The United Nations annual climate summit, COP28, concluded in Dubai with an historic deal to move away from fossil fuels, possibly signaling the end of the oil age. This is the first time the climate summit has agreed to transition away from fossil fuels, but the language of the agreement falls short of requiring the world to phase-out oil, coal and gas.
If you would like more context on this matter, please consider Robert Orttung, a research professor of international affairs at the George Washington University and the director of research at Sustainability GW. Orttung is leading two National Science Foundation grants focused on promoting urban sustainability in the Arctic and is serving as the editor of the forthcoming Sustaining Russia’s Arctic Cities.
Orttung attended COP28 as part of a delegation with GW students, where they presented their research efforts around climate change. Orttung says one of his big takeaways from the summit focuses on the roles startup businesses can play in addressing climate change.
“Since achieving consensus among all the world's governments is necessarily slow, part of our focus at COP28 was getting a better sense of the contributions that startup businesses can make to climate change solutions,” Orttung says. “Their innovations - whether locally produced food or methane captured from landfills - can speed change and generate profit. Understanding how effective government policy can facilitate these advances is crucial to making the changes needed to avert disaster.”
If you would like to speak with Prof. Orttung, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at cdouglass
gwu [dot] edu (cdouglass[at]gwu[dot]edu).
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