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Maria Sharmina, a PhD researcher with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester will be leading a discussion on the above topic, followed by a trip to a pub or curryhouse for anyone interested in carrying on the debate!

ABSTRACT:

The Copenhagen Accord and recent UNFCCC meetings have nominally re-reconfirmed the commitment to stay below the 2C threshold in order to avoid dangerous climate change. In line with this, the UK Government has assumed a legal obligation for an emissions cut of 80% by 2050. Whilst 2050 reductions dominate the target-setting agenda, long-term targets do not have a scientific basis and are leading to dangerously misguided policies. If a policy is to be scientifically credible, it must be informed by an understanding of cumulative emissions and associated emissions pathways. A thorough analysis of current UK climate policy illustrates how following the ‘‘correlation trail’’ from global temperature thresholds to national emissions pathways fundamentally reframes the UK’s targets. Considering cumulative emissions, carbon cycle feedbacks and the omission of emissions from international transport dramatically increases both the scale and immediacy with which emissions need to be reduced. The implications of this are stark; if the 2C threshold is to maintain any meaningful currency, industrialised nations like the UK have little option but to radically and urgently curtail their demand for energy."

ABSTRACT END

The talk will be held in Room 4 of the Students' Union, currently you have to go round the back of the union, go into the bar, turn left up the stairs to the top floor, through the doors, turn right and immediately left!