes”, on their own), as well as the spiritual values of creating a biodiverse society—the bio-economy—which is still not valued in standard economic measures such as GDP.

Ajay discusses his circuitous career path—his transition from industry, to government, and finally to academia—where he is starting to feel at home. His research and understanding of climate change economics and policy is high-level to say the least. He is widely published in top academic journals, on topics as diverse as: renewable energy, energy storage, China’s de-carbonization, as well as critiques about climate-energy modelling.

Dr. Sovacool is a prominent academic, consultant, and climate policy leader. Currently, he is one of the leading authors of the IPCC’s latest Assessment Report.  He has written over 300 peer-reviewed articles and 18 books. His  research comprises energy transitions, green technology procurement and  innovation, as well as social and economic impacts of climate change. In  this episode, we discuss his latest work as well as some of his most highly cited papers (he has nearly 30,000 total citations). He is also divulges some wonderful advice to young listeners out there keen on joining the climate change movement.

Gunnar has led the International Network for Sustainable Energy (INFORSE), an Environmental NGO (ENGO) based in Aarhus, Denmark, for almost thirty years.  He coordinates action for over 150 ENGOs working on climate change worldwide. In this episode, Gunnar details his career as a practitioner in climate change at local, regional, and global levels. He speaks fluently about policies, technologies, politics, and solutions. 

INFORSE was the first organization to promote 100% renewable energy solutions, while others thought it a complete fiction. RE-100 is a new non-profit that now supports these solutions, but failed to recognize that it was INFORSE that spearheaded the idea and created the first models. He also speaks about how Denmark, one of the tiniest countries in the world, became a global leader in renewable energy development, policy, and innovation. His story is both informative and inspiring; it is clear and focused on the vision of 100% clean energy.

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just "business as usual" and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than eight and a half years (UN Climate Summit, NY).

In many ways, she is spot on. How dare we leave this mess for our descendants, for our children to clean up? In eight years, her generation will be in their mid twenties, with little to look forward to but a life of cleaning up other’s mess. It is more than embarrassing; it’s appalling. The science has been clear since at least the 1980s  (in fact, suggested since 1898): Climate Change is real. To solve it, we must undertake a massive societal reorganization.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or the IPCC, was set up in 1987 with the sole purpose to solidify the science (see: 2019 report; all other IPCC reports).  The IPCC is comprised of hundreds of the world’s top economists, engineers, systems and social scientists. These scientists come from many different countries. Can science be wrong? Sure. Scientific debate and uncertainty are welcomed in scientific research. Yet, it indicates something that hundreds of scientists from nearly every corner of the globe have come to a consensus, based on troves of data, modelling, and evidence, that this thing is real. And that many scientists, with careers dependent on external funding, have a much higher incentive to produce good research than to lie. Indeed, there has never been a more expansive scientific report in the history of humankind. The overwhelming scientific evidence suggests: “Houston, we’ve got a problem”.

Yet this scientific evidence, growing stronger each year, has not resulted in many real actions. In a speech among the world’s elite, Greta adds: “Well I’m here to tell you that unlike you, my generation will not give up without a fight…Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour”. Many are complacent.

To come to a tentative conclusion, before the real leaders are introduced, let me say one more thing. In this space, on this podcast, and throughout this community that I hope will blossom, let us not get clouded by inter-generational inequity, but instead come together. I am well aware that the name, Greta’s Generation, might seem like intergenerational inequities are a theme here. But that is not the purpose of the show’s name. Rather, the purpose is to bring all generations together to learn, to be inspired, and to take actions. We can all do this. And, if we want to see benefits to our shared planet, we will all have to take actions.