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Climate justice to take centre stage at Edinburgh events series

Climate change experts and influencers will look into the implications of global warming in the next Edinburgh Futures Conversations.

Photos of speakers attending the Edinburgh Futures Conversations in October 2023

Panel discussions and poetry will lead conversations on climate justice in three events taking place between 10 and 19 October.

The events will bring together voices from international leaders, climate scientists, artists, academics and political economists.

Author A. C. Grayling, Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network, and Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland are among the list of experts taking part.

Contributors from the University include Elizabeth Cripps, Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, and Elizabeth Bomberg, Professor of Environmental Politics.

Climate insights

Edinburgh Futures Conversations’ flagship event will open at the Playfair Library with panellists leading discussions on climate justice in the aftermath of COP26.

Adrienne Buller, Elizabeth Cripps, Tasneem Essop, Arunabha Ghosh, A. C. Grayling, and Patricia Scotland will take part in the debate chaired by Hermione Cockburn.   

In the second event of the series, Indonesian writer and artist Khairani Barokka will deliver a poetry performance based on environmental and climate crises as a result of centuries of colonial extractivism.  

The series will close with an online panel discussion focusing on climate change and actions that can be taken to shape a more sustainable future.

Khairani Barokka, Alice C. Hill, George Monbiot, Vanessa Nakate, Mitzi Jonelle Tan, and Laura Young will lead the discussion chaired by Elizabeth Bomberg. 

All events are free to attend and tickets can now be booked – in-person and live stream – via the webpage below.

Our responses to climate change are inseparable from the question of who owes what to whom. The focus on climate justice in this season’s Edinburgh Futures Conversations series recognises this as one of the key questions of our time. I look forward to hearing from the panel of acclaimed journalists, activists, and policy makers who share the same goal of finding just solutions to the climate crisis.

Professor Jamie CrossDirector of Edinburgh Earth Initiative

Autumn events

The Edinburgh Futures Conversations mark the start of Edinburgh Futures Institute’s autumn event season.

Entitled ‘First Breath’, the programme will feature a range of expert discussions, readings, performances, participatory sessions and workshops.

Events will focus on responses to the climate and environmental crisis, migration and displacement, and equality, reparation and justice.  

The events are free to attend and open to the wider public.  

Related links 

Edinburgh Futures Conversations

EFI