Solutions for a Sustainable Future Conference

Some of the world’s leading experts came together for the Solutions for a Sustainable Future conference held at the University of Southern California on October 17.

The event was co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability Solutions, Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Viterbi School of Engineering. Promotional sponsors included Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability.

Photos: Thomas Queally

Welcoming remarks were delivered by Dana Goldman, Dean, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy; C. Erwin & Ione L. Piper Chair; Leonard D. Schaeffer Director’s Chair, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics; Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Pharmacy, and Economics. Watch here

Hoesung Lee, Former Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, delivered a keynote address. Watch here

Robin Kundis Craig, Robert C. Packard Trustee Chair in Law, USC Gould School of Law, moderated the Food and Water Nexus panel that discussed how we can shift away from water-intensive agricultural products like almonds and beef and some of the more promising approaches to managing water. Panelists included Pat Brown, Founder of Impossible Foods, Michael Obersteiner, Director of the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Fran Pavley, Environmental Policy Director, USC Schwarzenegger Institute, former CA State Senator, Claudia Faunt, Program Chief, Groundwater Availability and Use Assessments, United States Geological Survey. Watch here

The Energy and Transportation Nexus panel, moderated by CSS Executive Director Detlof von Winterfeldt, discussed options to reduce emissions and whether solar and wind will dominate the fuels to power energy and transportation, or whether nuclear, hydrogen and other energy sources will play a growing role. Panelists included Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Former Deputy Director General/CEO, IIASA, Marlon Boarnet, Director of METRANS Transportation Consortium, Jacquelyn Birdsall, Senior Engineering Manager of the Fuel Cell Integration Group at Toyota Motor North America Research and Development. Watch here

CSS Director of Research Mahta Moghaddam interviewed Sue Biniaz, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, U.S. State Department. Biniaz was one of the architects of the landmark Paris Agreement. Watch here

The Human Condition panel moderated by Monica Dean, Climate & Sustainability Practice Director, USC Dornsife Public Exchange, discussed topics including how advocates of climate action can do a better job of communicating. Panelists included Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science Director, USC Behavioral Science and Well Being Policy Initiative; Joe Arvai, Dana and David Dornsife Chair, Wrigley Institute; Director and Professor of Psychology and Biological Sciences, Gale Sinatra, Stephen H. Crocker Chair and Professor of Education and Psychology and Associate Dean for Research, USC Rossier School of Education. Watch here

Following a keynote address by Karen M. St. Germain, PhD, Earth Science Division Director, NASA, (watch here), Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, Zohrab A. Kaprielian Dean’s Chair in Engineering and Chester Dolley Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, delivered closing remarks. Watch here