Climate Crisis

The Climate Crisis: Why we need to act now

The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (HAdW) is a community of scientists from many different disciplines. The members of the academy want to contribute their research potential and expertise to the discussion of social problems and dialog with the public. In the Academy, they therefore focus on relevant future topics that require cooperation between different disciplines.

“Climate crisis” is one such future topic. In addition to the climatological background to man-made climate change, this buzzword also refers to the associated ecological, social and political dimensions. Members of the Academy have formed a working group on this topic. Together, they have organized a series of events, communicated facts and expertise and thus facilitated discussion and opinion-forming.

The climate crisis is obviously progressing rapidly. Further deterioration can only be prevented by converting our energy and economic system to net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, this transformation has been far too slow so far, so that valuable time has been lost. Every single person obviously has to change their actions and behavior. However, this alone cannot bring our society's CO2 footprint to zero. This goal can only be achieved through measures that are accepted by society as a whole, technologically available and economically feasible. Solutions are known in principle, but require great effort and investment - especially as there is now a need for urgency. However, the transformation also offers opportunities. This is a challenge for society as a whole.

Lecture series