The OCS’ 6th week event highlighted a topical issue brought up during the Paris Agreement- should various economic actors such as member states and companies be responsible for their past emissions, and therefore be forced to compensate for such emissions? Emissions trading is a government-mandated market approach that would provide incentives for achieving such reductions in emissions, through the purchase or allocation of a finite number of permits and has its largest implementation within the EU covering 45% of emissions and 12k installations. Offsets are a similar concept, whereby companies earn emission rights not through purchasing but rather the implementation of a clean energy scheme elsewhere when they exceed their current permitted emissions. These economic policies were analysed in detail by our two expert speakers, Ben Caldecott and Pedro Moura Costa.

How do we best stand up for what we believe in, and how do we make a change? Last week’s event saw three experts discuss the ways in which individuals and communities can make a real difference by embracing the power of community.

On Wednesday the 7th of February Oxford Climate Society had the pleasure of hosting Professor Dieter Helm, Chairman of the Natural Capital Committee and Professor of Energy Policy at Oxford University, for a talk on natural capital and climate change.

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​Dr Marco Springmann is the James Martin Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food. His current research aims to assess the impacts of climate change, economic development and changing dietary habits on the global food system, and to analyse the effects of current and future policy approaches. We invited Dr Springmann to speak as part of this term’s series to hear his views on the future of food.  
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There are two candidates running for VP (Charities and Communities) at Oxford SU this year, votes are open and there are only a few days to vote. As one of their main responsibilities will be to run the environmental aspects of the SU we at OCS thought it would be best to interview the two candidates about their policies!

Climate justice and extreme weather attribution are some of the most exciting, yet highly complex, fields within law; it was the focus of last week’s event at OCS, with the two speakers offering their expert views on both the scientific and legal aspects of the topics' history and future. It boils down to the question of whether those responsible for global warming (through the emission of GHGs) should be accountable to those people suffering from its consequences, generally analysed on a national scale.