Inaugural lecture with Zennström visiting professors; Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann

Planetary crisis in the time of Trump

On 7 April 2025, the Zennström visiting professors in Climate Change Leadership, Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann, delivered their inaugural lecture at Geocentrum, Uppsala University. The event, titled Science and Governance for the Planet, was opened by Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt and followed by a panel discussion on The Triple Planetary Crisis in Science and Policy, moderated by Mikael Karlsson. It brought together scholars and students eager to engage with urgent questions at the intersection of climate science and global governance.

While in Uppsala, Biermann expressed his wish to contribute to the development of research networks that will endure beyond his professorship. He also plans to begin work on a publication that explores the politics of planetary governance in the era of Trump. In addition, he hopes to support and strengthen the Earth System Governance Project, which is a global network of hundreds of scholars that now has its International Project Office hosted at Uppsala University.

Frank Biermann, Professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University and founder of the Earth System Governance Project, reflected on the state of planetary governance in an increasingly fractured world. He spoke about the theme of the Planetary crisis in the time of Trump, focusing on the impact of disengagement of the United States from international climate cooperation. According to Biermann, we are witnessing the end of what he described as “the long 1990s”—a period marked by optimism, global cooperation, and a belief in the progressive realization of a universal order. That era, he argued, is rapidly giving way to one of fragmentation, as the United States retreats from its commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and possibly even the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The second part of the lecture was delivered by Aarti Gupta, Professor of Global Environmental Governance at Wageningen University. She spoke about The Climate Crisis and Scholar Activism: The Necessity and the Challenges. She began by posing a series of urgent and provocative questions: What role should researchers play in today’s world? What responsibilities do scientists have in their engagement with society? And what can society rightfully expect from the scientific community?

Read the full blog post here: https://climatechangeleadership.blog.uu.se/.../inaugural.../

Watch the inaugural lecture Zennström visiting professors 2025 - Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UPIACuKtJk0?si=LmcTEOyPQQChIvkB