U of G honorary doctorate recipient Prof. Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, FRS, Oxford Physics, presents a public talk “Can Future Needs be Met Sustainably?”

Global energy consumption is increasing rapidly, driven by rising living standards in developing countries. Decarbonisation is imperative to reduce air pollution, rebalance relations between oil producing and importing countries and moderate climate change. However, scenarios that meet the International Panel on Climate Change’s goal of net-zero emissions in the second half of the century all involve heroic technical, economic and political assumptions.

His presentation will focus on ‘stubborn’ (especially hard to decarbonise) sectors, which include heat, aviation and shipping. While examining the global outlook and commenting on the situation in Canada, he will illustrate some of the changes that total decarbonisation will require in the case of the UK.