Keynote 1: The essential role of environmental science in an interdisciplinary solutions-focused climate transition - Prof. Gideon Henderson

Transcript

1. The essential role of environmental science in an interdisciplinary solutions-focused climate transition Gideon Henderson
2. The Ice Age: Only 20,000 years ago Now Ice Age CLIMAP 1981
4. Global land use for agriculture
6. Mid 20th Century Productivity Increase Use of Haber Bosch process to make mineral fertiliser (ammonium nitrate) Genetic improvement to key crops through cross-breeding e.g. Billingham Plant (shut in 2023) Norman Borlaug and the ‘Green Revolution’ We need new science to further increase productivity
7. Increased productivity from application of science
8. Today we are faced with a triple challenge for land use: Food security, climate change, biodiversity loss, Globally we must grow more food on less land area We must increase productivity i.e. increase the calories/protein produced per hectare of land While the climate and the environment evolves (particularly due to climate change)
9. Need to welcome new approaches to food production Through continued traditional breeding Through application of precision breeding / geneediting [which is newer, faster and more precise] Through expansion of the range of plants we eat There are >7,000 edible species. We eat only 417, and depend on ca. 15 By growing in new settings – indoors, in the ocean, in new climates Work with companies developing approaches, and with governments regulating them Rothamsted wheat trials
12. Photo: Historic England
14. Photo: NinaRundsveen Photo: Charly Broyez
15. Greenhouse gas abatement for biomass use CCC 2018
16. FW-I-2: Endangered spruce stands | Umweltbundesamt Forestry is good, but needs to be resilient
17. There is a limit to speed at which we can decarbonise CCC 7th Carbon Budget Report (2025)
18. We need large scale CO2 removal Global: “Central range of CDR deployment is 7 to 9 GtCO2 per year in 2050… the more sustainable scenarios cumulatively remove 170 GtCO2 between 2020 and the time of net zero CO2” [State of CO2 Removal, 2nd ed 2024] UK: “Engineered removals start to contribute to the Balanced Pathway around 2028 and grow to reach -35.8 MtCO2e in 2050. This is predominantly bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), with some direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), enhanced weathering, and biochar.” [CCC, The 7th Carbon Budget, 2025]
19. CDR methods: Must both remove and store CO2 Combines removal and storage Requires separate storage RS/RAEng GGR report, 2018
20. The CDR market >250 companies selling CDR credits. US$ 11bn spent on CDR so far. Huge innovation. Poor regulation. CDR.fyi Planetary adding alkalinity to the ocean in Canada
21. A conundrum for environmental scientists • We know we need to rapidly scale-up CDR to mitigate climate change and the harm climate change causes (including to the environment) • We want to protect the environment, and typically take a precautionary approach to large scale intervention in the environment So should we be pro or anti large-scale CDR? We need to engage: with independent research, with the industry, with governments, with society. We need to help find the solution that works for us, and for the environment.
22. In summary: Humans depend absolutely on the environment in which we live, and on the services it provides. The environment is always evolving; naturally and due to changing human pressures and needs. The environment and human societies have co-evolved over millenia. Our job is not to stop change, nor to try to turn the clock back to some halcyon time in the past, but to enable society to continue to take what we need from the environment But in a way that enables the fundamental aspects of functioning resilient ecosystems, with air and waters suitable for our future needs, and for the health of these evolving ecosystems.