Avoiding catastrophic climate change: technological possibilities, political challenges, and international cooperation

Lord Adair Turner (Chairman, Energy Transitions Commission and former Chairman, Financial Services Authority) will deliver a lecture which will be followed by a question and answer session.

Lord Turner chairs the Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of companies, NGOs and experts working to achieve a net zero economy by 2040.

He was appointed as an independent peer to the House of Lords in 2005 and is also an honorary fellow of the Royal Society (the UK academy dedicated to promoting science excellence). He became a Trustee Emeritus of the British Museum after serving on its board of directors from 2013 until 2020.

Lord Turner advises regularly climate and government bodies - including the COP Presidency and ministers in the EU, UK, China and Australia, and is often featured in global media as an expert on the energy transition, including in the Financial Times, Economist, BBC, CNN and Bloomberg.

He holds several roles in industry: he is the Chairman of insurer group Chubb Europe and Chairman of UK bank Oaknorth Ltd. Until October 2024, he was on the Board of AESC Japan, the manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. More recently he was appointed adviser to Watershed Technologies Inc., and to Renew Power (India).

During his public policy career, Lord Turner chaired the Financial Services Authority (2008-2013) where he played a lead role in the redesign of global banking and shadow banking regulation. From 2008 to 2012 he chaired the Climate Change Committee, an independent body advising and overseeing the UK’s government on their path to a zero-carbon economy. The recommendations set out in their first report "Building a low-carbon economy” were adopted by the UK government in full. Between 2002 and 2006 he chaired the UK Pensions Commission and recommended the creation of a system of defined contribution pensions which included an ‘opt-out’ element that proved transformative. He also chaired the Low Pay Commission (2002-2006), and was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (1995-2000).

Lord Turner is the author of Between Debt and the Devil (Princeton 2015), and Economics after the Crisis (MIT 2012). 

This is one of the events in the on-going China Forum Seminar series, hosted by the China Forum, Jesus College. The seminars, given by eminent speakers, cover a broad range of topics and disciplines.

This is a virtual seminar. Attendance is free. Advance booking is required by emailing: china-forum@jesus.cam.ac.uk.  Priority will be given to members of Jesus College and the University of Cambridge.