The shift to a low/neutral carbon economy, essential to tackle climate change, is now a pressing international effort. The Earth sciences play a pivotal role in the sourcing of essential raw materials, the development of circular economies, in subsurface storage and capture solutions, and in geothermal energy production, and geoscientists are therefore uniquely placed to support policy makers, stakeholders and industry in the energy transition.
The Geological Society’s Energy Transition theme champions this goal, to help drive future research, and support communication between academia, business, government, and public communities, and aim to inspire a new generation of geoscientists.
This theme is supported by theme leader Nick Gardiner and outreach and engagement leader Lydia Rycroft.
Additional policy work is undertaken by the Decarbonisation Working Group, which is chaired by Mike Stephenson. This group works on key issues at the interface of geoscience and public policy, developing resources and initiatives to highlight and communicate key enabling decarbonisation technologies to policymakers and the wider public.
Announcements
Special issue of ES3: Earth Sciences and the Race to Net Zero
The Geological Society’s new Open Access journal, Earth Science, Systems and Society (ES3) will be publishing a special issue on the theme of Earth Sciences and the Race to Net Zero. Submissions are welcomed on all aspects of this topic.
The first Energy Transition Discussion Meeting will be held 26-27th April 2022 at Burlington House and online
The meeting's topic is "What does geoscience need to do now for a sustainable transition to net zero". This 2-day conference will bring together geoscientists, the energy transition communities, and policymakers, with an aim of assessing the on-going directions and priority roles for the geosciences in the Energy Transition.
Past events
13 April 2021: Energy Transition Webinar: How can the geosciences contribute to the Energy Transition?
This first event was an overview of the geoscience contribution to the energy transition. It covered science progress and achievements in critical areas, the context of geosciences with respect to society awareness, and government policy. You can view the webinar on our YouTube channel. The speaker list is available here.