The Zennström Climate Change Leadership Initiative acts as a catalyst for public debate, research and education to directly address some of the most challenging questions that climate change poses to humanity. Three internationally recognised Zennström Professors in Climate Change Leadership are working with academics, students, civil society and public and private partners to both understand the scale of the civilisational transition needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to begin to develop routes towards that transition and prepare for adaptation.
Our current projects largely fall within four areas built upon the research themes of the Chairs of the Zennström professorship. These include:
- The role of the university in addressing climate change
- Convening publics for rapid societal transformation
- A Swedish Carbon Budget framework for emissions reductions
- Student engagement with international climate negotiations and justice
The Zennström Climate Change Leadership initiative is part of the research program Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) based at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University.
Climate change leadership is a dynamic field, crossing disciplinary and societal boundaries, with the aim to catalyse innovative and bold approaches to meet the complex challenges of climate change. This dynamism and energy is derived from the increasing demand for knowledge and practices to meet challenges across all sectors of society, from the local to international level. Climate change leadership is characterised by knowledge co-production between academia and society at large, to ensure effective and just institutional and socio-technological transformations.
The overall goal of the initiative is to actively shape an inter- and transdisciplinary intellectual environment that combines education, research and outreach in innovative ways and applies knowledge into equitable climate action. The climate change leadership environment engages with new forms of vibrant, trans- disciplinary and exploratory forums with world-leading climate scientists, key climate negotiators, business and civil society leaders, policy-makers, social entrepreneurs and, not least, students and young leaders.