Winkler shares expert views on climate change

South African climate change expert Professor Harald Winkler visited Australia last week as part of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency’s Special Climate Visitor Program.

The program brings to Australia experts who are able to share their views on and understanding of climate change in their home country, and how it relates to our experiences.

Professor Winkler heads up the Energy, Environment and Climate Change program at the University of Cape Town, is a lead author for the International Panel on Climate Change’s mitigation report, and has represented South Africa at the United Nations climate negotiations.

Specifically, his areas of research include the economics of climate change mitigation, the links between sustainable development and climate change, and renewable energy.

During his visit, he met with representatives from Government, including DCCEE, the business community and the not-for-profit sector in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.

He also gave two public lectures: one at the Australian National University’s Crawford School on ‘A carbon tax in South Africa – Perspectives from an academic’; and a second at the Melbourne Energy Institute on ‘Planning for low-carbon development – the twin challenge of poverty eradication and emissions reductions’.