Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory (CEPL) hosts Solve Climate by 2030

Posted April 14, 2021

Over the past week, 100 different conversations have taken place, all with the same goal, to solve the climate change crisis by 2030. Georgia Tech’s Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory (CEPL) virtually hosted the Georgia conversation on April 7. CEPL is a part of Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy and conducts research on carbon drawdown opportunities, clean energy financing, energy policy, and technology trends in the U.S. South. Its director, Marilyn Brown, Regents Professor, and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems moderated the event. 

According to top climate scientists, we have only a ten-year period to reduce the carbon pollution that contributes to global warming. In collaboration with the Solve Climate by 2030 initiative started by the Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College, webinars were hosted in every U.S state and fifty countries worldwide to create a public dialogue centered on reducing carbon emissions and taking action at a local and state level. 

Panelists from a wide array of backgrounds joined in the discussion. Panelists included John Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation; Commissioner Tim Echols, vice chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission; Nathaniel Smith, founder and CEO of Partnership for Southern Equity; Shane Totten, director of strategy and impact at Southface Institute; and Kim Cobb, professor in the College of Sciences and director of Georgia Tech’s Global Change Program. 

Lanier spoke on Drawdown Georgia. Drawdown Georgia began when the Ray C. Anderson Foundation realized Georgia had an opportunity and need to lead in climate change solutions. 

‘Inspired by Project Drawdown and funded by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, the Drawdown Georgia project aims to identify a set of solutions to help the state achieve ‘drawdown', or the point at which greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations begin to decline on a year-to-year basis, and lead the state of Georgia on a path to carbon neutrality.’ 

Members from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and Georgia Tech work closely together in both research and leadership roles within Drawdown Georgia.  

“The research didn’t start and stop with greenhouse gases and complex calculations around carbon dioxide...we realized that understanding just the carbon wasn’t enough. We needed to understand all of the ways climate solutions matter to the people within our state…. We wanted to know what climate solutions could advance equity, enrich the economy, and heal our natural environment and improve public health.” 

Equity and public health were major topics of the Georgia Tech-hosted event. Smith, from the Partnership for Southern Equity, posed the question: “How do we get to a more resilient society through climate remediation?” Through energy efficiency, retrofitting existing buildings, and solar, we have an opportunity to create energy justice and alleviate some of the energy and utility burdens faced by vulnerable communities, he said.

Cobb noted that global warming “has any number of impacts on our lives and livelihoods. First of all, I’ll flag the extreme impact of heat on human health. Particularly in a city like Atlanta, where the urban temperatures can reach 15 degrees higher than the non-urban areas outside. This is really something that is going to continue to threaten the most vulnerable communities and residents in Atlanta,” Cobb said.  

Viewing climate change from a wide spectrum lens demonstrates how equity, sustainability, economics, infrastructure, and social justice all play a major role in solving the climate issue. They are all intertwined, and we cannot achieve a just and equitable climate solution without consideration of all of these factors. Following the panel discussion, attendees and panelists broke out into smaller groups to discuss specific topics in more detail. Those topics included food waste, retrofitting, electric vehicles, beyond carbon, utility-scale, and rooftop solar. The event can be viewed here.