The Urban Futures Hub is excited to announce the launch of its Urban Futures Series with a compelling inaugural event. Join us to hear from distinguished speakers Dirk Messner and Keywan Riahi on digitalization and green technologies in urban areas. The session will be moderated by Leila Niamir.
The Urban Futures Hub is excited to announce the launch of its Urban Futures Series with a compelling inaugural event. The first instalment will showcase one of our projects: the Special Policy Study Report on "Promoting Digitalization and Green Technologies for Sustainable Development". Coordinated by the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), this study explores innovative strategies to drive sustainable development through digitalization and green technologies.
Join us as we delve into the insights of this Special Policy Study Report. We are honored to host two distinguished speakers who will provide an in-depth exploration of the study's rationale, its developmental journey, and discuss future directions and implications in the realm of sustainable urban development. Don't miss out on this opportunity to gain valuable insights and discuss our sustainable future.
Registration
For online participation, please register via Zoom.
Speakers
© Susanne Kambor | Umweltbundesamt
Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner,
President of the German Umweltbundesamt (UBA)
Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner is President of the German Environment Agency since 2020. He previously served as Director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security of United Nations University (UNU-EHS) in Bonn, Germany, and Vice Rector of the United Nations University (UNU). Prior to becoming Director of UNU-EHS in October 2018, Prof. Messner had been Director of the German Development Institute from 2003-2018. Prof. Messner is an internationally recognised expert on globalisation / global governance, transformation pathways to sustainability, decarbonization of the global economy, sustainability and digital change, and international cooperation and societal change.
Prof. Messner has also been a member of a number of high-ranking policy advisory councils, including co-chairing the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Germany and is both a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) and the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES).
© IIASA
Dr. Keywan Riahi ,
Program Director, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Dr. Keywan Riahi is the Director of the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He holds faculty and teaching positions at the Graz University of Technology, Austria, the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the University of Victoria, Canada. He has extensive experience in the fields of climate change, sustainable energy systems and policy analyses. He has been working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a Lead Author since the late 1990s and is providing policy advice at the international as well as national level. In 2021 and 2024, Dr. Riahi was appointed to the 10-Member Group by the United Nations Secretary-General Guterres to advise on Science, Technology and Innovation for the implementation of the Agenda 2030. He was ranked in 2021 also first by Reuters as the most influential climate scientist worldwide. He is Member of the Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change of the European Union as well as member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Vienna, Austria. He was recognized by Clarivate in 2021 as one of 23 researchers worldwide in the list of Highly Cited Researchers in three categories: Geosciences; Social Sciences; and Environment and Ecology.
Moderator
© IIASA
Dr. Leila Niamir,
Lead of IIASA Urban Futures Hub
Dr. Leila Niamir is a research scholar and the lead of the Urban Futures Hub at the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. She is a computational economist working on energy demand and climate change. Her research focuses on cities and the built environment, behavioral and lifestyle changes, human wellbeing, and agent-based modeling. Leila has served as an author for several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports.
Upcoming Events
The Kaisergang, Schloss Laxenburg
IIASA Summer Vernissage - Fusion of Forms
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) & Online
German IIASA Networking Event: "Systems analysis for a sustainable and peaceful future"
Laxenburg, Austria