Climate Update 2020 - Melbourne

Smoke haze over Melbourne city.

Click here to watch a 1 minute video on how climate change has contributed to the unprecedented fire season and what can be done.

The recording of this event can be viewed on our YouTube account here.

To download each speaker's presentations, click on the links below under Program

Australia’s climate is already becoming hotter, more extreme and uncertain, and it’s projected to become increasingly inhospitable and dangerous unless we take transformative, positive action. The 2019/20 bushfires and other climatic extremes have also exposed existing vulnerabilities and inequalities that demand attention regardless of climate change.

Co-hosted by ANU and RMIT University, Climate Update Melbourne presented an overview of how our climate is changing, how it is impacting us, and how we need to respond.

Part 1 presented a snapshot of the latest climate research, including newly released data on how our climate has changed in 2019, and outlined some key climate change impacts, including worsened air pollution.

Part 2 focused on possible responses in terms of wellbeing, justice and decarbonisation. Diverse researchers and practitioners discussed options for responding across the health, legal, social services, energy and land sectors among others.

If you're interested in climate change, watching the recordings of this event is a great opportunity to get an understanding of the latest developments, challenges and societal responses.

Part 1 – State of the Climate (5.30 – 6.30pm)

Introduction: Chair - Assoc Prof Lauren Rickards, Climate Change Transformations Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT

Global Climate Overview 2019 - Prof Mark Howden, Director, ANU Climate Change Institute (1.77MB PDF)

Global health and climate change - Assoc Prof Kathryn Bowen, Honorary Research Fellow, ANU (0.65MB PDF)

Climate impacts: The far-reaching effects of air pollution – Prof Sotiris Vardouloukis, Research School of Population Health, ANU (4.3MB PDF)

Audience Q&A

Part 2 – Responding to climate change (6.30 – 7.30pm)

Introduction: Chair – Prof Mark Howden

Fighting fossil fuel combustion: air pollution and environmental injustice – Bronya Lipski, Environmental Justice Australia (1.13MB PDF)

Decarbonising the air, decarbonising society, recarbonising land: mutual opportunities and challenges – Assoc Prof Lauren Rickards, Climate Change Transformations Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT

Audience Q&A.

Hosted by the Climate Change Transformations Research Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT & Australian National University Climate Change Institute.

Image: Bushfire smoke over Melbourne. Image credit: Dave & Lorelle, Flickr