Need an Expert? Earth Day 2022

Media
Need an expert
Hiker atop mountain looking off into multicolored distance
Members of the media may directly contact the following experts:

Climate change

Jackie Dawson (English only)

Canada Research Chair in Environment, Society and Policy. Associate professor, Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, Faculty of Arts.

[email protected]

" There is not a single economic sector that will go untouched by the impacts of climate change and these impacts are compounded by existing challenges facing our world related to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and geopotlicial tensions. We are not adapting quickly enough and the costs of inaction are almost always higher than the cost of action. There is hope and we are well positioned to adapt to the changes and risks that ongoing climate change but the way forward is through global cooperation, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a commitment to planetary protections, and a strong focus on equity." 

 

Ousmane Seidou (English and French)

Full Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. Director, Hydraulics Lab.

[email protected]

Dr. Seidou's research mainly focuses on developing statistical and deterministic hydrological models that are used for climate change impacts estimation and the development of adaptation strategies. He can discuss water resource management and hydroclimatic extremes.


Pollutants


Clémence Fauteux-Lefebvre(English and French)

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.

[email protected]


Dr. Fauteux-Lefebvre can discuss her current research, which focuses on sustainable catalytic processes to reduce pollution and valorize residues, for example the production of hydrogen without carbon dioxide emissions.

Planetary Health & Eco-Anxiety

Dr. Husein Moloo (English only)
Director of Planetary Health and Associate Professor of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine

[email protected]

Dr. Moloo has been taking a broader lens look at identifying solutions in decreasing the carbon footprint of the medical field and is urges turning eco-anxiety into action.


“Whether it's looking at our consumerism, advocating to MPs, trying to influence the organizations in which we work, changing our day-to-day practices, moving to a more plant-based diet, there's really a lot of different things that we can do. We're in this very unique situation where we understand the impact that we're having; we have the science showing that things need to change. So we all have an opportunity to be that change now.”
 

Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing

Fabio Moneta (English and French)

Associate Professor, Telfer School of Management

[email protected]

“Climate change and environmental concerns are becoming a priority among companies and investors as they adapt and transition to a low carbon economy, with market participants recognizing the importance of climate-related risks.

The rise of responsible/ESG investing has generated a global reallocation of capital toward more sustainable and greener companies. But there is debate on the impact of this reallocation on investment returns and whether it is making a positive change toward a lower-carbon world.”

Darlene Himick (English only)

Associate Professor, Telfer School of Management

[email protected]


“ ESGs have been around for the last couple of decades, when investors began to think about non-financial measures of performance of the companies they invested in. They began to become mainstream in financial thinking after some pension regulators in Canada and the United Kingdom made it mandatory to disclose whether a pension fund did, indeed, consider these factors, and also when various service providers saw the opportunity to produce ‘ratings’ of companies along the lines of the E, S and G practices.

“Whether this attention is actually solving the climate crisis is an open question, since there is a lot of activity on measuring, disclosing, and managing these ‘risks’, instead of reducing or removing them.”