Climate Change Corner: UEA praised for action on climate

Becca Patchett Science Writer

In January, Sir James Bevan, the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, delivered a lecture at UEA called ‘Facing the fear of fear itself –the case for climate optimism.’ I was fortunate enough to be at this event and found it incredibly interesting. It was so nice to see a leading member of the environmental science community giving a talk at the UEA.

The main message from Sir James’ lecture was that we can be optimistic about the current situation as we can achieve our targets with known technology and through improvements in people’s lives and economic costs. He went on to say that the costs, although huge, are manageable but need to be fairly distributed. He stated that the current policy is insufficient for our existing targets and that these are only possible with clear, stable, and well-designed policies. He said that the delivery of these policies, to meet targets such as net zero by 2050, is of far greater urgency than previously thought.

He discussed the need for clear leadership within the current government and that the issues surrounding the climate emergency cannot only be left to energy and environmental departments but to the government as a whole. Sir James considered four main areas that the government needs to confront which are not being looked at currently. The first of these was that industry as a whole needs to be decarbonised. He then went on to discuss how heavy goods vehicles need low-carbon fuel sources. His third point was that stakeholders such as the government cannot just ignore aviation and shipping emissions which are currently being less heavily focused on. His final point was the need for afforestation, biomass production, and peatland restoration.

Sir James Bevan’s takeaway message was that we are currently in a better position to deal with climate change now – which he wouldn’t have said five years ago. He said this is thanks to organisations and research such as UEA and the Tyndall centre which he praised for their role as a producer of world-class analysis and as one of the early pioneers of climate research.

Sir James also praised everyone at the talk by saying we were all leading to a better future to fight the climate crisis by just being there and being interested in the lecture.