The Institution’s Environment Theme Quarter will come to a conclusion with the Question Time debate on Climate Change at 1 Birdcage Walk tonight (29 April 2009).
The debate, which will discuss climate change and the approaches to what is the greatest environmental challenge of our time, is the first of its kind to be hosted at the Institution.
Hosted by Institution President Professor William M Banks, and chaired by writer and broadcaster, Vivienne Parry, the debate is an opportunity to listen to and engage with leading experts on the key issues surrounding climate change. Leading experts and advocates will present all the policy options: Professor Gordon MacKerron will present mitigation, Dr Tim Fox will present adaptation, and Professor Brian Launder is to present geo-engineering, discussing their relative merits and potential.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE, Minister for Sustainable Development and Energy Innovation – a Minister of State at both DECC and Defra – will give the keynote address, and then take questions from the floor.
The event is a fitting finale to what has been an extremely effective theme quarter for the Institution. We have made considerable progress towards getting the voice of mechanical engineers heard by government and media alike, and establishing the Institution as a thought-leader in this field.
Summing up the achievements for the theme quarter, Dr Tim Fox, the Institution’s Head of Environment commented: “This quarter, we have made real progress in delivering on the Vision aim of setting the agenda and ensuring that the voices of mechanical engineers are heard in the public arena. The notable successes enjoyed by our environment themed reports in the media and in influencing government policy will provide a strong platform for our ongoing activity as we work towards the landmark United Nations Conference on Climate Change later this year.”
Environment Theme Quarter Government and Media Highlights
Government
- Institution’s Head of Environment, Dr Tim Fox called to give evidence to Innovation Universities Science and Skills Select Committee on geo-engineering. The subsequent report incorporated IMechE evidence more than any other individual engineering institution.
- Five parliamentary briefings: 3 in Westminster, two in Holyrood. Total of 22 MPs, 13 peers and 11 MSPs attended. Key figures include seven shadow ministers, two select committee chairmen and the leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
- Six mentions for the Institution in parliamentary debates.
- Institution invited to join Defra infrastructure adaptation project.
Institution invited to join Advisory Board of the Waste Protocols Project.
Media
Climate Change Adaption Report
- National press launch in London
- Gained printed media coverage worth £530,000 (AEV)
- Was broadcast across national radio and TV: Tim Fox on Radio 4 Today programme, Channel 4 lunchtime and 7pm news with Dr Colin Brown, BBC 1 national coverage featured Tim Fox
- Was covered by the international media, included in the Global Warming and Geo-Engineering entries within Wikipedia; The Times in India, Middle Eastern and Australian press
Energy From Waste Report
- National press launch in London
- Total circulation: 301.1 million
- Gained printed media coverage worth £444,353 (AEV)
- Featured in 12 separate national newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Independent and Guardian
- Gained considerable coverage in broadcast media including: BBC Radio 4 Today programme, BBC Radio 4 news bulletins, and Bill Banks featured in BBC Radio 4 You and Yours amongst others
- Was covered by international media and is still picking up coverage
Marine Energy Report
- National press launch in Scotland
- Total circulation: 95.7 million
- Gained printed media coverage worth £190,000
The Institution partnered with The Independent newspaper in February to publish an eight page supplement on mechanical engineering approaches to the environment and climate change, promoting key projects including these three major reports.
Environment Policy and Innovation events
IMechE-SPRU joint event, University of Sussex, 2 April 2009
Hosted by the Institution, in partnership with SPRU, this Science and Technology Policy Research event brought together engineers, academics and policymakers to discuss mitigation, adaptation and geo-engineering to develop climate change policy recommendations to government.
Cooling the Planet, Institution headquarters, 5 March 2009
The competition set out to consider geo-engineering or mitigation approaches to reduce global warming and explain them to engineers and non-expert judges alike. The final was attended by Phil Willis MP, Chairman Innovation Universities, Science and Skills Commons Select Committee and Tim Lenton, Professor of Earth System Science, University of East Anglia.
COP15
The United Nations Conference on Climate Change, is a focus for the Institution all year. The Institution is the UK representative in Future Climate: an international project which will feed policy recommendations in to COP15.
Website Statistics
The online statistics for the environment theme quarter are as follows:
- Adaptation report – 19,000 downloads
- Energy from Waste report – 16,800 downloads
- Marine Energy report – 14,800 downloads
- Environment policies from the Policy Portal – 6,500 downloads