Sustainability Public Lecture Series

Explore the complexities of sustainability

Launched in 2024, the Department of Geography and Environment’s ‘Sustainability’ public lecture series explores the complexities of sustainability through a social-science lens.

Drawing on our expertise in environmental economics, biodiversity, climate change, development, environmental justice, political ecology, and sustainable finance, each lecture will deepen your understanding of sustainability and its critical role in shaping our world.

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  Can natural capital be replaced? How the weak versus strong sustainability divide will shape our common future

  Tuesday 10 February 2026

  Speaker: Prof Eric Neumayer, LSE
  Chair: Prof Hyun Bang Shin, LSE

  This event celebrates the open access publication of the 5th edition of Weak versus Strong Sustainability. First published in 1999, the book has remained a reference point in the debate on sustainable development. Eric Neumayer will discuss how the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital lies at the heart of the controversy.

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  Cooling a Hotter World: Ecology and Equity in the Indian Anthropocene

  Tuesday 12 May 2026

  Speaker: Prof Amita Baviskar, Ashoka University, India
  Chair: Prof Hyun Bang Shin, LSE

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  Is it possible to achieve fair and inclusive prosperity without a green agenda?

  Monday 17 February 2025

  Speaker: Teresa Ribera, European Commission Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition
  Chair: Prof Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, LSE

  Join us for this special event at which European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera will take to the stage at LSE. The event offers a unique opportunity to engage with one of Europe's leading policymakers in a conversation that will shape the future of economic and environmental policy.

  This event is co-hosted with the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

  A podcast of this event is available to download from Is it possible to achieve fair and inclusive prosperity without a green agenda?

  A video of this event is available to watch at Is it possible to achieve fair and inclusive prosperity without a green agenda?

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  Sustainability and Prosperity in the Age of Ecological Scarcity

  Monday 3 February 2025

  Speaker: Prof Edward B. Barbier
  Chair: Prof Larry Kramer, LSE

  We have entered a new era of increasing ecological scarcity and rising global environmental risks - global warming, land use change and biodiversity loss, freshwater scarcity, and deteriorating oceans and coasts.

  Drawing on his book, Scarcity and Frontiers, Edward Barbier argues that how economies choose to exploit natural resources is critical to both their sustainability and prosperity. In past eras, a critical driving force behind global economic development has been the response of society to the scarcity of key natural resources. By raising the cost of exploitation and use, scarcity creates incentives to innovate and substitute. However, economies also avoid scarcity by obtaining and developing new ‘frontiers’ of vital resources. How these two responses play out often determines which economies emerge as leaders.

  A podcast of this event is available to download from Sustainability and prosperity in the age of ecological scarcity.

  A video of this event is available to watch at Sustainability and prosperity in the age of ecological scarcity.

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  White Nationalism and GOP Climate Obstruction

  Thursday 10 October 2024

  Speaker: Prof Laura Pulido
  Chair: Prof Hyun Bang Shin

  In this talk, Laura Pulido considers the relationship between U.S. white nationalism and the Republican Party’s (GOP) record of climate obstruction.

  Though the fossil fuel industry’s campaign of disinformation has been well-documented, less understood are the politicians who do its bidding. While many assume the state is simply implementing the desires of the fossil fuel industry, what is called, regulatory capture, this assumes a nonracial state.

  Laura argues that regulatory capture does not fully explain the current GOP’s climate obstruction. Instead, she suggests that white nationalism has contributed to this process.

  White nationalism generates such profound energy that GOP politicians actively cultivate it to support multiple agendas. Consequently, it has transformed the political landscape. It contributes to climate obstruction in various ways, including through elections, serving as a distraction, and producing new discourses and strategies that are deployed against climate action.

  By focusing on three historical moments: the Tea Party movement (2009-15), the Trump Presidency (2015-19), and the War on Wokeness (2021-present), Laura shows how white nationalism supports climate obstruction.

  A podcast of this event is available to download here.