U2 Zero Carbon Launch Event Envisioned a Carbon Neutral Future
The University of Turku has decided to engage in the Climate Leadership Coalition (CLC) collaboration and has created a new initiative, U2 Zero Carbon. It is related to the thematic collaboration in biofuture defined in the University’s Strategy. A launch event for the initiative was organised on Friday, 4 May, and it brought together researchers from different faculties of the University.
– My generation has wasted our planet's resources excessively. It is now your generation's duty to save the world, stated Rector Väänänen at the U2 Zero Carbon launch event.
For the University of Turku, joining the CLC is considered a part of the thematic collaboration in biofuture which is one of the University’s strategic research themes. The initiative expands the research theme and involves societal interaction and business collaboration in a new way.
The U2 Zero Carbon launch event was hosted by Head of Development Riitta Mustonen and attended by a large number of researchers. The event began with a speech by Rector Kalervo Väänänen who hoped that researchers at the University of Turku would discover new ways to produce food and energy that would not burden nature excessively.
– We must explore and create new information in order to change the world. As we cannot achieve this in our own backyards, we must focus on producing globally useful knowledge, emphasised Väänänen.
Vice Rector Kalle-Antti Suominen, who is responsible for research, spoke at the event about the significance of open science in building a carbon neutral future. Suominen believes that as a publicly funded organisation, the University has a moral obligation to produce open research which also assures that research results can be verified and validated.
In addition, open and accessible research is a prerequisite for using the research produced by universities extensively in the business world as well.
– Open science is strongly connected to the concept of open innovation by Henry Chesbrough which is related to the transparency and utilisation of research and development activities in the future. An excellent infrastructure for open science has been created at the University of Turku, and in future, it should be used even more in business collaboration as well, says Suominen.
Carbon Neutral Future Requires Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Executive Director of the CLC Jouni Keronen spoke at the U2 Zero Carbon launch event about the activities of the Coalition and their goal to work as a facilitator between science and the business world. Keronen thinks that this important goal needs to be recognised in the business world as well, and he warned the audience about the alarming threats that climate change poses in the near future:
– According to the current reports, Earth’s temperature will rise three to four degrees Celsius by 2050. 90 percent of the world's population lives in areas where a climate change of this scale would have disastrous effects on food production, said Keronen.
– Something we tend to forget when talking about preventing climate change, is activating the citizens. With individual efforts, we would be able to reduce the carbon footprint in the entire Finland as much as 68 percent.
U2 Zero Carbon is focused on the thematic collaboration in biofuture which is based on strong research on bioenergy and photosynthesis, food production and safety, functional foods, and futures research. The two central components are food and energy which are also in focus in the CLC network.
Academician of Science Eva-Mari Aro spoke at the event about how the effect of food production on the environment could be reduced.
– We shouldn’t focus on food itself, but we should talk about food systems instead. Food production affects everything: cities, industry, and ecosystems. If we want to prevent climate change, we should make a systemic change in food production, noted Aro.
According to Director of Development Riitta Mustonen, in the multidisciplinary initiative, expertise is also needed in the research of sustainable consumption and consumer habits which takes into account the economic, cultural, sociological and behavioural aspects as well.
The event for University staff, U2 Zero Carbon Launch Event Research & Networking, was organised on Friday, 4 May in the Business Service Centre Potkuri at the ICT City. A more extensive meeting for external interest groups, U2 Zero Carbon Launch Event Co-creation & Innovation, will be organised on Wednesday, 16 May. Registration for the event is open until 13 May and can be done here.
More Information:
Webpage of the University’s U2 Zero Carbon initiative: https://blogit.utu.fi/zerocarbon/
The presentations of the first event are available at UTU Seafile.
Text: Heikki Kettunen
Translation: Heli Lassila