Arctic Basecamp, Davos 2018
The unprecedented rate of Arctic change has global implications for our environment, economies and societies.
Read the Nature article: Three Years to Safeguard our Climate.
The Pentland Centre at Lancaster University, led by Professor Gail Whiteman, is dedicated to creating a world-class hub for transdisciplinary research on sustainability. They are an active partner in the European ICE-ARC (Ice Climate Economics-Arctic Research on Change) project.
We participated in Arctic Basecamp 2018 to educate and influence world ecomonic leaders. Our key objectives were:
- To present state-of-the-art research showing the dramatic changes occurring in the Arctic.
- To explain how these changes impact Arctic and non-Arctic countries alike.
- To outline the global economic risks related to Arctic change.
- To present a call to action to world leaders and top decision-makers at Davos and raise the level of global ambition in-line with the Paris Agreement.
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting took place in Davos from 23-26 January 2018.
The Session on Strategic Outlook: Energy Systems, including new energy sources to limit climate change, took place on 23 January 2018.
As part of efforts to positively influence policy and bend the global emissions curve ahead of 2020, we organised Arctic Basecamp 2017 alongside the World Economic Forum 2017 (WEF) which met in Davos in 2017.
Camping in -24C temperatures is not the typical way to meet former US Vice Presidents, but that is exactly what happened in January 2017. Collaborating with The WSL Institute for snow and avalanche research, The Pentland Centre convened a meeting of over 80 business and civil society leaders, politicians, scientists and policy makers. The summit shared cutting-edge scientific knowledge and rousing keynotes from Al Gore, former US Vice President and Chair of the Climate Reality Project and Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. See them in action on Facebook.
We are also planning a series of other events after Davos 2018 to take the message of ‘Arctic change as a barometer of global risk’ to an even wider audience.
Thank you!
Professor Gail Whiteman
Director, Pentland Centre
Christiana Figueres and Gail Whiteman