MIT Climate Action Symposium: What is the World Waiting For? Policies to Fight Climate Change

The last of MIT’s six Climate Action Symposia, What is the World Waiting For? Policies to Fight Climate Change, will be held virtually on Monday, November 16, 2020. Topics will include:

• changing the organization of the U.S. climate policy-making process;
• augmenting the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change;
• assisting developing countries in combatting damage from climate change; and
• increasing the study of solar geoengineering as a back-up technology.

The Climate Action Symposia series aims to advance our community’s understanding and expand our capacity to generate solutions for the urgent global challenge of climate change. The six symposia examine the current state of climate science and policy, as well as pathways for decarbonization of the global economy. We will also look at how universities can and should contribute solutions, including MIT’s efforts under our Plan for Action on Climate Change.

Chair: John Deutch, MIT

Schedule

2:00-2:05 pm Introduction

• John Deutch, Institute Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, MIT

2:05-2:15 pm The Climate Challenge

• L. Rafael Reif, President, MIT

2:15-3:25 pm Presentations
Moderator:

• John Deutch, Institute Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, MIT

Speakers:

• The Honorable Katherine Castor, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (Florida) and Chair, United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
• John Podesta, Chair and Counselor, Center for American Progress
• Todd Stern, Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

3:25-3:50 pm Audience questions and discussion

Moderator:

• Paul Joskow, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics Emeritus, Department of Economics, MIT and Chair, MIT Climate Action Symposium Organizing Committee

3:50-4:00 pm Closing reflections

• Paul Joskow, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics Emeritus, Department of Economics, MIT and Chair, MIT Climate Action Symposium Organizing Committee