Exeter, PIK, Wageningen and Princeton win almost €10 million ERC grant to study societal tipping points
The Project Groundswell team will study how positive societal tipping points could return Earth to a safe operating space as warming exceeds 1.5°C.
A new international research project, Project Groundswell, aims to identify "societal tipping points" that could help preserve a safe climate for humanity, EurekAlert reports. eurekalert.org
EurekAlerteurekalert.orgOpen source ↗ The project has received a European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant of almost 10 million euros. It is jointly led by researchers from the University of Exeter, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Wageningen University & Research and Princeton University.
Global warming is set to exceed 1.5°C, and the authors say the extent and duration of "overshoot" above this level must be minimised to avoid existential risks. In their view, this can only be achieved through a rapid transformation of how societies think, organise, produce, consume and move.
Tipping points and the safe operating space
A tipping point is a threshold where a small change can trigger a significant, often irreversible, transformation. Researchers have identified many Earth system tipping points that will cause catastrophic harm unless humanity takes urgent action. According to the team, "positive tipping points" in societies and economies could offer a route to a safe, just and sustainable future.
The project will diagnose how such societal tipping can occur and whether it could bring Earth back within a "safe operating space". eurekalert.org
EurekAlerteurekalert.orgOpen source ↗ Professor Tim Lenton of Exeter said the grant will allow the team to answer to what extent positive social tipping points can get us safely back within planetary boundaries.
Methods and research plan
The team will analyse how past societal transformations emerged and unfolded. It will also probe current trends in the energy and food sectors to detect approaching social and technological transformations.
Another line of work covers individual and collective motivation and decision making, and how they shape, and are shaped by, social and technological innovation and environmental change. Using this evidence-based approach, the researchers will model how and when societal transformations could bring humanity back within the safe operating space.
Dr Femke Nijsse of Exeter Climate Policy said the funding makes it possible to explore, with real-world evidence, how positive tipping points can reinforce each other. eurekalert.org
EurekAlerteurekalert.orgOpen source ↗ Professor Johan Rockström, PIK director, noted that research so far has focused mainly on understanding and avoiding negative tipping points. Professor Elke Weber of Princeton said the project will combine expertise across levels of analysis, from individual action to system-level responses.
