Doris Leuthard: "Going further than the national interests in climate change negotiations"
Doris Leuthard: "Going further than the national interests in climate change negotiations"
Public debate at MIT
Less than two months after Swiss lawmakers decided to gradually phase out nuclear power by 2034, Energy & Environment Minister Doris Leuthard spent two days in the Boston area to discuss the current activities in the field of renewable energies, the upcoming clean technology breakthroughs and climate change-related issues with prominent researchers and practitioners.
In her closing speech at MIT, Federal Councillor Leuthard reminded the audience about the necessity of adopting a new approach to climate change by going further than the national interests in international negotiations. Among her ideas and suggestions, Federal Councillor Leuthard encourages to take a critical look at the principle of unanimity in the framework of climate change talks at the United Nations, arguing that “it is very difficult to reach unanimity in a world characterized by individualism and egoism”.
You can read her entire speech HERE.
Visit of Harvard and MIT’s energy programs
Prior to her speech at MIT, Federal Councillor Leuthard had met several panels of experts in energy and climate to get an overview of the priorities of their research agenda and to find synergies with research programs and policies implemented in Switzerland such as the Minergie building standards.
Accompanied by Patrick Aebischer, President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Pascal Previdoli, deputy director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, Federal Councillor Leuthard first took part in a roundtable discussion moderated by Professor Dan Schrag, director of the Center for the Environment at Harvard University where they discussed Switzerland and USA’s respective transition toward a lower CO2 emission pattern. Thought leaders from the Wyss Institute, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as well as the Kennedy School of Government joined the discussion.
The Swiss delegation was received on MIT campus by MIT President Susan Hockfied who outlined the systemic view of current technology and policy efforts and offered her vision about the Future of Energy. Minister Leuthard took advantage of her visit to MIT to explore recent energy programs of the Institute - launched under the umbrella of the MIT Energy initiative in 2005 – around a wide range of topics such as Plasma Science, Electrochemical Energy or urban mobility at MIT Media Lab.
The Swiss delegation also had the opportunity to debate Switzerland’s recent initiatives in cleantech with a group of graduate students from the MIT Energy Club who unanimously stressed the importance to develop an entrepreneurial mindset among engineers to move forward with energy-related topics.
Read more about her visit in the media.
