The conference will address tipping points risks and opportunities

Experts to discuss 'tipping points' alliance

Experts will meet next month to discuss catastrophic climate "tipping points" – and the power of positive tipping points to avert the climate crisis.

The meeting, from 12-14 September at the University of Exeter, is intended as a "call to action" to build an alliance that can improve early warnings and accelerate positive change.

The world faces a growing threat of climate tipping points – thresholds which, once crossed, trigger irreversible changes such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest or the West Antarctic ice sheet.

But positive tipping points offer hope, and the meeting will consider ways to trigger these across sectors, communities and countries.

Speakers will include Professors Ricarda Winkelmann and Johan Rockström, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; Kate Raworth, author of "Doughnut Economics"; Dr Laura Pereira, from the University of Witwatersrand; and Keywan Riahi, from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

The meeting will be hosted by Exeter's Global Systems Institute (GSI).

Professor Tim Lenton, Director of the GSI, said: "The world seems to be crying out for this kind of joined-up thinking and action agenda.

"Attendees will have the opportunity to shape future research and positive action to address tipping points risks and opportunities."

Professor Rockström said: "The global tipping points conference comes at a critical juncture for humanity.

"We need a dramatic acceleration of progress, or we risk crossing irreversible tipping points.

"Join Tim Lenton and myself and other leading thinkers on tipping points at the conference to discuss how transformational change can be generated."

Scarlett Benson, Director at SYSTEMIQ and the Food and Land Use Coalition, said: "Understanding the potential for these positive tipping points is extremely empowering, since it is clear that many different actors have important roles to play.

"The conference in September will be an amazing opportunity for researchers, academia, civil society, policymakers, business and beyond to identify accelerated pathways for triggering systemic change towards sustainable transformation."

The event is open to anyone working on or interested in tipping points.

Speakers will be from academia, industry, government and NGOs to highlight the need for rapid and transformative solutions, as well as the risks and early warning requirements on negative tipping points.

There will be active engagement in a series of breakout workshops designed to co-develop new approaches for triggering positive tipping points for a socially just transformation.

The breakouts will work on opportunities for positive tipping points in finance, landscape restoration, food systems, finance, communications, behaviour change and on the role of social movements.

Most of the meeting will take place in person, with a small number of talks live-streamed for virtual audiences.

It has been organised by the Global Systems Institute, Earth Commission, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, World Climate Research Programme and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

For more information – including how to register or become a sponsor – visit: https://global-tipping-points.org/

Standard registration will close on August 8. Late registration opens on August 9 and closes on August 21.

Date: 3 August 2022