“Okay, so what is the solution to climate change? Um, well, I’ve got three possible ideas that I’m going to start with. First of all, there’s the technological solution.”
These were the opening words of Professor Michael Pollitt, delivered at The Big Zero Show in Coventry.
Mr Pollitt, a distinguished economist from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, captured the audience’s attention by invoking the fictional world of Star Trek to propose innovative solutions to the climate crisis.
Michael Pollitt, renowned for his extensive research in business economics and energy policy, referenced the ‘replicator’ from Star Trek—a device that materialises objects instantly and without cost—to illustrate his vision for a technological breakthrough in energy production.
Speaking to a diverse audience of policymakers, academics and industry leaders, he argued that such revolutionary technologies could pave the way for achieving global net zero emissions.
Michael Pollitt said: “We can think about what it will take. to get to net zero. But the question is, how is it going to happen?
“It will take a miracle to get from where we are today to net zero. I don’t think anybody seriously thinks we’re going to get there at the moment, not at the global level. I believe in miracles.
“And the question is, can miracles happen in public policy? And the answer is yes. They’re rare, but they do happen. Think about, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King. He led a movement against racial segregation in the US in the 1960s.
“With great courage and religious conviction, he changed and challenged the status quo in the United States with his, I Have a Dream speech in 1963.”
Click the video to watch the Big Zero Lecture in full.
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