Climate change is a pervasive and global challenge - can modest actions ever make a really big difference? Sometimes they do. A single teenager protesting, a simple change in the rules, or a simple

Climate change is a pervasive and global challenge - can modest actions ever make a really big difference? Sometimes they do. A single teenager protesting, a simple change in the rules, or a simple but novel idea can be amplified with huge global impact. Using concepts previously applied to the weather, a team at Oxford is looking at runaway change, snowball effects and tipping points in human systems, searching for "sensitive intervention points" that might accelerate the transition to a post-carbon world. Cameron Hepburn is Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He also serves as the Director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme, based at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. Cameron has published widely on energy, resources and environmental challenges across disciplines including engineering, biology, philosophy, economics, public policy and law, drawing on degrees in law and engineering (Melbourne University) and masters and doctorate in economics (Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar). He has co-founded three successful businesses and provides advice on energy and environmental policy to government ministers (e.g. China, India, UK and Australia) and international institutions (e.g. OECD, UN). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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