David King (chemist)

He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and Head of the Government Office for Science from October 2000 to 31 December 2007.[10] In that time, he raised the profile of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the new £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. In 2008 he co-authored The Hot Topic on this subject.[11] He is a distinguished supporter of Humanists UK.[12]

During his tenure as Chief Scientific Adviser he has raised public awareness for climate change and initiated several foresight studies. As Director of the government's Foresight Programme, he created an in-depth horizon scanning process which advised government on a wide range of long term issues, from flooding to obesity.[13][14] He also chaired the government's Global Science and Innovation Forum from its inception. King advised the government on issues including: The foot-and-mouth disease epidemic 2001; post 9/11 risks to the UK; GM foods; energy provision; and innovation and wealth creation; and he was heavily involved in the government's Science and Innovation Strategy 2004–2014. He suggested that scientists should honour a Hippocratic Oath for Scientists.

King was the first chairman of the Future Cities Catapult, launched in 2013 by the UK government to conduct research into smart cities.[15]

In his role as scientific advisor to the UK government King was outspoken on the subject of climate change, saying "I see climate change as the greatest challenges facing Britain and the World in the 21st century" [16] and "climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today - more serious even than the threat of terrorism".[17][18]

He strongly supports the work of the IPCC, saying in 2004 that the 2001 synthesis report is the best current statement on the state of play of the science of climate change, and that really does represent 1,000 scientists [19]

King had criticised the Bush administration for what he saw as its failures in climate change policy, saying it is failing to take up the challenge of global warming.[20]

In 2004, King predicted that Antarctica is likely to be the world's only habitable continent by the end of this century if global warming remains unchecked.[21]

King told The Independent newspaper in February 2007 "he agreed that organic food was no safer than chemically-treated food" and openly supported a study by the Manchester Business School that implicated organic farming practices in unfavourable CO₂ comparisons with conventional chemical farming.

In an article published in The Guardian on 13 February 2009, King is quoted as saying that 'Future historians might look back on our particular recent past and see the Iraq war as the first of the conflicts of this kind – the first of the resource wars' and that this was 'certainly the view' (that the invasion was motivated by a desire to secure energy supplies) he held at the time of the invasion, along with 'quite a few people in government'.[22]

King is a strong supporter of nuclear electricity generation,[23] arguing that it is a safe, technically feasible solution that can help to reduce emissions from the utilities sector now, while the development of alternative low-carbon solutions is incentivised.[24] In the transport sector, King has warned Governments that conventional oil resources are more scarce than they believe and that peak oil might approach sooner than expected.[25] Moreover, he has criticised first generation biofuels due to the effect on food prices and subsequent effect on the developing world. He strongly supports second generation biofuels, however, which are manufactured from inedible biomass such as corn stover, wood chips or straw. These biofuels are not made from food sources[26] (see food vs fuel).

King is a member of the Global Apollo Programme and spearheaded its public launch in 2015. The programme calls for multinational research into reducing the cost of low-carbon electricity generation.

The first Times/Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, a three-day conference in July 2009, was hailed a triumph by Sir David King after former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives were amongst many giving rousing speeches. The event was staged to explore ways of reducing the dependence of many of the world's economies on high-carbon fuels and promote low-carbon development in poor countries. More than 200 of the world's leading climate experts attended with many showing that renewable technologies are available and that industry is ready to switch. Both Al Gore and Sir David chastised the governments of rich nations for failing to implement policies to facilitate rapid low-carbon development.