UNIL-EPFL CLIMACT Workshop
Event details
| Date | 26.01.2021 |
| Hour | 14:00 › 17:00 |
| Speaker | Various speakers from Unil and EPFL |
| Location |
online via zoom
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
14:00 Welcome (Claudia Binder, Frédéric Herman)
14:10 CLIMACT Introduction (Julia Steinberger, Michael Lehning)
14:30 Short presentations on platforms and working groups
15:00 Examples of potential future CLIMACT programs
15:30 Breakout Working Groups on CLIMACT topics – towards developing interdisciplinary programs and projects within CLIMACT (topics list see below)
16:15 Break
16:30 Summary reports from working groups and next steps
17:00 Workshop ending
Note: this is an internal event for UNIL and EPFL researchers.
If you would like to register, please contact Charmilie Nault ([email protected]).
***
List of topics:
During the workshop, the participants will be invited to self-select the group they would like to join.
**
During this workshop, we will discuss the role of health care professionals and sketch a possible framework for research that integrates health and climate change into clinical and public health meaningful interventions.
The goal is to discuss possible ways to stimulate individual, collective and institutional behaviors aiming at addressing climate change. Much is known about factors that facilitate vs. hinder such behaviors, but research is needed to address the challenges of actual large-scale implementation, from education to social movements, to policy making. Large-scale implementation requires new research on how to reconcile possible contradictions between individual and collective interests, how to articulate individual and collective action in a multi-level fashion, and how to identify thresholds that determine when it is possible to move from individual behavior to collective action.
This breakout group’s goal is to explore how economics, political and legal sciences in EPFL & UNIL can contribute to raising climate ambition and action, either with other programs/projects (assisting with local climate plans, energy scenario/modelling, accompanying industrial policy) or through projects with major focus on getting economic incentives right for protecting the climate, legal changes, institutions and governance and evidence from political science. The goal here is to align diverse scientific approaches of economic/legal/political science and capacities to develop new research and engagement directions on climate relevant to governance, public policy and justice. Our aim is that evidence-based public policies can contribute to save the planet.
The breakout group will discuss how to address the challenges posed by climate change in Swiss urban and territorial settings through geographical, environmental, urban and architectural tools.
With a specific focus on the links between health, mobility and biodiversity, we will consider two potential stages of collaboration, a) urban and territorial analysis linking the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the urban and territorial to address both the ecological and sociotechnical issues at stake in a holistic way, and b) which systemic and transcalar schemes could bring together the different approaches and levels of intervention present at both Unil and ENAC/EPFL to actively intervene in our cities and territories towards a more sustainable future (from material science to building design, urban, infrastructural and territorial planning, mobility networks, etc.)
The breakout group will discuss how climate change is intensifying natural hazards that can cause tremendous impacts on societies, the environment, and economic wealth of affected regions.
This breakout group’s goal is to explore how research on natural environments in EPFL & UNIL can contribute to raising climate ambition and action, either by connecting different research fields and disciplines, or by making the consequences of climate change more tangible for the public.
Models are ideal tools to explore the possible effects of actions on a complex system, such as the global climate, a catchment, or the economy. While individual models are often tailored for a specific type of data, combining different modeling frameworks and associating the related expertise can bring unprecedented advances. This working group will discuss ways to bridge numerical representations of natural and social systems, such as to address questions that cannot be tackled with disciplinary frameworks.
The observatory and testing ground aims to provide a platform that allows integrated projects that probe the intricacies of implementation of technological and policy actions in the diverse mountain ecosystems. The observatory aspects will include instrumented plots while the testing ground intends to offer the opportunity for real-life deployment of technologies and policies.
CLIMACT will use and generate a lot of (open) data across all disciplines concerned. Giving the rapid development of data repositories and data infrastructures, this workshop discusses the needs of CLIMACT groups for support through dedicated data infrastructure and data analysis.
The objective of this discussion is to assess the role that CLIMACT can play as an interface with different social groups and local authorities, and as a focal point to create synergies between actors and partners active in climate change policies and research.
Energy system encompasses the supply of the society's energy services from resources. Its emissions contribute to about ¾ of Global Warming Potential. The transformation of the current fossil based energy system to CLIMACT compatible and renewables based system is a challenge that implies changes in behaviors, technologies, infrastructures and business models. The transformation needs to focus on the mitigation of GHG emissions but also the resiliency, security of supply, sustainability and economic viability. A holistic and systemic approach addressing the competition between technologies within given physical and socioeconomic constraints, accounting for the life cycle perspective & multiple impact indicators and considering the nexus between energy and material circularity is key to go beyond a-priori solutions and shed light on the numerous trade-offs of a sustainable solution.
14:10 CLIMACT Introduction (Julia Steinberger, Michael Lehning)
14:30 Short presentations on platforms and working groups
- MOUNTEGAL (Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Stuart Lane)
- Modelling Platform (Grégoire Mariéthoz, Athanasios Nenes)
- Seminar Series (Julia Steinberger, Athanasios Nenes)
- Communication and interface with society (Augustin Fragnière, Charmilie Nault, Samuel Jaccard)
15:00 Examples of potential future CLIMACT programs
- SWEET Edge “Decentralized renewable energy” (Evelina Trutnevyte, Michael Lehning)
- Sinergia “Health and environment” (Nicolas Senn)
15:30 Breakout Working Groups on CLIMACT topics – towards developing interdisciplinary programs and projects within CLIMACT (topics list see below)
16:15 Break
16:30 Summary reports from working groups and next steps
17:00 Workshop ending
Note: this is an internal event for UNIL and EPFL researchers.
If you would like to register, please contact Charmilie Nault ([email protected]).
***
List of topics:
- Climate and health: Moving from Planetary Health global principles to meaningful community actions
- Climate and social sciences, from individual behavior to collective action
- Climate, economics, political and legal science: A focus on governance, public policy and justice
- Urban challenges, mobility and territorial management
- Natural hazards and how they change
- Technology driven change (will be discussed within topic 12)
- Natural environment
- Modelling Platform - taking Earth System Models to society
- Observation platform: MOUNTEGAL Multi-site Observatory of Urban and Natural Environments and Testing Ground in an Alpine Landscape
- Open data and analysis for climate
- Communication activities and interface with society
- Energy system, buildings, climate and sustainability
During the workshop, the participants will be invited to self-select the group they would like to join.
**
- Climate and health: Moving from Planetary Health global principles to meaningful community actions
During this workshop, we will discuss the role of health care professionals and sketch a possible framework for research that integrates health and climate change into clinical and public health meaningful interventions.
- Climate and social sciences, from individual behavior to collective action
The goal is to discuss possible ways to stimulate individual, collective and institutional behaviors aiming at addressing climate change. Much is known about factors that facilitate vs. hinder such behaviors, but research is needed to address the challenges of actual large-scale implementation, from education to social movements, to policy making. Large-scale implementation requires new research on how to reconcile possible contradictions between individual and collective interests, how to articulate individual and collective action in a multi-level fashion, and how to identify thresholds that determine when it is possible to move from individual behavior to collective action.
- Climate, economics, political and legal science: a focus on governance, public policy and justice
This breakout group’s goal is to explore how economics, political and legal sciences in EPFL & UNIL can contribute to raising climate ambition and action, either with other programs/projects (assisting with local climate plans, energy scenario/modelling, accompanying industrial policy) or through projects with major focus on getting economic incentives right for protecting the climate, legal changes, institutions and governance and evidence from political science. The goal here is to align diverse scientific approaches of economic/legal/political science and capacities to develop new research and engagement directions on climate relevant to governance, public policy and justice. Our aim is that evidence-based public policies can contribute to save the planet.
- Urban challenges, mobility and territorial management
The breakout group will discuss how to address the challenges posed by climate change in Swiss urban and territorial settings through geographical, environmental, urban and architectural tools.
With a specific focus on the links between health, mobility and biodiversity, we will consider two potential stages of collaboration, a) urban and territorial analysis linking the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the urban and territorial to address both the ecological and sociotechnical issues at stake in a holistic way, and b) which systemic and transcalar schemes could bring together the different approaches and levels of intervention present at both Unil and ENAC/EPFL to actively intervene in our cities and territories towards a more sustainable future (from material science to building design, urban, infrastructural and territorial planning, mobility networks, etc.)
- Natural hazards and how they change
The breakout group will discuss how climate change is intensifying natural hazards that can cause tremendous impacts on societies, the environment, and economic wealth of affected regions.
- Technology driven change
(this topic will be discussed within topic 12)
- Natural environment
This breakout group’s goal is to explore how research on natural environments in EPFL & UNIL can contribute to raising climate ambition and action, either by connecting different research fields and disciplines, or by making the consequences of climate change more tangible for the public.
- Modelling Platform - taking Earth System Models to Society
Models are ideal tools to explore the possible effects of actions on a complex system, such as the global climate, a catchment, or the economy. While individual models are often tailored for a specific type of data, combining different modeling frameworks and associating the related expertise can bring unprecedented advances. This working group will discuss ways to bridge numerical representations of natural and social systems, such as to address questions that cannot be tackled with disciplinary frameworks.
- Observation platform: MOUNTEGAL Multi-site Observatory of Urban and Natural Environments and Testing Ground in an Alpine Landscape
The observatory and testing ground aims to provide a platform that allows integrated projects that probe the intricacies of implementation of technological and policy actions in the diverse mountain ecosystems. The observatory aspects will include instrumented plots while the testing ground intends to offer the opportunity for real-life deployment of technologies and policies.
- Open Data and Analysis for Climate
CLIMACT will use and generate a lot of (open) data across all disciplines concerned. Giving the rapid development of data repositories and data infrastructures, this workshop discusses the needs of CLIMACT groups for support through dedicated data infrastructure and data analysis.
- Communication activities and interface with society
The objective of this discussion is to assess the role that CLIMACT can play as an interface with different social groups and local authorities, and as a focal point to create synergies between actors and partners active in climate change policies and research.
- Energy system, buildings, climate and sustainability
Energy system encompasses the supply of the society's energy services from resources. Its emissions contribute to about ¾ of Global Warming Potential. The transformation of the current fossil based energy system to CLIMACT compatible and renewables based system is a challenge that implies changes in behaviors, technologies, infrastructures and business models. The transformation needs to focus on the mitigation of GHG emissions but also the resiliency, security of supply, sustainability and economic viability. A holistic and systemic approach addressing the competition between technologies within given physical and socioeconomic constraints, accounting for the life cycle perspective & multiple impact indicators and considering the nexus between energy and material circularity is key to go beyond a-priori solutions and shed light on the numerous trade-offs of a sustainable solution.
Practical information
- Expert
- Registration required
- This event is internal
Organizer
- Prof. Michael Lehning (EPFL)
Prof. Julia Steinberger (Unil)