Battelle Releases Survey Results to Address Climate Resiliency; CEO Lou Von Thaer Quoted

Battelle has announced its plans to host a conference, Innovations in Climate Resilience, that will gather thought leaders to discuss tactics to aid environmental sustainability.

The conference is scheduled for March 29 and 30 and will take place in Columbus, Ohio. It is intended as a convergence of public and commercial sector figures dialoguing about potential technological and policy options for decreasing environmental and societal impacts, the company said Tuesday.

“As an independent, not-for-profit applied science and technology development company, Battelle is uniquely positioned to bring government leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers and innovators together to problem-solve and pioneer real-life solutions that make a tangible impact,” said Lou Von Thaer, Battelle president and CEO and a seven-time  Wash100 Award winner.

Battelle also recently issued a survey to nearly 500 academics and over 100 public sector officials that revealed findings about energy, roadblocks in knowledge and routes for government action.

71 percent of participants reported that they believed the employment of renewable energy sources was crucial for climate resiliency. And 53 percent of academics and 52 percent of government figures said they thought a move toward electrification and fossil fuel alternatives was “vital” to improving climate health.

Respondents also overwhelmingly said they felt that a lack of widespread education about climate change was proving detrimental to progress being made on the subject. Members of the academic and policy-making communities additionally cited the need for enforcing caps and limits on carbon emitters.

The March conference will include keynote presentations, platform speeches and poster explications from figures such as National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security Sherri Goodman, Deputy Assistant Secretary Office of Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy Alice Caponiti and more.

These speakers will touch on decarbonization, water purification, how to plan and anticipate occurrences of extreme weather and technological strategies to power a circular economy, among other subjects.