Events

We held our first virtual event on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. Replay available below.

Beyond Denial and Doomism: What Science Actually Tells Us About The Impacts of Global Warming

Scientific consensus is coalescing around the view that we can still avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change, but in order to do so we must immediately begin the process of rapidly de-carbonizing our economy in a manner that will profoundly transform our lives and have far-reaching implications for the financial industry. In our first event, we explored the science behind this view with a panel of distinguished experts.

Dr. Jennifer Francis

Dr. Adam Sobel

Dr. Gernot Wagner

Jennifer Francis is a Senior Scientist and Acting Deputy Director of The Woodwell Climate Research Center. Her research focuses on climate change in the Arctic and its potential impacts on global weather. Prior to joining Woodwell, Dr. Francis was a research professor at Rutgers University's School of Environmental and Biological Sciences from 1994 - 2018. Dr. Francis is frequently quoted in major media outlets and has authored three articles in Scientific American. She testified to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Security in 2020, to the House of Representatives Science Committee in 2019, and to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works in 2013. Francis received a B.S. in meteorology from San Jose State University and a PhD in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington. Her published works have been cited over 10,000 times.


Adam Sobel is a Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, where he directs the Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate. His research focuses on extreme weather events with a particular interest in the tropics. He was featured in the 2012 NOVA documentary "Inside the Megastorm" about Hurricane Sandy, and later published the book Storm Surge: Hurricane Sandy, Our Changing Climate, and Extreme Weather of the Past and Future (2014). Overall his publications have been cited over 10,000 times. Sobel received a BA in physics and music from Wesleyan in 1989 and a PhD in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and has received the Meisinger Award and Louis J. Battan Author’s Award from the American Meteorological Society, as well as the Ascent Award from the Atmospheric Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union.


Gernot Wagner is a climate economist. His research, writing, and teaching focus on climate risks and climate policy. He teaches climate economics and policy at NYU, where he is a clinical associate professor at the Department of Environmental Studies and associated clinical professor at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Gernot writes the Risky Climate column for Bloomberg Green and has authored four books on climate policy. Prior to joining NYU, Gernot was the founding executive director of Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program, a research associate at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a lecturer on Environmental Science and Public Policy. Before Harvard, Gernot served as lead senior economist at the Environmental Defense Fund and as member of its Leadership Council. He has taught at Columbia, Harvard, and NYU, and has been a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a joint bachelor’s magna cum laude with highest honors in environmental science, public policy, and economics, and a master’s and Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard, as well as a master’s in economics from Stanford.

Below is a video replay of the event