Energy and Carbon in the Anthropocene

Professor Nick Eyre

Portrait of Nick Eyre
Nick Eyre, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy, ECI, University of Oxford

The presentation is available on YouTube. You can watch and listen to it here.  Energy and Carbon in the Anthropocene.

Energy use is the dominant cause of carbon emissions and climate change. Fossil fuels have been the main source of energy globally since the Industrial Revolution, enabling the human societies that characterise the Anthropocene. Delivering on the climate mitigation goals of the Paris Agreement will require fundamental changes in energy technologies and society. Nevertheless, it is clear that environmentally sustainable energy systems reliant on renewable energy sources and their efficient use are possible. Such a transition raises new challenges, notably in using variable resources and moving to alternatives to direct use of fossil fuels in transport, buildings and industry. However, there are good reasons to be hopeful, not only that this can be achieved, but that it will produce energy systems that are economically and socially preferable.

 

Speaker:  Nick Eyre is Professor of Energy and Climate Policy in the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS). Nick is Director of Energy Research for the University of Oxford, and a Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Integrating Renewable Energy. Previously, he was leader of the Lower Carbon Futures Programme in the ECI and a Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, leading its research theme on decision-making. Nick was a lead author of the ‘Buildings’ Chapter of the Mitigation Report of 5th Assessment of the IPCC, and will be a review editor in the 6th Assessment. He was a lead author of the Global Energy Assessment in 2012. Nick has 35 years’ experience on energy issues. He is a member of Ofgem’s Sustainable Development Advisory Group and a Fellow of the Energy Institute. From 1999-2008, he was Head of Policy and Director of Strategy at the Energy Saving Trust. He was a co-author of the UK Government’s 2002 Review of Energy Policy, leading its work on energy efficiency and energy scenarios.

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