Population and Climate Change: Consensus and Dissensus among Demographers

the Monday 28 June 2021 at l'Ined en visio-conférence, de 11h30 à 12h30

Présenté par : Hendrik P. van Dalen (NIDI) & Kène Henkens (NIDI) ; Discutant : Gilles Pison (Ined)

Résumé

What role does population play in thinking about the problem of climate change and some of its solutions? In a survey conducted between February and April 2020, we asked European demographers to state their views on the relationship between climate change and population developments, and asked them to rate their concern about climate change and other socio-demographic issues. We found that climate change is at the top of the list of demographers’ concerns, but that their sense of urgency with respect to taking action to redress global warming is not matched by their belief that population policy can make a crucial difference in reducing CO₂ emissions: demographers are highly divided on the question whether the global population size should be reduced to lower CO₂ emissions, as well as on the question whether family planning is an effective policy instrument.

Biographie de Hendrik P. van Dalen

Harry van Dalen is  professor of Economics at Tilburg University and senior research associate at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) – an institute of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences – in the Hague.

Biographie de Kène Henkens

Kène Henkens is  professor of Pension Sociology at the University of Amsterdam and at the University Medical Center of the University of Groningen, and head of the department Work & Retirement at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) – an institute of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences - in the Hague.