Skip to content | Change text size
 

Forum examines China, India and global warming

25 October 2006

At the Monash Sustainability Forum, from left, Dean of Arts Professor Homer Le Grand, Head of the School of Geography and Science Professor Chris Cocklin, Stanford University's Professor Thomas Heller and Senior Honorary Research Fellow Dr Graeme Pearman.

The question of whether China and India can achieve economic development without substantially increasing the risks of climate change was examined at the Monash Sustainability Forum, held in Melbourne last week.

An international authority on climate change and developing nations, Professor Thomas Heller of Stanford University delivered an address titled 'China, coal and climate: dealing with emerging economies after Kyoto'.

His talk examined the failure of Kyoto Protocol negotiations to engage China and India and discussed whether the two developing nations could achieve growth without substantially increasing the risks to the environment.

Professor Heller is the Lewis Talbot and Nadine Hearn Shelton Professor of International Legal Studies at Stanford University in the United States and has worked on the building of clean power plants in China. He is a lead author for the United Nations Environment Program Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change and is a consultant with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in Geneva.

The Head of Monash's School of Geography and Environmental Science, Professor Chris Cocklin, said Professor Heller's lecture addressed a critical issue for Australia and the world -- how much China and India could potentially accelerate human-induced climate change.

"There is a view in Australia that climate change is something that will happen in the future, but the reality is that we are almost certainly seeing signs of it in action now. Professor Heller addresses the critical question of whether these countries can achieve economic development without substantially increasing the risks," Professor Cocklin said.