News, events and workshops
Upcoming Events
CEPG / Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology (FAST) Seminar on Environmental Security, June 5th 2008, LSE [2-5pm, AGWR].
Co-convenors Dr Michael Mason (CEPG)/Louise Shaxson (FAST). Key lectures : "Global Environmental Security" by Dr Chad Briggs, LeHigh University / Institute for Environmental Security, and "Arctic Ocean Geopolitics and the Governance of International Spaces" by Paul Berkman, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University
4th International Workshop on Hydro-Hegemony
Organised by the London Water Research Group, 31st May - 1st June 2008 at LSE.
Recent News and Events
Streams of blood, or streams of peace (The Economist, 1st May 2008). Conflicts of interest over water can certainly poison inter-state relations, even when an imbalance of power is so great that the aggrieved party could never consider using force. Mark Zeitoun, a Canadian scholar at the London School of Economics, says rivers provide a perfect case of ‘asymmetrical cooperation’ between countries that are forced to work together on terms dictated by the strongest.
The London School of Economics and Political Science has received over £12 million from philanthropists Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham to establish the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
New ESRC-funded Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy
A research centre to analyse how society should respond to the challenge of climate change is being established by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of Leeds.
LSE To Lead €400,000 Research Into Regulating Nanotechnologies
Researchers at LSE, Chatham House, Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), an initiative of Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts, have been awarded a €400,000 European Commission grant to conduct an international research project on regulating nanotechnologies in the European Union and United States. AT LSE the project is lead by Dr Robert Falkner.
LSE hosts a workshop on corporate-community engagement in the oil, gas and mining sectors
The Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance (CEPG) in partnership with Business-Community Synergies, IFC-CommDev and Ashridge Business School hosted a workshop on Thursday 10 January to launch new training materials.
NATO-funded Advanced Research Workshop - Enhancing Security in the Middle East through Regional Collaboration on Renewable Energy, January 2008.
New IFC Training Material on Tools for Participatory Planning and Monitoring in the Extractive Sector Piloted at London School of Economics Workshop, January 2008.
The LSE partnered with Business-Community Synergies, IFC-CommDev and Ashridge Business School to host a workshop launching new training materials on Rights, Risk and Responsibility: Multidirectional Accountability in the Extractive Industries. The materials explore the potential benefits and risks of taking a more participatory approach to corporate-community engagement and introduce a range of tools that can be used to raise levels of participation, build trust and improve local development outcomes.
Advancing Sustainability: An Update from Alcoa Foundation's Global Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program
For more information please see the October 2007 newsletter.
Recent Publications
Falkner, Robert. Business Power and Conflict in International Environmental Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
How powerful is business in international environmental protection? Modern industrial sectors are often at the root of global environmental problems such as global warming and ozone layer depletion, but are they also the main source of inertia and obstruction that often hold back international efforts to save the environment? Does the limited success of the Kyoto Protocol process suggest that the fossil fuel industry and others can prevent effective climate action? On the other hand, what are we to make of cases such as the Montreal Protocol, which has helped to reverse the manmade trend towards ozone layer depletion?
This book is the result of over ten years of research on international environmental politics. It puts forward a distinctive theoretical approach and analytical framework for studying business as an international actor in the environmental field, and provides detailed case studies of three of the most important environmental challenges in recent years: the protection of the ozone layer; the politics of global climate change; and the regulation of agricultural biotechnology.
LSE Magazine: Canada--Assessing its Resources In the article, three academics from the Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance discuss a Canadian project on environmental and sustainable development indicators with the president of Canada's National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.
Past News and Events
The KCL/LSE London Water Research Group announces its winter 2007 events.
The KCL/LSE London Water Research Group announces its Autumn 2007 events.
Dr. O'Mahony hosts European Commssion workshop on representation across different EU policy areas
In December 2006, Joan O'Mahony, Alcoa Research Fellow, hosted a workshop at the European Commission's Research Directorate General. The workshop was funded by the EU 6th Framework Project CONNEX (http://www.connex-network.org/), and brought together members of the Commission's Directorates-General and academics in a discussion on practices and methods of representation, consultation, and evaluation across different EU policy areas. Click on http://personal.lse.ac.uk/omahony/brussels-december-programme.pdf for a further description of the event.
The Business of Sustainability: Lessons from the Energy Sector. 17th November 2006
A guest lecture by Robert Kyriakides, founder and CEO of UK renewable energy company, Genersys, and author of The Energy Age (2006)
Many corporations are embracing the concept of sustainability, but what does this mean in practice? This guest lecture, sponsored by The Alcoa Foundation Conservation and Sustainability Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science, features a leading sustainability practitioner from the energy sector. Robert Kyriakides is founder and CEO of UK renewable energy company Genersys, and draws on his extensive experience to address the business potential for renewable energy.
The Third LSE-Imperial College Environmental Science and Policy Lecture: "Walking on Water - The Long Way to Peace in the Middle East" 26th April 2006
Speakers: Pavel Seifter, Distinguished Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Global Governance, LSE & Fadia Daibes-Murad, International Water Expert. The Energy, Water and Environment Community (EWEc) is a project based on the belief that political tension in the Middle East can be eased by a new focus on the three interrelated issues of energy, water and environment. The idea would be to build transboundary regimes and structures of management, using renewable energies and developing new sources of water. A process of cooperation and integration around this cluster of shared commons would offer a shift from a traditionally political and security based perception of most of the regional problems to a more pragmatic approach.
The United States – Global Polluter? Kyoto and After. 1 March 2006.
Speakers: Professor Robyn Eckersley, Sir Crispin Tickell. Chair: Professor Yvonne Rydin.
If anything has set the United States apart from the rest of the world it has been its consistent refusal to agree to any international agreements dealing with the dangers posed by ‘global warming’. Why has it taken this stance? And what does this mean for the future of international relations and the earth?
Professor Robyn Eckersley is based at the University of Melbourne. Sir Crispin Tickell is former British ambassador to the United Nations.
LSE named part of Alcoa Foundation $8.6 million Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship programme
Alcoa today (Friday 14 October 2005) announced that the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) will be one of five academic partners in Alcoa Foundation's $8.6 million Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship program that will support the study of global conservation and sustainability issues. Alcoa Foundation's Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship program includes the funding of research by 30 academic fellows from around the world. For more information please see the press release and the Alcoa Foundation Programme website.
Joint LSE and Imperial College Environmental Policy Lecture Series
The first lecture in this series will be held at LSE on March 2nd, 2005. Simon Zadek, Chief Executive of AccountAbility and Senior Fellow at the Center for Business and Government (CBG) at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government , will be speaking on Corporate Social Responsibility and Accountability.
ESRC Seminar Series: Trans-sectoral Partnerships, Sustainability Research and the Oil and Gas Industry in Russia
Scott Polar Research Institute, Department of Geography, Cambridge University, Department of Geography, Leicester University, Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance, London School of Economics.
The oil and gas industry has immense significance for global security. With recent geopolitical developments, international attention is turning to Russia's oil and gas potential, which is taking on ever more strategic importance. Local governments and communities face new environmental and social challenges related to oil and gas development in areas of particular ecological sensitivity. Corporate engagement with NGOs, communities and local authorities can be hampered by a lack of mutual understanding and in-depth analysis.
This seminar series has been designed to provide a forum for dialogue between academia, industry, government and civil society, and to facilitate a critical examination of Western and Russian approaches to sustainable development and corporate governance in Russia.
*The sponsor of this seminar series is the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). There are four seminars in this series. Subsequent seminars will take place in 2005 at Leicester University, the London School of Economics and the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge.
Seminar 1: Sustainable Community Development, Social Impact Assessment and Anthropological Expert Review
Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University, 26th November 2004
The Hydrogen Economy: a question of Culture- 18th, October 2004
This lecture was delivered by Jeremy Rifkin, director of the Foundation on Economic Trends, Washington DC, and author of The Hydrogen Economy. This lecture will be featured in the forthcoming issue of the LSE Environment newsletter.
A Sustainable Vision for Europe - from Words to Deeds - 11th May 2004
This lecture was delivered by Margot Wallström, the EU Environment Commissioner and former Swedish minister for consumer affairs, women and youth 1988-91, for culture 1994-96 and for social affairs 1996-98. This lecture was featured in the second issue of the LSE Environment newsletter.
Canada's New Deal for Cities - 6th May 2004
This talk was given by the Honourable Michael Harcourt, Chair of the Canadian Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on Cities, Chair of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities, and former Premier of British Columbia. This lecture was featured in the second issue of the LSE Environment newsletter. ^
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