IPCC Vice-Chair to Deliver Climate Lecture in Luxembourg on Energy Transition

The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) has announced that Professor Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will deliver a public lecture entitled “Can We Energy Transition the World into Carbon Neutrality?” on Tuesday 20 May 2025 at 18:00 at the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg-Ville.

The lecture will take place as part of the 175th anniversary of the Section des Sciences Naturelles, Physiques et Mathématiques of the Institut Grand-Ducal, which is marking the occasion with a series of academic events.

The upcoming lecture will reflect on the nearly ten years since the signing of the Paris Agreement, ratified by more than 190 countries. It will address two seemingly contradictory developments frequently highlighted in both the media and scientific literature: while the world remains far from meeting the Paris Agreement’s targets, there has been what the IPCC described as “technological progress related to the energy transition [that has] exceeded most projections”.

The organisers noted that “solar energy is the cheapest in the vast majority of the world,” adding that in the previous year, “92.5% of all power-related investments were in renewable energy.” They also pointed out that wind and solar power together generated more electricity than fossil fuels in the EU last year for the first time in history.

Despite this progress, the speaker will explore why global emissions have not significantly declined. The key issue, as outlined in the abstract, is that “our hunger for energy and materials keeps increasing more than we are able to scale up green energy and materials.” As a result, reaching climate and environmental targets remains “very challenging or potentially even impossible.”

The lecture will be followed by a networking reception.

Diana Ürge-Vorsatz is a Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy at the Central European University and has served as Vice-Chair of the IPCC since July 2023. She previously held the role of Vice-Chair of IPCC Working Group III (Mitigation) during the Sixth Assessment cycle and acted as a Coordinating Lead Author for the Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports. Professor Ürge-Vorsatz holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (US) and has worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has led and contributed to major international projects for organisations such as the European Commission, UNEP, the World Bank and the OECD.

Those wishing to attend the event should register via the following link: https://ipcc.eventsquare.store/oxjqgihdap3j