Seminar to examine responses to climate change

Local, national and international experts will gather in Perth this week to discuss the latest approaches to climate change.

The day-long seminar, ‘Advances in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Opportunities and Challenges’, will be held at Perth Convention Centre on Friday 16 March. The meeting will be convened by Professor Stephan Lewandowsky from UWA’s School of Psychology, Professor Richard Harper from Murdoch University and Professor Iain Walker from CSIRO.

Professor Lewandowsky said adaptation and mitigation are the two broad responses to climate change.

“Mitigation involves a range of policies and technologies that can be used to limit or prevent greenhouse gas emissions or remove these gases from the atmosphere,” he said.

“Australia has recently enacted climate change legislation, including carbon pricing and renewable energy targets. An expected outcome of imposing a price on carbon is improvements in existing practices and the stimulation of innovative approaches to mitigation.

“Similarly, it is expected that new industries based on mitigation will develop, providing a range of opportunities for business.”

Hosted by The University of Western Australia, Murdoch University, CSIRO and the Primary Industry Adaptation Network, the seminar will cover key recent advances in climate change mitigation.

Topics will include recent Australian Government initiatives, Western Australia’s emissions profile and climate change strategy, barriers to mitigation, options for different sectors, renewable energy options, and sequestration and fuel switching.

International speakers include: Professor Delia Dimitru, from Manchester Metropolitan University; Dr Joseph Essandoh-Yeddu, from The Energy Commission of Ghana; and Professor Helmut Haberl, from the Institute of Social Ecology, Vienna. Former WA Premier Carmen Lawrence, Winthrop Professor in UWA’s School of Psychology, will lead a panel discussion.