Changing Minds or Changing Systems? Prof. Wiener on Societal Agency and Climate ChangeAt the Cardiff Knowledge Hub, Academics discuss how to avert climate change

29. November 2022

Chaired by Professor Ole Petersen, Cardiff Hub Director, the webinar in November 2022 was co-organised between the Academia Europae Cardiff Knowledge Hub and Academia Europaea’s Environmental Taskforce. A panel of four members of Academia Europaea (MAEs) considered whether pathways to avert dangerous climate change should focus on changing systems or influencing mindsets. Antje Wiener spoke about Societal Agency and Climate Change, and how there are ‘no quick fixes’. The talk is based on Wiener’s work at the Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society” (CLICCS) at Universität Hamburg and Norm Contestation, also applied in the Contestation of the Liberal Scrip (SCRIPTS) Cluster of Freie Universität Berlin. 

The panel of experts was comprised of:

• Professor Karen O’Brien, Professor of Human Geography. University of Oslo; Co-Chair of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) Transformative Change Assessment
• Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Emeritus Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and Professor at TU Wien; Deputy-Chair of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission
• Professor Antje Wiener, Professor of Political Science & Global Governance, University of Hamburg
• Professor Matthias Karmasin, Director of the Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies (CMC) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Klagenfurt

The consensus within the expert panel is that it is both. Climate change is a global and complex problem, requiring multidisciplinary and multi-societal solutions. The panel considered a range of issues, such as beliefs and values, media and communications, trust in science, and technological innovation. A large proportion of the webinar was given over to audience interaction.

More information and the recording of this event is available via https://aecardiffknowledgehub.wales/2022/12/07/changing-minds-or-changing-systems-to-avert-dangerous-climate-change/