PRESS INFORMATION: for immediate release

22 September 2010

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED SCIENTIST LORD KREBS CHALLENGES OUR CONSUMERISM AT A LECTURE ON CLIMATE CHANGE At the third in a series of high profile lectures from The Royal Society of Edinburgh last night, internationally renowned scientist Lord Krebs challenged a packed audience in Edinburgh to face up to the realities of climate change, to stop talking and start doing something about it. He asked: when would we switch from talking to doing? Would we go so far as to elect a government which would be coercive on these matters? Are we prepared to stop trying to get rich each year and consume less to achieve the climate change targets set by the Climate Change Act of 2008. Lord Krebs is Principal of Jesus College at the University of Oxford and sits on the UK Climate Change Committee, chairing its Adaptation Sub-Committee. He began by presenting the scientific evidence that climate change is a reality and largely caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. He quoted Lord Stern who has said that for a relatively low cost we could make the changes needed. The most recent report from the Climate Change Committee suggests we need to decarbonise electricity, improve home energy efficiency and change road transport. Current trends suggest we have reduced CO2 levels by 0.5% but this needs to happen at a greater rate, between 2-3%. Scotland has set itself even higher targets than the rest of the UK , aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020. Lord Krebs suggested achieving these targets will require radical changes to our lifestyles . He cited previous successful campaigns to change behaviour in the UK, such as reducing incidents from drink driving, improving health by reducing smoking, and cutting injuries by the wearing of seat belts when driving. And he went on to explain how we had achieved amazing results from a combination of public information campaigns, legislation and taxation. In 1950, 75% of adults in the UK were smokers. In 2010, the figure is 23%, a drastic reduction. The introduction of the breathalyzer had resulted in a 40% drop in alcohol related road traffic accidents within one year, and 40 years later these figures are still reducing. Lord Krebs noted that ethical consumerism is on the rise, but he claimed there are still huge knowledge gaps about how simply we can all contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions and assist in the battle against climate change. Turning down the temperature in washing machine cycles by 10 degrees, better insulating our homes, and using more efficient light bulbs simple things that need more public information. He quoted the economist Richard Leyard, that happiness and health do not increase with increasing wealth, and that increased consumption isnt proved to make us happier either. Bhutan is the only country to measure gross national happiness rather than GDP.

He finished by challenging us all to switch from talking, to doing something about climate change to achieve the targets that will only help future generations and not ourselves. www.royalsoced.org.uk END This information and further details from: Susan Bishop, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 0131 240 2789 077385 70315 sbishop@royalsoced.org.uk Notes for editors Lord Krebs Lord John Krebs, principal of Jesus College, Oxford, completed an undergraduate degree in Zoology (1966) and a DPhil (1970) at Pembroke College Oxford. He was a Fellow of Wolfson College until 1981, when I became EP Abraham Fellow of Pembroke College. Between 1988 and 2005 he was a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford. From 1994 to 1999 Lord Krebs was Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council and between 2000 and 2005, Chairman of the UK Food Standards Agency. In 2007 Lord Krebs chaired a working party of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics to produce a report on the Ethics of Public Health. He sits in the House of Lords as an independent cross-bencher and is Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee. He is also a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation, Chairman of the UK Science and Technology Honours Committee and Chairman of the Royal Society' Science Policy Advisory Group. Lord Krebs sit on the UK Climate s Change Committee and chair its Adaptation Sub-Committee. The Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), Scotlands national academy, was founded in 1783 and the Fellowship today includes some of the best intellectual talent in academia, the professions and business. The RSE facilitates public debate, research programmes, educational projects and policy formulation. Its strength is its diversity and impartiality. The Societys unique multi-disciplinary approach enables it to draw from and link with a broad spectrum of expertise to enhance the understanding of globally-important issues. In fulfilling its Royal Charter for the advancement of learning and useful knowledge, the RSE seeks to contribute to the social, cultural and economic wellbeing of Scotland. RSE Inquiry Facing up to Climate Change The remit of the RSEs Inquiry, launched in October 2009, is to engage with individuals, industries and public authorities to help develop and respond to proposed Government climate change policies. It aims to identify barriers to change and to recommend measures for current and future policies in these areas, as well as the timescales on which action might need to be developed.

The RSE Inquiry will seek to raise awareness of the challenges ahead, both from global warming and from a move to a low carbon economy and to identify how individuals, communities and industries can turn these challenges into a positive opportunity. The inquiry committee, led by internationally renowned climate scientist Professor David Sugden, has taken oral and written evidence from over 100 private, public and third sector organisations and individuals, and has held a number of public evidencegathering sessions across Scotland, including in Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dumfries, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The inquiry committee will report in early 2011.