Trottier Symposium 2025
In the fight against climate change, science, diplomacy and economics seem to each pull in a different direction.
At the 2025 Trottier Symposium, we asked how we can instead make them work together in order to ensure a safe future for all.
Part I: Feature webinar on September 26th
In the feature webinar, Simon Sharpe, Managing Director of S-Curve Economics CIC and author of the acclaimed book Five Times Faster, discussed how a better understanding of the economy as system that is evolving rather than static leads to better policy choices, and suggests an approach to diplomacy that focuses more on tipping points than on emissions targets. In both national policies and international diplomacy, these new ideas and their translation into institutions could enable us to make faster progress in the transition, by making better use of whatever political and financial capital is available.
He then had a conversation with Normand Mousseau of the Institut de l’énergie Trottier on how exactly to put that in motion.
Simon Sharpe
Simon Sharpe has played a leading role in the UK’s COP26 Unit and has worked on the industrial strategy in the UK government, and has also served as head of private office to a Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change. He is a champion for using risk assessment wisely in order to make climate policy more efficient.
His book on the subject, Five Times Faster, was listed by the Times and Financial Times as one of the best environment books of the year 2023.
Part II : Experts panel on November 12th
On November 12th, a panel of experts will go back on the subject of the economy and diplomacy of the energy transition. Professors Catherine Beaudry (Polytechnique Montréal), Annie Chaloux (USherbrooke) and Catherine Potvin (McGill) will discuss some of Simon Sharpe’s insights and share their own with Normand Mousseau (IET and UdeM) (in French).
The event will take place at the Auditorium of the Grande Bibiliothèque in Montreal (BAnQ) from 7 pm to 9 pm.
The panelists
Catherine Beaudry holds a PhD and MSc in Economics from Oxford University. She is a full professor in the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering and holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Management and Economics of Innovation (Innovation Chair) at Polytechnique Montréal. Her main research interests are collaboration and support mechanisms for public and private organisations within knowledge and innovation ecosystems.
Annie Chaloux is an associate professor at the Université de Sherbrooke and co-holder of the Climate Science Diplomacy Research Chair. A specialist in climate policy and environmental paradiplomacy, she is also director of Climatoscope 360 and the magazine Le Climatoscope. An active participant in public debates on climate policy, environmental governance and international action by federated states, she is regularly invited to speak to the media across the country.
Catherine Potvin is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at McGill University and holds the Canada Research Chair in Climate Change Mitigation and Tropical Forests. Her research in tropical ecology supports international efforts to reduce deforestation in the tropics. She also has extensive experience in international and national climate negotiations.
