Despite making significant climate progress in recent years, the world is not on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid the worst climate impacts.

Getting on a better emissions path will require fundamental changes that touch every segment of the world’s economies and societies. The inaugural Harvard Climate Symposium, hosted by the Climate Action Accelerator at the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, brought together over 500 leaders from across academia, business, government, and civil society to advance those changes. Read more about the Harvard Climate Symposium here.

The push to keep the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius is doomed unless world leaders take significant near-term action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry said during a conversation with Harvard President Lawrence Bacow at the Salata Institute’s inaugural Harvard Climate Symposium.

“We are working very hard with countries to meet the standards set by the IEA [International Energy Agency] and the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] that we have [to reach] to achieve a 43 to 45 percent reduction in emissions between now and 2030,” said Kerry, a former U.S. senator and former U.S. secretary of state.

“Only if we do that will we have a hope of keeping 1.5 degrees alive and we are way off track right now. In fact we’re heading toward 2.5, perhaps 3 degrees. So folks have a real reason to be deeply agitated and concerned about what we’re doing.” Read the full article on the Harvard Gazette website.

The wide-ranging health impacts of climate change, including food insecurity, migration, war, and the spread of infectious diseases—and practical solutions to address these problems—were the focus of a half-day symposium hosted by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Climate change is not a distant abstract concept or threat,” said Harvard Chan School Dean Michelle Williams in opening remarks. “Climate change is harming our health, right here and right now. Climate change is deepening inequities, right here and right now. And we all know that we have the tools to tackle climate change, right here and right now.” Read the full article on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health website.

Dean Bridget Long opened the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Building Our Resilient Future event by highlighting the potential impact school systems can have in the battle against climate change.

As Dean Long noted, public schools in the United States sit on 2 million acres of land and consist of more than 98,000 buildings. The around 480,000 buses used in education is the largest mass transit fleet in the country as well. Electrifying that fleet and transitioning to renewable energy sources for those buildings offers huge opportunities for green transformation.

“The choices made by education leaders and communities matter,” said Long. “And taking action to reduce the carbon footprint of the education sector and transition to clean energy would make a major difference to our environment.” Read the full article on the Harvard Graduate School of Education website.

With a strong push from the Biden administration, the United States has once again become a global leader in galvanizing meaningful national and international actions to combat the climate crisis, according to Nat Keohane, a leading climate expert who spoke at a May 10^th Harvard Kennedy School event during Harvard Climate Action Week.

Keohane, president of the independent, nonpartisan Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), cited major Biden administration accomplishments in driving congressional passage of key climate-related legislation, including the infrastructure and CHIPS semiconductor laws as well as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. That act provided large-scale investments in domestic energy production and manufacturing, as well as efforts to dramatically reduce U.S. carbon emissions.

“There is more to be done. But I do think there has been remarkable progress,” said Keohane. Read more about this Harvard Kennedy School event here.