Coventry Peace and Climate Lecture 2020 by Sir David King
Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/11/2020
19:00 - 21:00
Categories
12 November will present a rare opportunity to hear the UK’s ex Chief Scientific Adviser and Special Representative for Climate Change Sir David King share his insight and wisdom when he delivers Coventry Lord Mayor’s Peace Lecture at 7pm entitled
Climate change our common future:
the challenge and the way forward
Join the Webinar
Due to COVID restrictions in the UK we have had to change the lecture to a webinar. Everyone is therefore invited to join. Note it will begin at 19:00 GMT.
Please click the link below to join the webinar
https://zoom.us/j/97423413291?pwd=eEkzVVVuQlR6UlAxVmt0dVNXckJoQT09
If you have problems with your Internet connection you can also dial in.
Area codes are listed at
https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=Qakzf4ktIoawcujOMhKqTDPHvLj-NFyh
You will need to enter the following details once you have made the connection:
Webinar ID: 974 2341 3291
Passcode: 052029
You can also watch the event and ask questions when the event is streamed online on the RISING Global Peace Forum Youtube channel.
Sir David King
Sir David was Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s chief scientific adviser. At that time, he was outspoken on the subject of climate change, saying “I see climate change as the greatest challenge facing Britain and the world in the 21st century” and “climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today – more serious even than the threat of terrorism”.
He then served as the permanent Special Representative for Climate Change under David Cameron and Theresa May, including for Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, playing an active part in framing and securing the Paris agreement.
Sir David was clear that all nations must draw up a plan to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. But they have failed to do so and today, while governments are promising to invest a total of over a trillion dollars to counter the effects of the Covid19 pandemic, there are estimates that they will need to spend a hundred times as much over the next thirty years merely to replace all fossil fuel power stations with clean generation.
Governments are at war against Covid19, while the real threat to the future of civilization remains largely unchallenged. The people of Coventry await with keen anticipation to hear what Sir David will say on this crucial issue.
Sir David has published over 500 papers on science and policy, for which he has received numerous awards, and holds 22 Honorary Degrees from universities around the world. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991, a Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002. Sir David was knighted in 2003 and made an Officer of the French Legion of Honour in 2009 for work which has contributed to responding to the climate and energy challenge.
The Lord Mayor’s Peace Lecture is organised annually by Coventry Lord Mayor’s Committee for Peace and Reconciliation. Recent speakers have included Jonathon Porritt, Michael Morpurgo, Paul Oestreicher, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and, last year, Baroness Shami Chakrabarti.