US engineer receives doctorate from NUI Galway

Former US energy under-secretary Dr Kristina Johnson has said she remains "optimistic" about efforts to tackle climate change, in spite of US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris accord.

Dr Johnson, who worked with former US president Barack Obama, received an honorary doctorate in science from NUI Galway (NUIG) on Friday.

She noted Mr Trump’s move may focus minds on the “personal, professional and global” commitment to addressing manmade threats to the planet.

Mr Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 global agreement in Paris also includes a halt on payments to the United Nations Green Climate Fund.

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The UN fund commits rich countries to contributing to developing nations which are hit by extreme weather events. The increased frequency of such events is attributed to climate change.

Reaffirm commitment

Dr Johnson welcomed the move by the governors of Washington, New York and California to form a United States Climate Alliance. She also noted that at least 20 US cities and a number of US states had reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris accord.

“We are all sharing the same atmosphere, and this accord depends on everyone participating, but at the same time Mr Trump’s decision will make people revaluate their own position,” she said.

“I speak to students in universities and, as one student recently noted, it is all down to us individually to reduce, re-use and recycle,” she said.

She believes in a mix of less harmful energy sources, including nuclear, but says much more research needs to be done in managing nuclear waste.

One of the challenges posed to current renewable initiatives is the fact that natural gas is now so cheap in the US, she noted.

During her time as energy under-secretary in the Obama administration, Dr Johnson was responsible for the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act which doubled the size of US renewable energy . She managed a $10.5 billion energy and environment portfolio, and $37 billion of investments.

The board member of NUIG's Ryan Institute and dean of engineering at Duke, professor at Colorado, and vice-president for academic affairs at John Hopkins universities, is co-founder and chief executive of Cube Hydro, a company dedicated to renewable hydropower.