HK2023 - Climate crisis and systemic risks: Lessons Learned from COVID-19

Within a short period of time, the COVID-19 (Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has fundamentally changed our lives worldwide with massive impacts on all fundamental systems: from health and well-being to economic, financial and political systems, food production and supply chains, to education, work and social life. It demonstrates the systemic nature of risk in a highly interconnected world challenging existing governance mechanisms. Thus societies need to learn and develop new approaches of dealing with these systemic risks.

Climate change related systemic risks have the potential to be an even greater threat than those of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both crises need a global approach, both threaten reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and postponement makes the situation worse. In either case the poor are disproportionally affected. As with COVID-19 communication, fake news and social media play an important role, and science, technology and governance are crucial for societal resilience in face of climate change systemic risks.

We want to debate, if the systemic risk awareness gained by COVID-19 is transferable to systemic climate risks – and vice versa? What are the lessons learned in both directions and what conclusions can be drawn?

This conference is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. The organizers acknowledge co-funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) via the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize to Markus Reichstein (Project 427307986).

REGISTRATION

To register please, visit the event page of the Volkswagen Foundation.

CALL FOR POSTERS
You now have the possibility to apply to present a poster (no travel grant involved!) in one of the the systemic risk related themes that will be covered during the conference: 1. Behavioural & Communication Sciences 2. Impacts of Climate Extremes 3. Critical Infrastructures 4. Data Sciences 5. DRR 6. Economics and Transport Chains 7. Food Systems 8. Governance and Law 9. Health & Psychology 10. Systemic Risks. We will select the poster submissions at the end of March 2023 and will inform the selected candidates via email with further information.

Please submit your poster abstract here: https://call.volkswagenstiftung.de/submission?id=161