This summer’s Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress (SRI2025) will bring together scientists, changemakers and others who are addressing the current and future impacts of climate change through innovation and action.
We asked climate expert Don Wuebbles to share his perspective on the congress and why your voice matters in the collaborative work necessary for a better future for people and our planet. Register for SRI2025 today.
As a former White House climate advisor and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, how have you seen the conversation around climate change evolve?
Over my career, we first saw climate change as a potential issue to now recognizing it is an issue we absolutely must address. Our changing climate and its potential ramifications may be the most important issue modern humanity has ever needed to address, and one we all need to address together.
I get asked why I work on this “political issue,” but it is not politics; it is science. The science evidence is clear — we have a major problem affecting us and our planet. The politics come in as we figure out how to resolve this issue. And the conclusion is that to avoid a high level of suffering, we will need to do a lot of mitigation (reducing the emissions driving the changes in our climate) and a lot of adaptation (to be resilient).
We will discuss these issues at SRI2025.
What message would you share with students, researchers and innovators attending SRI for the first time?
You will experience so many activities, workshops and other learning opportunities at SRI2025. Students, researchers and innovators will find sessions connected with their interests and expertise.
At SRI2025, when we will have as many as 12 sessions going on concurrently, I will have major anxiety about which session to go to. But that is a good thing.
I believe everyone will find SRI2025 thought-provoking and inspiring, and hopefully also mind-blowing!
Why is SRI important?
The University of Illinois System is hosting SRI2025 June 16-19 in Chicago in partnership with the two organizations that started this international congress on sustainability: The Belmont Forum and Future Earth. This year’s congress focuses on solutions for sustainability and will bring together researchers, industry specialists, civic leaders, educators and changemakers from around the world to engage in meaningful dialogues and a thoughtful exchange of ideas.
Basically, SRI2025 is about our future!
SRI2025 focuses on finding informed solutions that lead to sustainability both locally and globally. Along with science and research being at the heart of SRI, our examination of potential societal solutions and pathways to resiliency will be based on engagement across sectors, human capacity building, co-design, networking and partner matching, and demonstrations of emerging and accessible innovation. SRI2025 is aimed at learning, sharing and showcasing sustainability and environmental issues affecting humanity and our planet.
It has become ever clearer that there are major environmental issues having significant effects on our planet. Climate change, our access to clean air and fresh water and many other issues affect our ability to adapt and have a resilient society. For example, how can we more effectively plan for and address the kind of flooding affecting Kentucky or the wildfires affecting California and other states? How can we build a society, both urban and rural, that is more resilient and can address the energy, transportation, food, water and health issues confronting us?
And why is SRI important now?
We need to acknowledge and respond to the fact that the Earth has a fever. This not only means higher temperatures, but more intense weather events, higher sea levels, increasing strains on humans and other life from changing land use and water resources, concerns about biodiversity, and many other stresses. We can’t let this fever evolve into a terminal illness. Responding to these stresses while adapting to the changes that can’t be avoided —in other words, making this world more sustainable — requires extensive research and innovation conducted in partnership with action-oriented partners who can translate knowledge into solutions. That is what SRI2025 is all about.
Can we make enough progress in the next 15 to 25 years to put us well onto the pathway to recovery by mid-century to extensively reduce further impacts on our planet, our lives and those of our children and grandchildren? SRI2025 will examine the progress and the transdisciplinary research and innovations being developed throughout our world to address these issues and put us on the pathway to sustainability.
We are at an inflection point where we need to respond to the issues confronting us or face much larger impacts in the future.
What can people expect to see, hear and do at SRI?
The SRI2025 program will consist of four days of transdisciplinary sessions, including roundtable discussions, workshops and networking events, high-level plenaries, receptions and special excursions to learn about sustainability in action and much more.
The program will highlight action-forward, knowledge-based and inclusive approaches to sustainability. Together, participants will explore innovative and implementable solutions aimed at creating better outcomes for future generations. Our aim is to have this be one of the most exciting meetings about our future you have ever attended. We want you to be so charged up with what you learned and who you met that you go out and make a difference! We want everyone to be excited about how we can all move forward to make this a better society.
You often speak about the narrowing window we have to address the climate crisis. What do you hope leaders and attendees walk away with from this congress?
For our changing climate, we need to embrace the sense of urgency; we need to be addressing this now and not decades from now. The emissions being added now and in the next few years will significantly add to the changes in climate we see in the next 30 years, especially the increased intensity of resulting impacts. By taking action now, we can avoid major tipping points that will affect humanity for centuries and perhaps millennia.
We have solutions in hand — we just have to have the willingness to transform our society. And we can do this without having a major impact on our economy.
What role does the U.S. — and Illinois in particular — need to play in global sustainability efforts moving forward?
The United States has been a leader and overall, it continues be. I truly believe that a strong economy and being sustainable can move together hand in hand. The state of Illinois, along with many other states, is rapidly moving toward non-carbon-emitting technology, especially for energy production. Illinois has also been a leader in adaptation and resiliency.
Special plenaries and sessions at SRI2025 will directly address the future of energy production and transportation systems, including discussions on what is happening here in Illinois.
How do you respond when someone asks you what they can start doing today to help our environment?
The first thing I tell people they can do is to communicate — let those who represent us, from local to national levels, know that having a sustainable, resilient society is important to us all. With climate change, we can do much in our own lives to reduce our own emissions and to examine how we can proactively be resilient.
Also, get involved with the many organizations already focusing on sustainability. I serve on the Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy, which focuses on resiliency.
Please finish this sentence: “SRI isn’t just about the planet, it’s also about ________.”
SRI isn’t just about the planet, it’s also about you and me, our children, our grandchildren and those who follow after us! Truly, SRI2025 is about our future.
