FIU Hosts Climate Change Conference

Climate change has become a paramount concern for voters in recent years.  Recently, Florida International University hosted a conference with leading experts on climate change to discover if governments are really tackling the issue.

FIU put together the conference that lasted two days.  Speakers included representatives from institutions and organizations such as Stanford, MIT, University of Florida, Southern Methodist University, Emory, FIU, CLEO Institute, Heritage Foundation, Foreign Policy, Miami-Dade County, Competitive Enterprise Institute, SCAPE Landscape Architecture, FEMA, VoLo Foundation, Sierra Club and the Swiss Federation on Small- and Medium-sized Businesses.

FIU stated that one of its goals was to, "bring diverging viewpoints into dialogue with each other in respectful conversations, allowing audience members to listen to a variety of ideas, experiences, and solutions regarding environmental resilience and climate policy."

One segment of the conference featured a panel of experts discussing “The Promise and Pitfalls of Climate Policy.” The panel was sponsored by Foreign Policy magazine and FIU’s Office of Public Policy Events, which promotes education and encourages civic engagement by organizing open discussions and debate forums about current public policy issues.

Panelists discussed a wide variety of topics from the cleanest types of energy to issues with governance and political will to the economic consequences of climate policy. Speakers backed a variety of views — one said that governments should support the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) goals; another said that 100% renewable energy is not a feasible option and instead advocated for a combination of nuclear and renewable energies; and yet another voiced concerns over the lack of effectiveness of climate pledges to encourage countries, especially big energy producers, to change their ways.

Through this event and its track record of investing in science research, FIU has a proven track record of producing outcomes to positively impact the world.