WATCH THE RECORDING.

Watch the recording for our recent interactive webinar presenting the first batch of articles from the Global Sustainability special issue “Polycrisis in the Anthropocene.” Keep an eye out for part two of the webinar that will touch upon the remaining articles in this collection, coming later this year.

The growing popularity of the term polycrisis reflects the widespread recognition that the world’s problems are densely interconnected in ways that require new thinking and action. Yet the theorization, empirical application, and practical implications of a polycrisis approach remain nascent and contested. 

This webinar will explore several efforts to improve our understanding and response to polycrisis.

Key topics include:
• Systemic risk governance
• Capitalism as a deep driver of global polycrisis
• Obstacles to sustainable energy transition
• Decision-making in conditions of deep uncertainty
• Historical examples of polycrises and their lessons

Presenters:
1. Pia-Johanna Schweizer leads the “Systemic Risks” research group at Research Institute
for Sustainability (RIFS) Potsdam where she analyzes complex and cascading risks at the
intersection of science, economics, and civil society. Her work on risk governance proposes
new strategies for improved decision-making in a complex, uncertain, and ambiguous global
risk landscape.
Dr. Schweizer will present her paper (co-authored with Sirkku Juhola) “Navigating Systemic Risks: Governance of and for Systemic Risks.”

2. Michael J. Albert is Lecturer in Global Environmental Politics at the University of Edinburgh.
His work takes a trans-disciplinary approach to the global politics of climate, energy, and
food system transformations applying Marxist and Neo-Gramscian perspectives. His book,
Navigating the Polycrisis, examines possible futures of the world-system amidst multiple
interacting global crises.
Dr. Albert will present his paper “Capitalism, Complexity, and Polycrisis: Towards Neo-Gramscian Polycrisis Analysis.”

3. Ajay Gambhir is Director of Systemic Risk Assessment at the Accelerator for Systemic Risk
Assessment (ASRA). His work focuses on climate change, energy transition, and their interplay
with wider societal risks. He was an architect of the 2008 UK Climate Change Act and more
recently spent four years on the UK Government’s Just Transition Taskforce.

Dr. Gambhir will present his paper (co-authored with Ashwin Seshadri and Ramit Debnath)
“Navigating systemic risks in low-carbon energy transitions in an era of global polycrisis.”

4. Alexandre Giguère is Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Royal Military College Saint-Jean,
Canada. His research applies machine learning to molecular electronic device discovery. He
also aims to merge deep learning with decision-making under deep uncertainty to better
address the security impacts of climate change.

Dr. Giguère will present his paper (co-authored with Bruno Charbonneau) “The Polycrisis and the Uncertainty Possibility Space.”

5. Rachel Ainsworth is a historical researcher and social scientist with expertise in politics, law,
social justice, and human rights. Her current research investigates the intersecting crises that
contributed to political revolutions past and present. She is a researcher with Seshat: Global
History Databank and is the Research Director of the Societal Dynamics (So-Dy) policy lab.

Dr. Ainsworth will present her paper (co-authored with Daniel Hoyer) “Revolution in an age of polycrisis.”

Discussant:
Johan Rockström is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and
Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam. He has led the development of
the Planetary Boundaries framework and the study of tipping points in the Earth system, as well
as numerous international climate change initiatives. He is an internationally renowned expert
on global sustainability, Earth system resilience, and the future of the Anthropocene.