BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//sebbo.net//ical-generator//EN URL:https://lectures.london/imperial-college/grantham-institute-annual-lec ture-2026-with-anne-hidalgo/calender.ics NAME:Lectures London X-WR-CALNAME:Lectures London TIMEZONE-ID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:11aada61-c9b7-48ee-9791-a554a52ec46b SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20261022T105131 DTSTART:20261027T173000 DTEND:20261027T203000 SUMMARY:Grantham Institute Annual Lecture 2026 with Anne Hidalgo LOCATION:Imperial College: LT200\, City and Guilds Building DESCRIPTION:Progress in the face of pushback\n​Around the world\, the le aders driving the most ambitious climate action are increasingly finding t hemselves at the centre of political polarisation\, misinformation campaig ns\, and public backlash. Yet history shows that transformative change has rarely been achieved by following the path of least resistance. From rede signing cities and defending climate science to challenging vested interes ts\, bold leadership often demands the willingness to go against the grain and withstand intense scrutiny.\n​In this keynote address\, Anne Hidalg o\, former Mayor of Paris\, Global Ambassador for the Global Covenant of M ayors and one of Europe’s most influential urban climate leaders\, will reflect on her experience leading the transformation of one of the world ’s largest cities. From reclaiming streets for people and expanding acti ve transport to tackling air pollution and embedding climate resilience in to urban planning\, she will examine how sustained political opposition an d misinformation became defining features of delivering change. Drawing on lessons from Paris\, Hidalgo will explore what it takes to build trust\, maintain conviction under pressure\, and deliver tangible benefits of ambi tious climate action.\nAgenda\n\n\n\n\n\nTime\n\n\nActivity\n\n\n\n17:30 – 18:00\nRegistration\n\n\n18:00 – 18:05\nOpening remarks\n\nProf Sir Brian Hoskins\, Chair of the Grantham Institute\, Imperial College London\ n\n\n\n\n18:05 – 18:30\nKeynote\n\nAnne Hidalgo\, former Mayor of Paris and Global Ambassador for the Global Covenant of Mayors\n\n\n\n\n18:30 – 18:45\nFireside chat\n\nAnne Hidalgo\, former Mayor of Paris and Global A mbassador for the Global Covenant of Mayors\nDavid Shukman\, journalist\, author and former science editor of BBC News\n\n\n\n\n18:45 – 19:30\nPan el\n\nShirley Rodrigues\, board member of C40 Cities and former London Dep uty Mayor for Environment and Energy\nFarhana Yamin\, climate lawyer\, aut hor and climate justice activist\nDr Garyfallos Konstantinoudis\, lecturer at the Grantham Institute and expert in health attribution\nAnne Hidalgo\ , former Mayor of Paris and Global Ambassador for the Global Covenant of M ayors\nDavid Shukman\, journalist\, author and former science editor of BB C News (moderator)\n\n\n\n\n19:30 – 20:30\nDrinks reception\n\n\n\n\nSpe akers\nAnne Hidalgo\n​In 2014\, Anne Hidalgo became the first woman to b e elected Mayor of Paris\, after serving as First Deputy Mayor of Paris fr om 2001 to 2014. A member of the Socialist Party\, she had graduated with a Master of Advanced Studies in social law before becoming a labour inspec tor and going on to serve as an adviser to three Ministers under the Lione l Jospin Government. In 2020\, she was re-elected Mayor of Paris\, with an ambitious programme designed to transform Paris into a zero-carbon city b y 2050. She successfully led Paris’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Pa ralympic Games. As Mayor of Paris until March 2026\, Anne Hidalgo pursued an ambitious policy agenda focused on housing for families and universal\, inclusive public services\, working to improve air quality\, combat clima te change and adapt the city to the climate challenge\, reducing car use\, greening public spaces and prioritising pedestrians. She fulfilled a prom ise first made in 1988 to make the Seine swimmable again\, ending a ban th at had been in place for over a century. She has equally championed these issues on the international stage. In December 2015 in Paris\, she organis ed the climate summit for local leaders\, a major side event of COP21. She chaired the C40 Cities Leadership Group and served as President of the In ternational Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) and Co-Chair of the W orld Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). Today\, s he continues in her role as Global Ambassador of the Global Covenant of Ma yors\, working on climate leadership with mayors around the world.\nDavid Shukman\n​David Shukman is a British journalist\, author and science bro adcaster with over 40 years of experience\, best known for his long career at the BBC and his authoritative reporting on science and environmental i ssues. After joining the BBC in 1983\, he held a range of senior roles inc luding World Affairs Correspondent\, Environment and Science Correspondent and became the BBC’s first Science Editor in 2012\, a position he held until leaving the organisation in late 2021 to work as an independent cons ultant. A leading voice on climate change\, sustainability and biodiversit y loss\, he is a sought‑after international speaker whose engaging talks draw on deep journalistic insight. He has also authored several bestselli ng books on climate change\, science and global challenges\, and his work has featured in major media outlets such as the BBC\, The Guardian and The Times. With pioneering reports from the Amazon to Antarctica\, David has been praised by Sir David Attenborough as “a leader in raising awareness about the climate emergency”. His book\, The Response: A Story of Fire and Flood in Britain’s New World of Extremes\, was published earlier thi s year. \nShirley Rodrigues\nShirley Rodrigues was the London Deputy Mayo r for Environment and Energy between 2016 and 2024. She implemented progra mmes to tackle the climate emergency\, reduce air pollution and restore na ture including the Ultra Low Emission Zone\, the world’s largest clean a ir zone of its kind. Previously she oversaw a global climate change grants portfolio at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) developin g their first global cities strategy\, and held various executive roles in local\, regional\, and national government in the UK. She currently holds various roles including on the C40 Cities Board\, Our Common Air Commissi on\, Breathe Cities Advisory Committee and Artichoke Trust and is an exper t adviser to the Earthshot Prize and Smart Surfaces Coalition. \nFarhana Yamin\nFarhana Yamin is an international lawyer\, author\, funder\, and cl imate justice activist. For over 30 years\, her work has centered on suppo rting the Global South\, particularly by providing legal advice and assist ance to small island states and vulnerable communities in United Nations c limate negotiations including helping them negotiate the Kyoto Protocol an d the Paris Agreement. She has nearly two decades of experience of working in climate philanthropy\, working directly with some of the world’s lar gest climate philanthropy\, pushing them to share power and resources for movements led by the Global South\, especially those led by women\, indige nous peoples & youth. In the last seven years she has played a leading rol e in bringing together those working on arts\, culture and the creative an d heritage sectors\, including founding CultureCOP and a number of pioneer ing ceremonies & cultural interventions at climate summits\, New York & Lo ndon Climate Weeks and festivals such as Glastonbury. She is one of seven Global Thought leaders chosen by Be The Earth Foundation to act as a Wisdo m Keeper Flow Funder.  \nApart from her legal training\, she is a traine d nature connector & experienced facilitator & convenor\, organizing many nature based gatherings & networks.  She has held numerous leadership\, t rustee & advisory positions including Climate Reframe\, Greenpeace UK\, WW F\, Julie’s Bicycle & Tate Modern. She is currently Director of Impatien ce CIC\, the Climate Justice & Just Transition Collaborative\, a Richard v on Weizsacker Fellow at the Bosch Academy\, Berlin and an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College\, Oxford. Her contributions have earned her numerous accolades\, including being named No. 2 on the BBC’s 2020 Power List\, where judges described her as a “powerhouse of climate justice” and mo st recently being voted a life Fellowship by the Royal Institure of Britis h Architects for her role in creating key provisions of the Paris Agreemen t.  \nDr Garyfallos Konstantinoudis\nGaryfallos Konstantinoudis is a lec turer at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment. He also holds an Imperial Research College Fellowship. Prior to this he was an MRC Skills Development Research Fellow at the MRC Centre for Environmen t and Health. He did his PhD in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Inst itute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) at the University of Bern i n Switzerland. Garyfallos gained an MSc in Biostatistics at the University of Glasgow and BSc in Mathematics at the Aristotle University of Thessalo niki.\nHis current domain of research is on estimating the health related burden of climate change focusing on temperatures. Some of his work also i nclude developing methods for calculating excess mortality due to extreme events such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the recent extremely warm summers. \n \nWatch Grantham Institute’s previous Annual Lectures on our YouTube playlist URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/213510/grantham-institute- annual-lecture-2026-with-anne-hidalgo/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR