Reports

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Professorship of Climate Change Economics and Policy

The General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The intersection of climate change, energy use, and economic growth is at the centre of global policy challenges. Scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations and individuals taking prompt action. The University of Cambridge has made significant contributions to that scientific understanding, and to the development of the necessary policy responses, through the research of Departments across the University including Engineering, Geography, Cambridge Judge Business School, and Land Economy. These issues are central to the University’s strategic research initiatives in Energy, Conservation, and Public Policy.

2. The Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research (4CMR) is part of the Department of Land Economy and carries out research to develop strategies, policies, and processes to mitigate human-induced climate change which are effective, efficient, and equitable. 4CMR has played an important role in policy development around climate, energy, and economic growth in the UK and globally.

3. In view of the strategic importance of this critical area for research, the Board of Land Economy and the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences propose the establishment of a Professorship of Climate Change Economics and Policy. The Professor will provide new strengths and direction for 4CMR, and will work with colleagues across the University to co-ordinate social science contributions to developing climate change research. The Professor will contribute to teaching across a range of undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes.

4. The School of the Humanities and Social Sciences has agreed to release funding equivalent to a University Lectureship towards the costs of the Professorship. The remaining costs will be met from the Estate Management Development Fund. The General Board have accepted the Board of Land Economy’s proposal for the establishment of the Professorship on this basis.

5. The Board are satisfied that an appointment at this level will be likely to attract a strong field of applicants. They are assured that suitable accommodation is available in the Department of Land Economy for the Professor. The Board have agreed to concur in the view of the Board of Land Economy that election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature should be open to all persons whose work falls within the title of the Professorship.

6. The General Board recommend:

I. That a Professorship of Climate Change Economics and Policy be established in the University for one tenure from 1 October 2014, placed in the Schedule to Special Ordinance C (vii) 1, and assigned to the Department of Land Economy.

30 April 2014	L. K. Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor	David Good	Martin Millett
	Philip Allmendinger	Richard Jones	Rachael Padman
	N. Bampos	Robert Kennicutt	John Rallison
	Sarah Coakley	Duncan Maskell	Henk-Jaap Wagenaar
	M. J. Daunton	Patrick Maxwell