Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and one of the world's leading scientists in the fields of sustainability and climate change, will visit Iceland to deliver a keynote lecture at an open seminar in Háskólabíó on Friday 9 October from 9:00 to 10:30. Rockström played a leading role in developing the Planetary Boundaries framework, and the latest scientific findings show that humanity has already crossed seven of the nine planetary boundaries.
After 11,000 years of an unusually stable climate, humanity now faces multiple challenges that threaten the built environment, natural ecosystems, human health and well-being, economic prosperity, and financial stability. These interconnected global environmental changes also pose a threat to the stability of the Earth system itself and, consequently, to the foundations on which societal development depends.
Extreme weather is just one of the consequences of global warming
In his lecture, Rockström will present the latest scientific understanding of the risks associated with destabilising the Earth system and the climate, and explain why this knowledge calls for a reassessment of our understanding of sustainability and sustainable development. The Planetary Boundaries framework, developed by Rockström and colleagues, defines the environmental limits within which humanity must operate to safeguard the stability of the Earth's natural systems and secure a prosperous future. As noted above, recent findings indicate that seven of the nine planetary boundaries have already been exceeded.
"The science is clear," says Rockström. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events are only one consequence of global warming exceeding 1.5°C, a threshold that represents a real biophysical limit within the Earth system. Beyond this level of warming, the risk of crossing multiple Earth system tipping points increases significantly, raising the possibility of cascading changes that may prove extremely difficult, or even impossible, to reverse.
According to Rockström, there is still an opportunity to reverse current trends and bring human activity back within the Earth's safe operating space. The path back, however, is not a linear one. It requires transformative change across all economic and societal sectors that influence the planetary boundaries.
The seminar with Rockström is open to all, but registration is required.
The event is part of the Climate Change and Research series, which aims to provide a platform for informed discussion on climate research and its role in policymaking and decision-making. The seminar is organised in collaboration with the University of Iceland Sustainability Institute, the Institute of International Affairs, the Environment and Natural Resources Programme, the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Iceland's Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate.