“We need a broader and a deeper approach to climate change, bringing in the social and human dimensions”

Awarded the 13th Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change, Karen O’Brien highlights the role of social and cultural change in responding to climate change. She explains why profound transformations require new forms of participation, individual agency, and collective action. Her approach connects climate, society, and human capacity.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change has gone in this thirteenth edition to Neil Adger, Ian Burton and Karen O’Brien for changing the paradigm of climate change action, previously confined to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, by folding in the concept of adaptation to unavoidable impacts.