Author of Ministry for the Future to reflect on his 'climate plan for a world in flames', as futurist Alex Steffen also joins expanded Net Zero Festival agenda
Two of America's foremost thinkers on the future of the climate crisis are to appear at this year's Net Zero Festival, with award-winning science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson and futurist Alex Steffen joining the line-up of over 100 top speakers from around the world.
Robinson - who recently followed his internationally bestselling Mars Trilogy with The Ministry for the Future, an epic exploration of human society's response to a near future ravaged by climate change - will speak at 12:25 on the second day of the Festival, Thursday 30th September.
In his session, Robinson will reflect on his recent viral essay for the FT, titled A Climate Plan for a World in Flames, and explore how the global economy might yet engineer a net zero transition that averts a full blown climate catastrophe.
Robinson will follow Steffen's closing keynote on the afternoon of Wednesday 29th September, in which the founder of The Snap Forward newsletter will explore how business leaders and investors have to become adept at navigating the era of "discontinuity" that is being triggered by escalating climate impacts and the accelerating clean technology revolution.
Robinson and Steffen are the latest additions to a stellar line up of speakers who will feature at the second annual Net Zero Festival, including COP26 President-designate Alok Sharma, world-renowned climate scientist Michael Mann, NatWest chief executive Alison Rose, Solar Impulse founder Bertrand Piccard, former Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd, former chief scientist and co-founder of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group Sir David King, CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith, and President of the Sustainable Restaurant Association and Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc, to name but a few.
Delegates can now sign up for a pass to the virtual event, which will be broadcast over three days from studios at The Shard in central London.
Thanks to the support of the Net Zero Festival's commercial partners - Atkins, BCG, Schroders, Bank of America, Derwent London, Drax, Energy Saving Trust, Engie, Facebook, GSK, Hitachi, Tetra Pak, The Climate Pledge, Volvo, and Kingspan - passes are available for free for this year's event.
"The line-up for the Net Zero Festival covers almost every facet of the green industrial revolution, including science, technology, finance, politics, and the business leadership that can drive the next phase of the net zero transition," said BusinessGreen editor James Murray. "We're absolutely delighted to be joined by two of the world's most inspiring thinkers and writers on how the era of climate crisis will play out and how businesses and investors can still shape the future for the better."
