Podcasts about united nations framework convention

O que acontecerá com a saída dos EUA do Acordo de Paris? Separe trinta minutinhos do seu dia e descubra, com Mila Massuda, como os tratados internacionais sobre mudanças climáticas se formaram, o que motiva certos países a se retirarem deles e as consequências para o futuro do planeta.Apresentação: Mila Massuda (@milamassuda)Roteiro: Mila Massuda (@milamassuda) e Emilio Garcia (@emilioblablalogia)Revisão de Roteiro: Vee AlmeidaTécnica de Gravação: Julianna Harsche (@juvisharsche)Editora: Lilian Correa (@_lilianleme)Mixagem e Masterização: Lívia Mello (@adiscolizard)Produção: Prof. Vítor Soares (@profvitorsoares), Matheus Herédia (@Matheus_Heredia) e BláBláLogia (@blablalogia) e Biologia em Meia Hora (@biologiaemmeiahora)Gravado e editado nos estúdios TocaCast, do grupo Tocalivros (@tocalivros)REFERÊNCIASBELL, A. R. Our biggest experiment : an epic history of the climate crisis. Berkeley, California: Counterpoint, 2021.Evans, S. (2021). Analysis: which countries are historically responsible for climate change?. [online]. Carbon Brief, October 5 2021 Accessed 21 June 2023 Disponível em: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-which-countries-are-historically-responsible-for-climate-change/ .Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). First assessment report overview and policymaker summaries, Accessed 21 June 2023 Disponível em: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/climate-change-the-ipcc-1990-and-1992-assessments/ .Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Special report: global warming of 1.5°C, [online]. Accessed 21 June 2023 Disponível em: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/ .THATCHER, M. Speech to United Nations General Assembly (Global Environment) | Margaret Thatcher Foundation. Disponível em: .United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Status of ratification of the convention, [online]. Accessed 21 June 2023 Disponível em: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-convention/status-of-ratification-of-the-convention .

Send us a textJoining me on this episode is Tom Shunenman to discuss climate change, the anthropocene, the ambitious 30X30 initiative that seeks to preserve 30% of the earth's biodiversity by the year 2030.  Tom will also share what happened recently at the COP29 meeting, the 29th conference of the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.We will take a deep dive into the question of whether human activity eventually destroy the earth.  We will also take about human caused climate change vs normal variations in the weather.https:/natureandsciencepodcast.com

Carol Viana (she/her) is a passionate advocate for climate justice in Brazil and beyond. Her expertise in environmental engineering and sustainable farming practices led her to work with international organizations including the Rainforest Alliance and the United Nations. Her work with these influential global entities highlights her dedication to meaningful climate solutions. In this discussion, Carol openly shares her journey, revealing the inspirations that drive her commitment to climate optimism and hope. Resources Sign up for Carol's newsletter The Chloride Free Foundation YOUNGO: Youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Rainforest Alliance UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) Definitions Carbon markets: a trading scheme  designed for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In a carbon market, carbon credits are sold as permits that allow the purchaser to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas Agroforestry: land use management system that combines trees with farming, or agriculture and forestry  Climate justice: a type of environmental justice that focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized communities Global South / Global North: The Global North refers to the wealthier, more industrialized countries mostly, but not all, situated in the Northern Hemisphere that wield the majority of global political power. The Global South refers to countries less industrialized, with limited access to resources, that experience more extreme poverty and that wield less political power globally, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. This drastic divide stems from centuries of colonialism, imperialism, and exploitation. Climate migration: a type of forced migration driven by sudden or gradual climate-exacerbated disasters, such as extreme weather, environmental degradation, or sea-level rise. Hurricane Milton: an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone which became the second-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico Land grabbing: the act of seizing land in an unlawful manner Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @closingthegappod ✨  We want to hear from you! Email us at closingthegappod@gmail.com Cover art by Vivian Garcia (@viv_doodles) Intro and Outro music: Clocks by Smith the Mister (All rights and credit go to Smith the Mister. No copyright infringements intended)

From a reflection of the COP29 results & what we can do, to Office Hours and a rousing invite to sing Christmas Carols in Echternach next weekend. On this week's show we talk to Andrew Ferrone about the latest COP29 results from Baku with Tessa Moeller. We also have Adam Petersen to tell us about his new show, Office Hours, on Today Radio. And Jeff Hemmen is inviting us all to either sing, play or come to watch the ‘Big Christmas Wind Orchestra & Choir' who will perform in Echternach on 15th December. My guests are: - Dr. Andrew Ferrone, Deputy Director for Climate and Sustainable Development, IPCC Head of Delegation Co-Coordinator of EU Negotiation team on science issues at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Tessa Moeller, upcoming Ph.D. student and contributing author to the last IPCC report - Dr. Adam Petersen, presenter of Office Hours on Today Radio - Jeff Hemmen, Organiser of the Big Christmas Wind Orchestra & Choir COP29 Andrew Ferrone & Tessa Moeller are not pessimistic about our climate future and work hard to bring their research to both policy makers and the general public. Andrew Ferrone is a seasoned attendee of the COP events and shares his insight of the latest one, where the key message was the adoption of a climate finance commitment aimed at supporting the Global South. He has not lost hope and can see that combined efforts in all domains, across all countries could, will, and already does make a difference. If you want to make a calculable difference yourself go to Carbon Nerd from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology. They have examples of how an individual can reduce their carbon footprint. Make research more actionable Tessa's work focusses on ‘overshoot', the likely move above the 1.5°C Paris Agreement's temperature target and its potential consequences for global mean sea level rise. The higher the temperature peaks, the longer the overshoot, the greater the risk of crossing irreversible thresholds in the ice sheets, which in turn, locks in faster and more substantial long-term sea level rise. You can read more about Tessa's work in her recent publication in Nature Communications article (summarized here ). Tessa's broader aim in the climate conversation is to make research more actionable.  By complete coincidence, Adam Petersen used to run oil rigs in Baku for BP, amongst other places. He talks about the brilliant science which also takes place on the rigs in order to minimise emissions and how fossil fuel scientists are a deep part of this transition conversation. Office Hours Adam Petersen's ‘business' show is more about understanding the business world around us here in Luxembourg, and in connection to the world around us. You can find his show, Office Hours, on RTL Play. The Big Christmas Wind Orchestra & Choir Jeff Hemmen fell in love with carol singing whilst studying in the UK, and so he brought it back to Luxembourg. Next weekend, everyone is invited to sign up and sing or play traditional carols in the beautiful and oldest city of Luxembourg, Echternach. This is an open invitation to all to enjoy a Christmas moment with the beautiful Christmas market, and you'll even be rewarded with a free Glüvin for your efforts. It is important you sign up for numbers however. He also talks about the wonderful work done by shareaction.org Listen to the show Tune in to The Lisa Burke Show on Today Radio Saturdays at 11am, Sundays at noon, and Tuesdays at 11am. Please do subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Spotify, rate and review! You can get in touch with Lisa on LinkedIN or via her website. LINKS: https://unfccc.int/news/cop29-un-climate-conference-agrees-to-triple-finance-to-developing-countries-protecting-lives-and https://carbonnerd.list.lu https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49863-0 https://play.rtl.lu/shows/en/office-hours/episodes https://www.bigchristmaswindorchestra.lu/ https://www.lisatoniburke.com

In this special episode of The Circular Economy Show, we're sharing a conversation between Ellen MacArthur and Christiana Figueres from the climate podcast Outrage + Optimism.Christiana was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010 to 2016, where she oversaw the delivery of the historic Paris Agreement. In this episode, the pair reflect on the outcomes of the INC-5 negotiations for a global plastics treaty, the role businesses play in addressing plastic packaging pollution, and why a global, legally-binding treaty is necessary to address this global challenge.Listen to episode 165 to find out more about why the INC-5 negotiations matter, or visit the Ellen MacArthur Foundation website.Find out more about a circular economy for plastic.Check out the Outrage + Optimism podcast.

Max Bearak, energy policy and global climate negotiations reporter for the New York Times shared his perspectives on the recently concluded 29th Conference of the Parties (COP 29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the newest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program and hosted by Robert Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program and the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements.

This week we talk about emissions, carbon credits, and climate reparations.We also discuss Baku, COP meetings, and petrostates.Recommended Book: The Struggle for Taiwan by Sulmaan Wasif KhanTranscriptIn 2016, a group of 195 nations signed the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, usually just called the Paris Agreement, which was negotiated the previous year, and which, among other things, formalized the idea of attempting to keep the global average temperature from increasing by 1.5 C, which is about 2.7 F, above pre-industrial levels.The really bad stuff, climate-wise, was expected to happen at around 2 degrees C above that pre-industrial level, so the 1.5 degrees cutoff made sense as sort of a breakwater meant to protect humanity and the natural world from the most devastating consequences of human-amplified climate change.This has served decently well as a call-to-arms for renewable energy projects and other efforts meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and many nations have actually made really solid strides in that direction since this agreement was formalized, dramatically truncating their emissions in a variety of ways, while also laying the groundwork for long-term reductions by installing a whole lot of solar and wind, reviving old and building new nuclear power facilities, reinforcing and expanding their grids, including adding all sorts of large-scale battery storage, and figuring out ways to reduce energy consumption, which has allowed for the shut-down of coal and oil plants.Shorter-term solutions, like replacing more polluting and emitting sources of energy, like coal, with gas, have also put a big dent in overall global emissions, especially for entities like the US and Europe; this isn't ideal as a permanent measure, because there are still a lot of emissions associated with gas, especially its transport, because of leakage, and gas itself, in the atmosphere, has really significant greenhouse properties, but in the short-term this has proven to be one of the most impactful solutions for some nations and large corporations, and it's increasingly being seen as a transitionary measure, even by those who oppose the use of any fossil fuels long-term.Things have been going decently well, then, even if progress is still far short of where it needs to be for most countries to meet their Paris Agreement commitments, and far slower than many people who are watching this space, and analyzing whether we'll be able to avoid triggering those much-worse climate outcomes, would prefer.One issue we're running into, now, is that those original commitments were a little fuzzy, as the phrase “preindustrial period” could mean many different periods, even if it's commonly assumed to be something like 1850 to 1900, in the lead-up to humanity's full-on exploitation of fossil fuels and the emergence of what we might call the modern era—society empowered by things like coal and oil and gas, alongside the full deployment of electrical grids.Throughout this period, though, from the mid-19th century to today, the climate has experienced huge swings year to year, and decade to decade. The evidence showing that we humans are throwing natural systems way off their equilibrium are very clear at this point, and it isn't a question of whether we're changing the climate—it's more a question of how much, how quickly, and compared to what; what baseline are we actually using, because even during that commonly used 1850 to 1900 span of time, the climate fluctuated a fair bit, so it's possible to pick and choose baseline numbers from a range of them depending on what sort of picture you want to paint.Research from the World Meteorological Organization in 2022 found that, as of that year, we were probably already something like 1.15 degrees C above preindustrial levels, but that it was hard to tell because La Niña, a weather phenomenon that arises periodically, alongside its opposite, El Niño, had been cooling things down and dampening the earth-warming impacts of human civilization for about three years.They estimated, taking La Niña's impact into consideration, that the world would probably bypass that breakwater 1.5 degrees C milestone sometime in the next four years—though this bypassing might be temporary, as global temperatures would increase for a few years because of the emergence of El Niño.Adding to the complexity of this calculation is that aforementioned variability in the climate, region to region, and globally. The WMO estimated that through 2027, the world is likely to fluctuate between 1.1 and 1.8 degrees C above preindustrial levels—and that at that higher range, El Niño might tip things into the especially dangerous 2 degree C territory the Paris Agreement was supposed to help us avoid.By late-2024, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the world had stepped past the 1.5 degrees threshold into unfamiliar climactic terrain.Three of the five leading research groups that keep tabs on this matter have said that in addition to 2024 being the warmest year on record, it will also be the first year we've ever surpassed that 1.5 degree level.Notably, simply popping up above 1.5 degrees doesn't suggest we're now permanently living in that long worried about climate nightmarish world: there are significant, normal fluctuations in this kind of thing, alongside those associated with the El Niño/La Niña patterns; there are a lot of variables acting upon our climate, in other words, in addition to the human variables that are pushing those averages and fluctuating ranges up, over time.The concern here, though, even if we drop back down below 1.5 degrees C for a while is that this temperature band opens up a whole new spectrum of weather-related consequences, ranging from substantial, persistent, crop-killing, barely survivable heat and drought in some parts of the world, to things like larger, more frequent, and more difficult to predict storm systems, like the ones we've already seen in abundance this and last year, but bigger and wilder and in more areas that don't typically see such storms.What I'd like to talk about today is what happened at a recent climate-policy focused meeting, COP29, and the international response to that meeting.—The United Nations Conference of the Parties of the UN Climate Change Conference, or COP meetings, are held every year in a different host country, and they're meant to serve as a formal space where governments can present their goals and boast of their climate-related accomplishments. They also serve as a platform for negotiations related to things like emissions standards and goal-setting, like that aforementioned 1.5 degrees C temperature level we've been trying to avoid hitting.The most recent of these meetings, COP29, was held in Baku, the capitol of Azerbaijan, in mid- to late-November of 2024. And that location was pretty controversial from the get-go because Azerbaijan is a petro-state: its authoritarian government basically funded and sustained by the sale of oil and gas, all of which flows through a state-owned, corruption-laden, local elite-profiting energy company.This isn't the first time a full-on petro-state has hosted a COP meeting, as COP28 was held in Dubai, in the UAE, which was also controversial.But this one was seen as a step even further toward what might read as the appropriation or capture of the COP meetings for the benefit of fossil fuel entities, as the meeting was partly hosted by so-called official partners, which were fossil fuel business interests directly owned by the country's president, while others weren't directly owned, but were connected to his family's other businesses, all of them thus linked to both authoritarian corruption, and the wealth associated with fossil fuel focused economics.As a result, there were allegations that this whole meeting was premised on providing a notorious source of greenhouse gas emissions, which has every reason to try to keep those emitting products available for as long as possible, a venue for greenwashing their efforts, while also giving them the power to moderate discussions related to global emissions targets and other climate change-oriented issues; a major conflict of interest, basically.The Azerbaijani president, leading up to the meeting, countered that critiques of his country's government and human rights record and prominence as a fossil fuel exporter were all part of a smear campaign, and that these unwarranted, preemptive criticisms wouldn't stop those running COP29 from achieving their goal of helping the world “cope with the negative impacts of climate change.”That statement, too, was criticized, as it implies fossil fuel are more interested in pushing the world to adapt to a climate change and its impacts, rather than attempting to halt the emissions that are causing said climate change; many such companies seem keen to keep pumping oil and burning coal and gas forever, in other words, and their efforts in this regard thus tend to orient around figuring out what the new, warmer, more chaotic world looks like, rather than entertaining the idea of changing their business model in any substantial way.So leading up to this meeting, expectations were low, and by some estimates and according to some analysis, those low expectations were met.Article 6 of the Paris Agreement was a big topic of discussion, for instance, as this article outlines how countries can cooperate with each other to reach their climate targets—and this collaboration is predicated on a carbon credit system.So if County A reduces their emissions by more than the targets set by this group, they can sell the gap, the amount of carbon equivalents not emitted into the atmosphere, to Country B, which failed to reach its targets, but which can bring its emissions into accord by acquiring those credits, which according to such a system count as emissions reductions.This same general concept applies to companies, like airlines and even fossil fuel producing energy companies, as well.But while the agreement reached at COP29 does establish a UN-backed carbon credit trading body, which has been heralded as a key step on the way toward concluding Article 6 negotiations that could open up a bunch of new finance for smaller and poorer countries in particular—as they could sell their carbon credits to their wealthier, more emitting fellow COP members—despite that progress, the scaffolding that exists now is generally considered to be leaky and rife with abuse potential, as the UN body doesn't really have the teeth to enforce anything or do much checking into claims made by governments and corporations. A lot of this system is basically on the honor system, and that means just like the stated goals presented by governments and corporations as to when they're be net-zero and when they'll reach the even further-off goal of zero emissions, these claims are often worth little or nothing because there's no mechanism for punishing entities that fail to live up to their boasts and ambitions.A company or government could say they plan to hit net-zero by 2035, then, but if they don't do anything that would allow them to hit that goal in that lead-up to that year, they get to keep claiming to be part of the solution, without having to do any of the work to actually achieve anything. This grants them the veil of sustainability, and without any real consequence.Also notable here is that this meeting's progress on Article 6, establishing that UN body, was pushed through using a questionable procedural move that disallowed negotiation, despite this same proposal having been dismissed after negotiation at previous COP meetings.So while it's arguably good to see progress of any kind on these matters, that this component of Article 6 was voted down previously, but then forced through using what amounts to a technicality early on at COP29 is being side-eyed by a lot of COP watchers who worry about these meetings being coopted by forces that are keen to see this carbon system formalized not because it will help the world reduce emissions, but because it will create a new asset class worth hundreds of billions of dollars, which many of them hope to profit from.It's worth noting, too, that all of the carbon credit markets that have been tried, so far, have either collapsed or served as mechanisms for greenwashing emitting activities; less than 16% of carbon credits issued up till this point represent actual, provable emissions reductions, and most of them are basically just dressed-up money grabs. This new move, despite representing progress of a sort, isn't being seen as substantial enough to change the current carbon credit paradigm, as those issues have not been addressed, yet.All that said, the big news out of COP29 was a deal that requires wealthier nations make a big payout to poorer nations in the form of climate finance; so paying for renewable energy infrastructure, paying for flood walls, things like that, so that poorer countries can leap-frog the fossil fuel era, and so they can deal with and survive the consequences of climate change, which is something they bear a lot less responsibility for than wealthier, far more emitting countries.Those on the receiving end, representing the nations that will receive payments via this plan, were aiming for a minimum of $500 billion, payable in full by 2035, and they were pushing for a lot more than that: something like $1.3 trillion.The final sum was lower than the minimum target, though, weighing in at just $300 billion; which isn't great in contrast to those hoped-for figures, though on the upside, it is three-times what was promised as part of a previously negotiated deal from 2009.Representatives from poorer nations have expressed their discontentment with this agreement, saying that the sum is paltry compared to the challenges they face in trying to shift to renewables while also scrambling to defend against increasingly dangerous temperatures and weather patterns.They've also criticized the meeting's leadership for basically gaveling this version of the agreement through before it could be commented upon by those on the receiving end of these payouts.Summing up the consequences of this meeting, then, a lot of money matters were discussed, which is important, and more money was promised to poorer nations by wealthy nations than at earlier meetings, which is also generally considered to be vital to this transition, and to overall fairness within this context—since again, these nations have contributed very little to the issue of climate change, compared to wealthier nations, and they bear a disproportionate amount of the negative consequences of climate change, as well.There are serious concerns that some of these things were passed without the usual level of democratic consideration, and that some of the money talk, especially related to carbon credits, could represent basically a cash-grab by entities that aren't super-interested in actually changing the status quo, but are very interested in making potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars from what amounts to a fabricated asset class that they can spin-up out of nothing.There's a chance that some of this, even the stuff that's sparking the most concern at the moment, and which seems to be a cynical appropriation of this group and this whole process, could actually lead to more substantial agreements at future COP meetings.COP30 will be based in Brazil, and Brazil's current leadership at least has shown itself to be decently concerned with actual climate issues, as opposed to just the money associated with them. And previous meetings have tended to build upon the agreements of their precursors—so the establishment of a UN body for carbon credits could clear the way for an actually empowered, punishment-capable institution that holds companies and countries to their word on things, rather than simply serving as a symbolic institution that watches over a made-up asset class, which seems to be the case, currently. That asset class could become less prone to abuse and manipulation, and could help with this energy transition as it's ostensibly meant to; but that'll be determined in large part by what happens at the next couple meetings.However this policymaking plays out, we've stepped into a world in which 1.5 C is no longer a far off concern, but a lived reality, at least periodically, and that could nudge things more in the direction of practical outcomes, rather than aspirations and fuzzy goals from this and similar bodies; though the consequences of this and the last few COP meetings have arguably led to luke-warm progress in that direction, at best.Show Noteshttps://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-negotiators-take-key-step-to-global-carbon-deal-1e23433ehttps://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/article-64-mechanismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry_in_Azerbaijanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conferencehttps://www.semafor.com/article/11/24/2024/the-cop29-deal-is-even-more-disappointing-than-it-lookshttps://apnews.com/article/united-nations-climate-talks-baku-azerbaijan-finance-8ab629945660ee97d58cdbef10136f35https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/24/cop29s-new-carbon-market-rules-offer-hope-after-scandal-and-deadlockhttps://www.businessgreen.com/blog-post/4382153/cop29-baku-breakthrough-disappoints-trigger-fresh-wave-climate-financehttps://news.mit.edu/2023/explained-climate-benchmark-rising-temperatures-0827https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/18/climate-crisis-world-temperature-targethttps://grist.org/economics/how-the-world-gave-up-on-1-5-degrees-overshoot/https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/11/27/global-warming-fight-paris-agreement-future/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Back from Baku, Meenakshi Raman, the President of Sahabat Alam Malaysia and the Head of Programmes at the Third World Network, fills us in on what went down at the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP29 - which finished more than 35 hours in overtime, but still left many delegates unhappy, especially from the developing nations. We discuss the outcomes related to climate finance, especially how the decision to adopt a new collective quantified goal on finance was bulldozed through at the closing plenary of COP29, despite a lack of consensus. We also discuss outcomes related to fossil fuel transition and Global Stocktake, COP29's presidency and governance, and also the broader challenges that remain, as we look forward to COP30 in Brazil in 2025.Image credit: ShutterstockSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Climategenn episode we hear two committed voices non different sides of the climate engineering debate, make their cases as to why we should or should not research geoengineering with the intention of deployment to cool the Earth. Dr Heidi Sevestre is an internationally renowned polar scientist making the case against climate engineering (also known as geoengineering) and Herb Simmens is the founder of an international group called the Healthy Planet Action Coalition (HPAC). Both interviews were recorded at COP29 and reflect entrenched positions on both sides of the debate. There are many more voices and we urgently need to hear them - not least from the vulnerable communities who maybe severely impacted by such cooling schemes. The last word goes to Professor Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Vice Chair of the IPCC, where she comments on how climate engineering is moving into the main literature advising the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Thanks for listening. Subscribers can preview the episode recorded during week 2 with Professor Kevin Anderson ahead of its as yet unknown publishing date. If you have been following the UN Climate Summit and want to go inside the talks, accompanied by countless expert insights, then order my book COPOUT from all online outlets worldwide, in paperback and audio formats.

Send us a textIn this episode, host Allan Marks speaks with Alexia Kelley, managing director of the Carbon Policy & Markets Initiative at High Tide Foundation, and Josh Sterling, a partner in Milbank's Litigation & Arbitration and Derivatives Groups based in Washington, DC and former federal regulator of commodity futures markets. They discuss carbon credits in voluntary markets and in mandatory or compliance markets. They also explore how new rules in the US and globally aim to boost the integrity of voluntary carbon markets, how to get more “bang for the buck” in carbon trading, and how nature-based projects and other decarbonization investments funded by carbon credits—such as reforestation, agriculture sector improvements, and renewable energy projects—help support climate goals.About the SpeakersAlexia Kelly has nearly 20 years of experience dealing with high integrity carbon and environmental services markets. She is managing director of the Carbon Policy & Markets Initiative at High Tide Foundation and was previously director of NetZero and Nature at Netflix, on the board of ICVCM setting global standards for voluntary carbon markets, and the US State Department's lead negotiator on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Josh Sterling is a Milbank partner based in Washington, DC and a member of the firm's Litigation & Arbitration and Derivatives Groups. In DC, he served for many years as Director of the CFTC's Market Participants Division overseeing over 3300 banks, intermediaries and registered asset managers trading derivatives, among other federal regulatory duties. He specializes in representing banks, trading firms, derivatives markets, and other institutional clients in high-stakes investigations, enforcement matters and other regulatory proceedings before the CFTC.Allan Marks is one of the world's leading project finance lawyers. He advises developers, investors, lenders, and underwriters around the world in the development and financing of complex energy and infrastructure projects, as well as related acquisitions, restructurings and capital markets transactions. Many of his transactions relate to ESG and sustainability, innovative clean technologies, and sophisticated contractual risk allocation. He is a Senior Fellow at Columbia University's Center on Sustainable Investment and serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley at the Law School and previously at the Haas School of Business.For more information and insights, follow us on social media and podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, Google and Audible.Disclaimer

The global climate circus heads to Baku, Azerbaijan this weekend for the start of the annual COP confab. That's the Conference of the Parties, meaning signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — or COP 29. Shipping will be there, but don't expect much in the way of headline conclusions this year. If there is going to be any progress from this meeting, it's going to focus on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance. So why are we talking about COP this week? The reality is that COPs have never really been about shipping, but what happens inside COP has a direct bearing on what happens next in terms of shipping's long term regulatory future. This year specifically COP is taking place just six months before the International Maritime Organization sits down agree the economic and technical measures to hit the industry's 2050 net zero targets. What happens in COP has at least some bearing on what happens in the IMO and perhaps more importantly, shipping's ability to make connections across the energy departments out in Azerbaijan over the next two weeks are going to be crucial to the process that follows whatever comes out of the IMO. Shipping may not be a huge part of COP, but COP matters hugely to shipping. Joining Richard on the podcast this week are: Dr Tristan Smith, University College London Katharine Palmer, Shipping Lead, UNFCC Climate Champions

The COP, or ‘Conference of the Parties,' is the main decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), meeting annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change. This year, COP29 will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan. In this episode, James and Daisy talk about the COPs. How did they begin? Is the process effective? What might we expect from this year's conference? SOME RECOMMENDATIONS:The Carbon War by Jeremy Leggett – this book is an eyewitness account of the climate talks, and the way the fossil-fuel vested-interests (the “carbon club”) tried to derail them.Landing the Paris Agreement by Todd Stern – from the U.S. lead negotiator on climate change, this book is an inside account of the seven-year negotiation that culminated in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015OTHER ADVOCATES, FACTS, AND RESOURCES:COP29 Presidency Action Agenda Letter – outlines the fourteen COP29 Presidency Initiatives. Agenda 21 (adopted in 1992) – a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.What are the UN ‘COP' climate change conferences? – this overview from The Grantham Institute highlights some of the important milestones from past UN climate change conferences. James was part of the Global Agenda Council of the WEF – here are some of the pieces he has contributed to: https://www.weforum.org/stories/authors/jamescameron/ James highlighted some inspiring individuals in this episode who have played key roles in the COP journey:Philippe Sands is a specialist in international law who James worked with in New York prior to the Rio Summit.  Durwood Zaelke is an American environmental litigator, professor, author, and advocate, who founded the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD).Farhana Yamin is a British lawyer, public speaker and climate activist.Robert Van Lierop is a ni-Vanuatu-American lawyer, diplomat, political activist, filmmaker, writer and photojournalist.Brindusa Burrows was formerly Associate Director with the World Economic Forum and is now at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and is a visual artist. Morgan Bazilian is Professor of Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines.Philippe, Durwood, and Farhana were at some stage all part of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).If you want to dig deeper, there is plenty of academic writing on the climate negotiations. We'd recommend the names below: Professor Dan Bodansky at Arizona State UniversityProfessor Scott Barratt at Columbia UniversityProfessor David Victor at the University of California San DiegoProfessor Lavania Rajamani at the University of OxfordDr Joanna Depledge at the University of CambridgeThank you for listening! Please follow us on social media to join the conversation: LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTokMusic: “Just Because Some Bad Wind Blows” by Nick Nuttall, Reptiphon Records. Available at https://nicknuttallmusic.bandcamp.com/album/just-because-some-bad-wind-blows-3Producer: Podshop StudiosHuge thanks to Siobhán Foster, a vital member of the team offering design advice, critical review and organisation that we depend upon.Stay tuned for more insightful discussions on navigating the transition away from fossil fuels to a sustainable future.

Azerbaijan will host the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in November 2024. The conference will pick up where COP28 left off: The completion of the first global stocktake, the consensus to “transition away” from fossil fuels, and agreements for a massive expansion of clean energy, among others. While COP meetings have made significant strides in forging consensus in major areas — mitigation, adaptation, and finance — the pace of implementation is too slow to address the urgent challenges posed by climate change. This webinar, hosted in collaboration with the UAE Embassy in Singapore, aims to discuss the key outcomes of COP 28, expectations for COP 29, and whether it will further advance the UAE-led consensus on finance and fossil fuels. It also aims to shed light on the persistent gap between COP outcomes and their implementation. Featuring examples from Singapore and the UAE, it will explore how countries can benefit from multilateral platforms to translate international climate agreements into meaningful national policies.

Christiana Figueres (the woman behind the Paris Agreement) is possibly the best-known official in the global climate change movement. The former Costa Rican diplomat and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2010-2016), managed to bring together 195 nations to sign the historical 2015 agreement that set the “1.5C” target/warning. She wrote The Future We Choose, cohosts the Outrage + Optimism podcast, has a moth, a wasp and an orchid named after her, and has won countless international awards for her work. In this episode, we challenge each other on whether hope and optimism are still useful given we've passed the 1.5C threshold in February, whether the Paris Agreement is still viable almost 10 years on and the viability of the green energy transition. We don't agree on a number of points, but we come together on what keeps us in the “fight” …love. Listen to the end with this one.SHOW NOTESThe work of rare earth minerals expert Olivia Lazard and energy futurist Nate Hagens supports the energy points I make in this episode. This international team of researchers and this team working out of France show fossil fuels will become net-energy negative in the future. We are spending more energy to get less energy than before—our net energy is “plummeting”.The world's consumption of fossil fuels climbed to a record high last year according to the University of Exeter's Global Carbon Project and NASA. A Finnish Geological Survey finds that “global reserves are not large enough to supply enough metals to build the renewable non-fossil fuels industrial system”.According to a study on societal tipping points, a peak and fall in global oil production would bring down the entire financial and trade system like a house of cards.This chapter of my book outlines the argument in detail.And here are the first two chapters of my book, that outline my position on hope v truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(Conversation recorded on June 19th, 2024)   Show Summary:  While the mainstream conversation about our planet's future is heavily dominated by the topic of climate change, there are other systems which are just as critical to consider when thinking about the health and livability of our world. Just like climate change, each of these systems has its own limits within which humanity and the biosphere can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come. However, each also has a critical tipping point - known as a Planetary Boundary - past which Earth's systems may no longer be able to self-regulate or remain the comfortable and predictable home in which we've spent our entire history as a species.  In this episode, Nate speaks with environmental scientist Johan Rockström to unpack his team's work on Planetary Boundaries and the pressure that humanity is putting on them.  How do these critical systems work to regulate the stability and resilience of the biosphere, and how do we measure their health and tipping points? What are we risking as we continue on our path towards pushing each of these interdependent systems past the point where they can continue to function? Is it possible to reverse the damage that consumptive, growth-based systems have already done to our planetary home and prevent further destruction?    About Johan Rockström: Johan Rockström is an internationally recognized scientist on global sustainability issues. He led the development of the Planetary Boundaries framework for human development in the current era of rapid global change. He is a leading scientist on global water resources, with more than 25 years experience in applied water research in tropical regions, and more than 150 research publications in fields ranging from applied land and water management to global sustainability. In addition to his research endeavors, which has been widely used to guide policy, Rockström is active as a consultant for several governments and business networks. He also acts as an advisor for sustainable development issues at international meetings including the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC). Professor Rockström chairs the advisory board for the EAT Foundation and is a member of the Earth League and has been appointed as chair of the Earth Commission.   Support Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future Join our Substack newsletter Join our Discord channel and connect with other listeners Show Notes and More Watch this video episode on Youtube  

On day three of the Republican National Convention, one thing is crystal clear – Donald Trump is king of the GOP. Even former rivals who attacked him in the primaries, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, have now pledged their allegiance. David Frum, a staff writer for The Atlantic who was once a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, joins the show to discuss the risks of erasing important context about the presidential race.  Also on today's show: Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu; Luci Baines Johnson, Daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of Point of Relation, Thomas is joined by Christiana Figueres, an internationally recognized leader on global climate change. They discuss her extensive work in helping to create global regulatory frameworks around climate change, and how we can apply the power of our agency as a collective to work towards regeneration instead of creating more destruction. Christiana and Thomas observe how our individual healing processes mirror the social transformation humanity must undergo to address the climate crisis. They explore how we can fertilize the ground of possibility and see climate change not as an inevitable disaster, but as a portal for change and an opportunity to heal global injustices.  ✨ Join Thomas and couples therapy expert Terry Real for a free, LIVE event: Daring to Embrace Intimacy in a Fractured World On July 18, Thomas and Terry will come together to explore how trauma in our world creates a pressure cooker for our day-to-day relationships, and share tools and practices to help you shift from conflict to connection to heal your relationships—with yourself, your partner, and the world at large. Sign up for free here:

Welcome to episode 70 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. We're delighted to be able to share with you this special two-part installment, recorded in June 2024 at the recent Plum Village retreat, Ancient Path for Modern Times. This is the first recording of a panel discussion based loosely around the 14 mindfulness trainings – Thich Nhat Hanh’s ethical guidelines for living, a modern distillation of the traditional Bodhisattva precepts of Mahayana Buddhism. The trainings are followed by monastics and lay friends who have made a a formal vow to receive, study, and observe them. In the panel, you will hear two of our frequent guests, Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiem) and Christiana Figueres, as well as Dharma teacher Shantum Seth. These three panelists explore how the Buddha faced war and violence in his own time; the principle of ahimsa and Gandhian nonviolence; handling anger, despair, and burnout as activists; practicing in times of polarization and division; insights around the victim-perpetrator dynamic; sanghas as sanctuaries, and their role in activism; different aspects of engaged Buddhism and its evolution over time; the spiritual dimension of change; and much more. And does anger help? Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, was a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and is a valued member of the Plum Village Sangha. Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010 to 2016, she is also the co-founder of Global Optimism, co-host of the Outrage + Optimism podcast, and co-author of the bestselling The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.  Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years. Since 1988, he has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition.Thank you for listening, and enjoy! Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/   And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/ With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resources Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainingshttps://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-14-mindfulness-trainings Mahayanahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana Bodhisattva vowhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva_vow Magadhahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magadha Kosalahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosala Ahimsahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AhimsaMahavirahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MahaviraPatanjalihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patanjali Mahatma Gandhihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi Jan Smutshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Smuts Sister Chan Duchttps://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-chan-duc Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong Paris Peace Accordshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Accords The European Institute of Applied Buddhism (EIAB)https://plumvillage.org/practice-centre/eiab Quotes “I need to find a way of being peace, not just fighting for peace.” “There’s no teaching as clear as ‘no mud, no lotus', because that is the kernel of transformation. And if we can all give that to ourselves every day, then we can make space for the despair and the anger and maybe even the hatred. And, at the same time, be able to make space for the reconciliation and for the growth in our shared humanity.” “What has always been important for me, as a guidance, is to understand that, because of the truth of interbeing, we all play a role. We all have our different positions, our different opinions, our different interests, and they’re all necessary.” “I wake up, honestly, most mornings, despairing at what I’m seeing. The question for me, then, is: do I let that control my day? Do I let that control my thought, my word, and my action? Or do I use the despair as the very rich mud to transform into the lotus?” “I know the reasons for anger. And if anger is directed at me it’s probably a good direction, because it means that it won't be reflected back.” “Whatever is in me, I mirror out there in the world. Whatever I do has an effect on the world. The other option is to let the world determine what goes on inside me. I did that for many years, and it doesn’t lead to good results. So the invitation is to actually take responsibility. What is the world in here doing, and how do I reflect that onto the outside world?” “If you can still see that the flowers are smiling, you’re okay.” “True mindfulness or right mindfulness always contains ethics within it. And if it doesn’t have ethics in it, like, for example, using mindfulness to hold a gun and pull the trigger, then, actually, that’s not mindfulness. That would just be concentration or focus. Mindfulness is your whole being, including the ethical values that are there in the present moment.” “You could send all the bombs to the moon, but the roots of war would still be in our hearts and minds.” “The way we show up, the quality of our presence – whether it’s teachers or leaders in politics, the climate movement, our own organizations, or in our families – that quality of applied mindfulness in our presence is our engagement, and that’s what the world needs most.” “Don’t underestimate the power of our applied mindfulness, the quality of our presence in the most simple moments. That is how we can take our civilization in the right direction.”

As a new play depicts the landmark global climate change agreement, the Kyoto protocol, Jordan Dunbar has a front row seat. He heads to the historic English town of Stratford-Upon-Avon to watch the opening night of the play, Kyoto, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. He hears why the writers, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson decided to dramatize the seemingly slow and tedious action of a global climate change conference. And the duo explain their goal to highlight Kyoto as a ‘parable of agreement' in a world full of disagreement.The programme also hears from two veterans of many real world climate change negotiations, including the Kyoto Protocol, the first global agreement to set legally binding targets. Christiana Figueres was responsible for leading climate negotiations as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Farhana Yamin provided legal and strategy advice to the leaders of AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island States at Kyoto and nearly every UN climate summit since.Got a question, comment or experience you'd like to share? Email: TheClimateQuestion@BBC.comPresenter: Jordan Dunbar Producers: Phoebe Keane and Octavia Woodward Editor: Simon Watts Sound mix: Tom Brignell

For next week's World Environment Day, Lisa's guests discuss the state of the climate today, myriad climate policy boards, and the inclusion of the youth voice. There is an incredible array of resources and opportunities for young people in Luxembourg on the subject and countless organisations working together on the issue — but is it enough? We have all noticed how wet this spring has been. Conversation in my circles have noted the long-term predictions of climate change on our weather patterns and seasons: more humidity, increased storms and rainfall in this geographical zone. The mention of climate change in the media is at risk of becoming jaded as it's on-going, requiring swift action but that action is sloth-like due to the need for global buy-in. People tune out if they feel they cannot make a difference. Not everyone can be an activist. And so, we rely on the scientific research to influence policy makers from around the world to act. Even if they agree to act, that policy then needs to be implemented in each country. And so the ultimate trickle down is that we, as citizens, need to be nudged into behavioural change that is the decision without requiring thought. My guests this week range from those who have spent many years researching climate related topics and climate policy-making, to the youth voice who were given the opportunity to be present at a COP event. Dr Andrew Ferrone is a physical climatologist, Andrew works at the interface of climate science and policy. He is Head of the Meteorological Service of the Administration of Technical Agricultural Services (ASTA) in Luxembourg, President of Luxembourg's Climate Policy Observatory (OPC) and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Spuerkeess. He is also the Permanent Representative to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the Head of the Luxembourg delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and coordinates the European Union's team of negotiators for scientific issues under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Andrew talks about his vast experience at these conferences and how to try to get consensus between countries with very different objectives, whether that be due to the stage of industrial development they are in, oil-rich countries or if they're islands at risk of disappearing. Claudia Hitaj is an advisor on climate change and sustainable finance at the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Biodiversity. Her work straddles economics, environmental policy and making the youth voice heard. The Ministry's Climate Youth Delegate Programme will bring two climate youth delegates, Frida Thorsteinsdottir and Natasha Lepage, to COP 29 to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan this November. They'll both have a chance to participate in a training program at COP29 and the UNFCCC for youth delegates from countries all over the world. Bartłomiej Nowak, 18 years old, took part in the National Junk Fuerscher Contest in 2022 and 2023, Luxembourg Informatics Olympiad in 2023, was awarded participation in COP28 in Dubai, where he met the Luxembourgish delegation and presented his project in the BENELUX-EIB pavilion in the blue zone. Arnfridur (Frida) Thorsteinsdottir, 17 years old student at ISL, was a finalist in the Jonk Fuerscher Contest 2024 due to her project on fish migration in Iceland. She will be travelling to COP29 in Baku with Natasha. Federica Maestri work with the Fondation Jeunes Scientifiques Luxembourg and talks about their commitment to sending young scientists to incredible science fairs and science events all around the world. https://www.un.org/en/observances/environment-day https://www.jugendrot.lu/cyd-2/ https://fjsl.lu/ https://unfccc.int/cop29

Send me a messageHi everyone, Tom Raftery here, and welcome back to another episode of the Climate Confident podcast. This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dana R. Fisher, director of the Centre for Environment, Community, and Equity at American University and author of the new book, Saving Ourselves - From Climate Shocks to Climate Action.Dana brings 25 years of research on climate policymaking and activism to our conversation, providing valuable insights into the current state of the climate crisis. We delved into the evolution of climate policy, from the early days of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to the latest efforts like the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States. Dana offers a candid assessment of these policies, highlighting both successes and significant gaps.A major theme of our discussion is the crucial role of activism. Dana underscores that meaningful change often requires grassroots movements to hold policymakers accountable. We explored various forms of climate activism, from local community actions to more radical tactics like civil disobedience. Interestingly, Dana's research suggests that even controversial actions, such as throwing soup at paintings or blocking traffic, can effectively draw media attention and pressure policymakers when part of a broader strategy.We also touched on the importance of building community resilience. As climate shocks become more frequent and severe, Dana emphasises that local communities must prepare to support each other in times of crisis. This involves not only physical infrastructure but also fostering social cohesion.Towards the end of our conversation, Dana offers practical advice for anyone looking to get involved in climate activism, stressing the need for solidarity across movements and the potential impact of nonviolent resistance. We also discussed the upcoming COP 29 climate negotiations and the controversial involvement of a fossil fuel executive in leading these talks.I hope you find this episode as insightful and thought-provoking as I did. Thanks for listening, and stay climate confident!Support the Show.Podcast supportersI'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing supporters: Lorcan Sheehan Hal Good Jerry Sweeney Andreas Werner Devaang Bhatt Stephen Carroll Marcel Roquette Roger Arnold And remember you too can Support the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one.ContactIf you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn. If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show. CreditsMusic credits - Intro by Joseph McDade, and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

In this week's episode, Tom files an exclusive report live from London, where he's on the ground covering Simon Stiell's highly anticipated Chatham House speech, "Two Years to Save the World". Not stopping there, Tom also snags a quick interview with Simon right after the event.  Back in the studio, Christiana, Paul, and Tom dive headfirst into the heart of Simon's speech. They navigate through the maze of mixed public reactions it sparked, delving into the underlying tensions it brought to light.    NOTES AND RESOURCES   GUEST Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter   Here are two links to excellent initiatives seeking to help investors evaluate government performance on policy: ASCOR: https://www.ascorproject.org/  Climatescope: https://www.global-climatescope.org/   Check out Greg Cochrane's LinkedIn Post on Billie Eilish's Vinyl Release Extended Listening - Be sure to listen + subscribe to both Sounds Like A Plan + Midnight Chats Listen + Subscribe to The Way Out Is In!   To listen to our recent mini-series, Our Story of Nature: From Rupture to Reconnection visit the dedicated Website page, which includes unedited versions of interviews with our wonderful guests.   Learn more about the Paris Agreement.   It's official, we're a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof! Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective   Please follow us on social media! Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

*) Israel will invade Rafah and return to Khan Younis — minister Israel's war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has claimed without proof that Palestinian resistance group Hamas has been defeated militarily and the Israeli army will invade Rafah and reoccupy Khan Younis, a local media outlet reported. *) EU lawmakers approve major revamp of pact on migration and asylum European Union lawmakers have approved a major revamp of the bloc's migration laws on how to manage the entry of thousands of people without authorisation. The members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday on the "Pact on Migration and Asylum", regulations and policies meant to help address the issue of who should take responsibility for migrants and asylum seekers when they arrive. The proceedings were briefly interrupted by a group of demonstrators in the public gallery who wore shirts marked “this pact kills” and said “vote no!” The 27 EU member countries must now endorse the reform package, possibly in a vote in late April before it can enter force. *) South Korea's PM, top officials offer resignations over election defeat South Korea's prime minister and senior presidential officials have offered to resign en masse, media reports said, after their conservative ruling party suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections. The results of Wednesday's election posed a huge political blow to President Yoon Suk-yeol, setting back his domestic agenda and leaving him facing an intensifying political offensive by his liberal opponents during his remaining three years in office. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and top advisers to Yoon submitted their resignations on Thursday, South Korean media, including Yonhap news agency, reported. Yoon's office didn't immediately officially confirm the reports. In a separate news conference, ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon said he would step down as well to take responsibility for the election defeat. With most of the votes counted, the main opposition Democratic Party and its satellite party appear to have won a combined 175 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. Another small liberal opposition party was expected to win 12 seats under a proportional representation system, according to South Korean media tallies. Yoon's ruling People Power Party and its satellite party were projected to have obtained 109 seats. The final official results were expected later Thursday. *) Trump takes another dig at Jewish voters who back Biden Donald Trump has lashed out at Jewish voters who back President Joe Biden and framed this year's election as a referendum on the strength of Christianity in the US, part of his sharp-edged continuing appeal to evangelical conservatives who are a critical element of his political base. Speaking in Atlanta ahead of a fundraiser, the presumptive Republican nominee on Wednesday renewed his running criticism of Biden's reaction to Israel's brutal war on besieged Gaza. "Biden has totally lost control of the Israel situation," said Trump, whose rise in 2016 depended heavily on white Christian conservatives. "Any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined.” And finally… *) We have two years to save the planet: UN climate chief Governments, business leaders and development banks have two years to take action to avert a far worse climate crisis, the UN's climate chief has said in a speech that warned global warming is slipping down politicians' agendas. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said on Wednesday that the next two years are "essential in saving our planet". "We still have a chance to make greenhouse gas emissions tumble, with a new generation of national climate plans. But we need these stronger plans, now," he said.

A household name in the climate movement, Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010-2016 and led the negotiation of the Paris Accords. Ten years on from the Accords, Christiana continues her fight for our planet and our shared future. In this episode she joins former CEO of Unilever (2009-2019) Paul Polman, himself a major figure for the climate movement, to present a bold and utterly necessary call-to-action for our present and future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of About Sustainability…, Alice and Erin were joined by Naoyuki OKANO and Nagisa SHIIBA, IGES experts working on Climate Adaptation. This episode, recorded in December 2023, offers a quick recap of what happened at COP28 in Dubai and then dives deep into the far-reaching impacts of climate change on human security. Hosted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) brought the world's leaders together to discuss how to confront the climate crisis. Some of its main outcomes include the first Global Stocktake (GST), the agreement on the framework for operationalising the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), and the agreement on the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund. Naoyuki and Nagisa introduce us to their new research project on Climate Security in the Asia Pacific, funded by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We discuss how framing the climate crisis as a security issue can be a powerful approach to mobilising resources across areas and tackling global challenges.ABOUT OUR GUESTSDr. Naoyuki OKANO is a Policy Researcher in the Adaptation and Water Unit of IGES. He works on issues related to the laws and governance of climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, transboundary climate risks, and climate security. Nagisa SHIIBA is a Policy Researcher at the Adaptation and Water Unit of IGES. She is engaged in research projects on climate change adaptation and supports the negotiation process for the Japanese delegation to the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS AND PROJECTSAsia-Pacific Climate Security Project (APCS) Website IGES is organising an international symposium on climate security in Asia-Pacific on 8 February 2024. Register here: https://www.iges.or.jp/en/events/20240208TIMESTAMPS00:10 - 02:10             Intro                                         02:10 - 05:06             COP 28                                   05:06 - 13:18             Global Goal on Adaptation     13:18 - 17:33             Loss and Damage 17:33 - 36:07             Climate Security 36:07 - 51:18             Climate Migration 51:18 - 54:22             Food Security 54:22 - 57:00             Balancing Security Issues in Climate Adaptation Plans "About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), an environmental policy think-tank based in Hayama, Japan. IGES experts are concerned with environmental and sustainability challenges. Everything shared on the podcast will be off-the-cuff discussion, and any viewpoints expressed are those held by the speaker at the time of recording. They are not necessarily official IGES positions.

A study published in 2021 found that 59 per cent of 10,000 young adults surveyed are extremely worried about climate change, with many experiencing negative effects on their daily lives. This phenomenon, termed "climate anxiety", is characterised by feelings of helplessness and fear due to the perceived enormity and complexity of climate change issues. In conjunction with IPS' annual flagship conference, Singapore Perspectives 2024, themed around the topic of youths, the sixth episode of the "IPS On Diversity" Season 4, delves into the psychological and emotional impact of climate change on young people. Host Liang Kaixin is joined by Melissa Low, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, and Darren Quek, Principal of Forest School Singapore and a climate activist. Melissa and Darren discuss their personal experiences with climate anxiety and the broader implications of this emotional state on society. The conversation touches upon the role of media in shaping perceptions of climate change and the potential impact of climate anxiety on future demographic trends, like decisions around starting a family. The discussion concludes with suggestions for addressing climate anxiety, including seeking mental health support, and engaging in community and grassroots activities. The episode provides insights into the emotional toll of environmental issues on younger generations and the need for mental health support in the face of climate change. Find out more about adulting and housing in Singapore: Straits Times (17 July 2023): Green Pulse Podcast: Climate change is a mental health issue    Channel News Asia (30 March 2023): Commentary: Is ‘climate anxiety' a clinical diagnosis? Should it be? Asian Scientist (23 March 2023): The Climate Anxiety Issue  About our guests: Melissa Low, Research Fellow, Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, National University of Singapore Melissa Low is a Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions. At the Centre, Melissa leads Continuing Education and Training. She previously worked at the Energy Studies Institute, NUS where she carried out research projects on a range of energy and climate issues of concern to Singapore and the region. She has participated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) for over a decade and is an active sustainability thought leader, authoring, publishing and presenting at various forums. She is the Designated Contact Point for NUS's accreditation to the UNFCCC and currently serves as interim co-focal point on the nine-member Steering Committee of the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organisation (RINGO) Constituency under the UNFCCC. Melissa holds an LLM in Climate Change Law and Policy (with distinction) from the University of Strathclyde, MSc in Environmental Management and BSocSci (Hons) in Geography from NUS. For her Master's thesis on past and contemporary proposals on equity and differentiation in shaping the 2015 climate agreement, Melissa was awarded the Shell Best Dissertation Award 2013. She is currently pursuing a PhD part-time at the NUS Department of Geography. Outside of work, Melissa started an eco-friendly/ social book swop movement in Singapore, called Books and Beer, which has been featured in The Straits Times, The Business Times, Bangkok Post and The Wall Street Journal's Scene Asia Blog. Darren Quek, Principal, Forest School Singapore Darren is the Principal of Forest School Singapore (FSS). He has spent 15 years in the field of Education, starting from a simple Assistant Trainer for Robotics and Game Programming, till where he is now, a Principal for FSS and Trail Blazer for Forest School Education in Singapore. He started the first Forest School in Singapore in 2016, after learning from and understudying from his Mentor Atsuko sensei, a Forest Kindergarten practitioner and parent in Japan. He also earned his Forest School Level 3 Practitioner Certification through time spent in Manchester and Sheffield undergoing training and assessments. More from On Diversity Season 4 Episode 5: Youth and Caregiving with Tan Poh Lin, Senior Research Fellow at IPS and Jason Leow Season 4 Episode 4: Home Alone and Adulting with Chew Han Ei, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at IPS and Klinsen Soh Season 4 Episode 3: Hustle Culture and Quiet Quitting with Laurel Teo, Senior Research Fellow at IPS and He Ruiming, Founder of The Woke Salaryman Season 4 Episode 2: Destigmatising HIV and AIDS with Rayner Tan, Assistant Professor of NUS and Terry Lim, Associate Director of Action for AIDS Season 4 Episode 1: The Dual Challenges of Poverty and Single Motherhood with Carrie Tan, MP, Founder of Daughters of Tomorrow and Elizabeth Quek, Programme Manager at AWARE Season 3 Episode 9: Being Biracial in Singapore with Shane Pereira, Research Associate at IPS and Dave Parkash, Co-Founder at Fook Kin Restaurant Season 3 Episode 8: Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination with Sher-li Torrey, Founder of Mums@Work and Kalpana Vignehsa, Senior Research Fellow at IPS Season 3 Episode 7: Palliative Care for the Young and Old with Dr Chong Poh Heng, Medical Director at HCA Hospice Limited and Tay Jia Ying, an end-of-life doula and Founder of Happy Ever After See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy Harder, the founding Executive Editor of the climate policy publication Cipher News, expressed her surprise with several positive outcomes from the recent 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28) in Dubai during a special episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program. Read a transcript of the podcast: https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/files/publication/amy-harder-podcast-transcript.pdf

According to the resolution signed at the end of the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP28 for short, fossil fuels have finally been sentenced to a slow and painful death. This year's global climate summit, held in the United Arab Emirates, ended with an overtime session that resulted with the nations agreeing to transition away from fossil fuels for the first time in COP history. But what does this really mean, and is the language as strong as it could have been? Lawfare Associate Editor Hyemin Han talked to Director of the Center for Climate and Security and Lawfare Contributing Editor Erin Sikorsky about the final deal language, what else happened at COP28, and the geopolitical implications of the clean energy transition. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, nearly 200 national representatives met in Dubai for the 28th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as COP28. This is one of the most consequential events of the year - and not just for the climate, but also for your wallet. Pretty much everything your money touches is attached to an invisible sustainability question. Today, Nicole explains three money moves you can make to benefit from the COP28 resolution.

What's the hallway buzz about carbon removal in Dubai? Is carbon removal a fringe topic or top of mind for attendees? And what's it mean for major climate events to happen in petrostates? Who's ready for Baku, 2024?! It's COP28, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the international gathering at which member nations converge to outline their ambitions and responsibilities in regards to climate change. Reversing Climate Change host Ross Kenyon spoke with Tito Jankowski, CEO of Airminers, who was literally in Dubai while recording. Tito shared a firsthand account of what it is like being on the ground at this controversial COP chatting about climate action and carbon removal. Tito finds that the critical question he keeps coming back to is “Do you think carbon removal is necessary for a sustainable climate?”If the answer to that is no, where do you go from there? Every nine days we put another billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Ross and Tito talk about temperature control as a possible reframe (and its possible geoengineering connotations and whether that matters), the cultural landscape of the UAE, and whether next year's COP in Azerbaijan gives OPEC nations a stake in fossil fuel phaseout or enables delay. Connect with Nori ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Purchase Nori Carbon Removals⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori's website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our other podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Newsroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Instagram Resources AirMiners website AirMiners Boot Up Tito Jankowski on LinkedIn AirMiners on Twitter COP28 Tito's previous episode on the Kiloton Fund --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/reversingclimatechange/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/reversingclimatechange/support

Business of Travel  Behind the Scenes at COP28: A Global Business Travel Perspective  December 14, 2023    In this bonus episode of the Business of Travel podcast, Suzanne Neufang, GBTA's CEO is joined by Delphine Millot, GBTA's Senior Vice President of Sustainability and Advocacy, to share insights after attending COP28 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They discuss the scale and significance of the event, the importance of collaboration between public and private sectors, and the key takeaways for the business travel industry. Delphine also shares her perspective on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as the industry strives to become more sustainable.  The Business of Travel Podcast is your ultimate guide to navigating the ever-evolving realm of business travel. Each week, a new episode hosted by seasoned corporate travel professionals presents an engaging and enlightening exploration of key topics shaping the world of business travel today.   The Business of Travel is the official podcast of the Global Business Travel Association. Visit www.gbta.org to learn more.     Host & Guest Info  Suzanne Neufang, GBTA  Delphine Millot, GBTA    Key Topics Discussed   Sustainability  Climate Change    If you enjoyed this episode, here are some similar shows - GBTA Board View: Reflections & Projections  - Lessons on Fostering Innovation in Travel      Connect with GBTA   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

Here are a few significant events that happened on December 11:1936: King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom abdicated the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée.1941: The United States entered World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.1972: Apollo 17, the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, became the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the lunar surface.1997: The Kyoto Protocol was adopted by a conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The protocol set binding targets for industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.Remember that historical events can be subjective, and what is considered "major" can vary depending on cultural, regional, or individual perspectives.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/a-to-z-this-day-in-world-history-december-11th/Social Media:WeChat account ID: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Joplin/Piano_Rolls_from_archiveorg/ScottJoplin-RagtimeDance1906/https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

With 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change well underway, Jonathan Banks, the global director of the Methane Pollution Prevention Program at the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), is the guest in a special mid-COP episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program. Read a transcript of the interview: https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/files/publication/jonathan-banks-podcast-transcript.pdf

Climate Change & COP28 (start time: 1:30) A major global climate conference is taking place now in Dubai, amidst a year of record-breaking heat, wildfires, floods and more around the world.  COP28 is short for the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The aim of the conference … Continue reading "COP28 Climate Summit: Pledges & Realities"

Greenhouse gas levels have never been higher. If we're to limit global warming, businesses have a crucial role to play because they operate in sectors that need to radically change, like energy, transport and finance.Thousands of company bosses are touching down in Dubai for this year's COP28 climate change talks. But environmentalists claim many businesses are not acting fast enough. They're increasingly concerned about the growing number of fossil fuel companies attending these summits. Are they right to be worried?(Picture: COP28 venue ahead of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Expo City Dubai. Credit: Getty Images)Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Lexy O'Connor

Hey there Listeners! We have another great Society of Actuaries Research Institute Research Insights Podcast episode today discussing the upcoming 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, which is being held in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, November 30, 2023, through Tuesday, December 12, 2023. Listen to host Dale Hall, Managing Director of Research here at the SOA talk with Rade Musulin, Principal at Finity Consulting in Sydney Australia, and Actuaries Institute's Actuary of the Year for 2023, talk about the upcoming COP28 conference.   SOA Research Institute landing page:  https://www.soa.org/research/research-institute/   We welcome feedback! researchinsights@soa.org 

With the start of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change just days away, environmental economist Nat Keohane is expressing optimism that the new global stocktake will incentivize participating nations to step up their collective efforts to slow the rise of global temperatures. Keohane is the guest in a special pre-COP episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program. Read a transcript of the podcast: https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/files/publication/nat-keohane-podcast-transcript.pdf

The decision to establish a loss and damage fund to provide financial assistance to countries affected by climate disasters was hailed as one of the biggest achievements at last year's climate conference, or COP. One year later, reaching an agreement on how that fund will be operationalized is widely seen as a benchmark for success at COP 28. While negotiators managed to agree on a draft framework for the fund earlier this month, multiple points of tension remain. Developing countries and civil society organizations were disappointed with the proposal to house the fund in the World Bank, at least for an interim period, rather than as an independent fund under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as the decision to limit eligibility for funding to small island states and least developed countries rather than all vulnerable countries. Harjeet Singh has been campaigning on this issue for years, and as the head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International, a global network of NGOs fighting climate change, he's now calling for rich countries to stop dragging their feet while climate-vulnerable countries pay the price. “That message of hope coming out of COP 28 is extremely important. We cannot arrive at a conclusion saying it's a work in progress,” Singh said in the second episode of Devex's Climate + podcast. “Now it's about really delivering it to the people and for the people.” Climate + is supported by the World Bank. To learn more about efforts to end poverty on a livable planet, visit: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/the-world-bank-at-cop28

Can we alter the course of climate change? One woman who can answer with authority is the internationally recognised leader on global climate change, Christiana Figueres. An absolutely remarkable woman, Ms Figueres was formerly the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Demonstrating immense diplomacy, resilience and determination, she successfully orchestrated negotiations with 196 countries to reach the historical Paris Agreement of 2015. Now hugely decorated, she is the co-founder of an organisation called Global Optimism, co-host of the podcast “Outrage & Optimism” and the co-author of the recently published book, “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis".As the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) approaches next week, Ms. Figueres sits down with Annie to explain where the world is right now - what has been agreed, what needs to be done and importantly, what YOU can do. As well as discussing climate change, she explores her own changes, reveals her greatest obstacles and shares the influence of her father in making her the woman she is today; one who, with stubborn optimism makes the impossible possible. This is an important episode for anyone who wants a better future for our planet.You can buy a copy of The Future We Choose here: https://www.globaloptimism.com/the-future-we-choose Find out more about Christiana Figueres here: https://christianafigueres.com/#/Changes is a deaf friendly podcast, transcripts can be accessed here: https://www.anniemacmanus.com/changes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As EESI prepares for our extensive coverage of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, we turn our attention to a topic that will be critical for global emission reductions—fossil fuel subsidies. Government subsidies are an important tool for stabilizing the economy, especially after a shock to the market, but they can also generate profits for polluting industries, as is the case with fossil fuels. Earlier this year, Canada made headlines by releasing the first national plan to eliminate inefficient subsidies to domestic fossil fuel companies. Dan and Alison are joined by Phil Gass and Laura Cameron of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to discuss Canada's framework and the state of global fossil fuel subsidies in the lead-up to COP28.   Show notes: Proposals to Reduce Fossil Fuel Subsidies (2021): https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-proposals-to-reduce-fossil-fuel-subsidies-2021  Fossil Fuels: https://www.eesi.org/topics/fossil-fuels/description  What Congress Needs to Know About COP28: https://www.eesi.org/cop28-briefings 

The ecological crisis we are standing before is at once civilizational and personal — intimately close to each of us in the places we love and inhabit, and unfolding at a species level. And as much as anyone alive on the planet now, Christiana Figueres has felt the overwhelm of this and stepped into service. She gives voice so eloquently to the grief that we feel and must allow to bind us to each other — and what she sees as a spiritual evolution the natural world is calling us to. If you have wondered how to keep hope alive amidst a thousand reasons to despair, if you are ready to take your despair as fuel — intrigued by the idea of stepping into love and immediate realities of abundance and regeneration — this conversation is for you.Christiana Figueres was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010-2016, and is known as the powerhouse who made the 2015 Paris Agreement possible — in which 195 nations worked with their wildly diverse conditions and points of view on the what and the when and the why, and yet made commitments in service of our hurting planet and the future of humanity. Her book, written together with Tom Rivett-Carnac, is The Future We Choose. She is founding partner of the organization Global Optimism and co-hosts the podcast Outrage + Optimism.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.______Sign up for The Pause — a Saturday morning companion to the podcast season.

Hear from Nigel Topping, Former UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP26, as we set the scene for COP28 in Dubai. The COP, or Conference of Parties, is the annual convention of the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is where all the high-level decision-making around the global transition to net-zero occurs – as such, it's an incredibly important event for stakeholders all around the world. With the next one just around the corner, this episode will set the scene for COP28 in Dubai, explaining the inner workings of the COP and identifying the key issues up for discussion. We'll explore: The successes and shortcomings of the COP mechanism, and how it squares up to the challenge of multilateral negotiations; The complex ecosystem of government, business, civil society and lobbying that has coalesced around the formal proceedings, and the challenges and opportunities that it brings; And the headline issues that will be faced (and hopefully resolved) over the course of COP28. To find out more about the Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) Certificate, follow this link: https://www.garp.org/scr For more information on climate risk, visit GARP's Global Sustainability and Climate Risk Resource Center: https://www.garp.org/sustainability-climate If you have any questions, thoughts, or feedback regarding this podcast series, we would love to hear from you at: climateriskpodcast@garp.com Links from today's discussion: UNFCCC High-Level Champions - https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/global-ambassadors/ Our Episode with Sir Dieter Helm - https://www.garp.org/podcast/not-net-zero-cr-210708 UNFCCC, Global Stocktake - https://unfccc.int/topics/global-stocktake The Inevitable Policy Response - https://www.unpri.org/sustainability-issues/climate-change/inevitable-policy-response Institute and Faculty of Actuaries/University of Exeter, The Emperor's New Climate Scenarios - https://actuaries.org.uk/emperors-new-climate-scenarios Rocky Mountain Institute, X-Change: Electricity - https://rmi.org/insight/x-change-electricity/ Speaker's Bio Nigel Topping, Global Ambassador with the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions As one of the 14 Global Ambassadors, Nigel was selected by the UN to help accelerate the implementation of net-zero targets and climate adaptation. Until November 2022, Nigel was the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion from COP26 in Glasgow, having been appointed by the UK Prime Minister in January 2020. Working alongside Egypt's High-Level Champion for COP27, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Nigel helped strengthen collaboration and drive action from businesses, investors, organisations, cities, and regions on climate change, and coordinate this work with governments and Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Previously, Nigel was CEO of We Mean Business, a coalition of businesses working to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy. Before that, he was Executive Director of the CDP, following an 18-year career in the private sector, having worked across the world in emerging markets and manufacturing. Nigel is also a non-executive director of the UK Infrastructure Bank, and is a member of the UK's Climate Change Committee.

Daniel Esty is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University's Environment,  Law, and Management Schools. He also serves as director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, co-director of the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, which he founded in 2007. Professor Esty is the author or editor of 14 books and 150+ articles on environmental protection, regulatory reform, energy policy, and sustainability and their connections to corporate strategy, competitiveness, trade, and economic success. Prior to his academic career, he earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School and his B.A. in Economics from Harvard University. He was also a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. Check out the Climate Finance Podcast Website for more information. Topics discussed: Harvard Undergrad Thesis with Dr. Richard Caves: Exploring the Relationship between Economic Power and Political Influence. Yale Law School: Learning about Environmental Issues and International Trade. International Environmental Pro-Bono Cases at Arnold & Porter that Shaped Daniel Esty's Career Trajectory. Joining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as Special Assistant to William Reilley in 1989 to Negotiating the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. Rio 1992 Earth Summit: “Success Versus Real Success.” Publishing his first book: Greening the GATT: Trade, Environment, and the Future (1994), with support from the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Council on Foreign Relations. Early Research Publications with Michael Porter: Industrial Ecology and Competitiveness: Strategic Implications for the firm (1998). National Environmental Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Policy Results and  Determinants (2005). Establishing the Environmental Performance Index in 2002 and maintaining the EPI for over two decades. “Green to Gold” Book Publications (2006-11): Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage with Andrew Winston (2006). The Green to Gold Business Playbook: How to Implement Sustainability Practices for Bottom-Line Results in Every Business Function with P.J. Simmons (2011). Daniel Esty's Accomplishments as the Commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (2011-14). Regulatory Transformation at CT DEEP. Formulating and Launching the United States First-ever Green Bank. Success of the Green Bank: Mobilized $1 billion in Clean Energy Investments by 2015, and the Green Bank Concept spread around the U.S. and the World. Recent Book Publications: A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future (2019) Special Essay: From Red Lights to Green Lights. Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting with Todd Cort (2020) Special Essays: Creating Next-Generation and Investment-Grade Corporate Sustainability Metrics. Advanced Introduction to U.S. Environmental Law with Donald Elliot (2021) Ongoing Work at the World Trade Organization with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (WTO Director-General). Co-founding The Remaking the Global Trading System for a Sustainable Future Project (Greening Global Trade). Daniel Esty's Advice to Listeners: Commitment to Ideas and Action. Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. The interview took place on 29th August 2023.

In this podcast episode, we have the privilege of interviewing Rafe Pomerance, an influential environmentalist and climate advocate, as he discussed his groundbreaking work with the Global Warming Mitigation Project beginning in the 1970s.  Pomerance's journey into climate advocacy began during his time as a political appointee in the U.S. Department of State, where he became deeply concerned about the threat of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.  Pomerance co-founded the Global Warming Mitigation Project in 1990, an initiative aimed at addressing the urgent challenge of climate change through international collaboration and policy action. Under Pomerance's leadership, the project successfully raised public awareness about global warming, reaching policymakers, businesses, and the public through media outreach and public speaking engagements. One of their notable achievements was their pivotal role in the negotiation and adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992, which laid the foundation for international cooperation on climate change mitigation and adaptation.  During the episode, Pomerance also discussed his involvement with ReThink Energy, a Florida nonprofit. This organization focuses on promoting renewable energy sources and advocating for a transition away from fossil fuels. Pomerance emphasized the importance of rethinking our energy systems and the need for swift action to mitigate climate change.  Throughout the conversation, Pomerance emphasized the urgency of the climate crisis and the necessity for collaboration among nations, policymakers, scientists, and the public. He stressed the significance of scientific evidence in driving policy decisions and highlighted the importance of individual engagement in sustainable choices and supporting organizations working towards climate solutions.  As the episode concluded, listeners were encouraged to educate themselves about climate change, support local and global climate organizations, and actively engage in discussions and actions that promote climate action. Rafe Pomerance's unwavering dedication and his contributions to the Global Warming Mitigation Project and ReThink Energy serve as an inspiring call to action for listeners to make a positive impact on the urgent issue of global warming. 

On background, listeners are aware that the US healthcare industry emits an enormous amount of GHG pollution, that hospitals are the largest contributor to industry emissions, that they are substantially energy in-efficient and that the industry's emissions alone cause innumerable and unrelenting health harm - disproportionately impacting are Medicare seniors and Medicaid children.  Despite these facts the healthcare industry on balance remains solidly uncommitted to decarbonizing. Finally, listeners are now likely well aware early this week the earth reached unprecedented temperatures and that last month was the warmest June globally in recorded history.During this interview Ms. Roschnik begins by providing an overview of the International Hospital Federation's mission, members and its recent foray into environmental sustainability, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. She discusses related sustainability programming, including master classes and running a learning lab. She discusses the upcoming October meeting in Lisbon, training tools including a sustainability accelerator tool, recognizing and addressing carbon emissions from all three scopes, the economics of decarbonizing, US exemplars, sustainability interest by health insurance carriers and accrediting organizations, NHS's related efforts, use of EPA's Energy Star energy efficiency program, and the benefit of embedding or integrating sustainability in hospital planning and operations. Ms. Sonia Roschnik is the Executive Director of the IHF's Sustainability Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. She also currently serves on the Board of the Climate Action Accelerator and is an honorary member of the UK's Faculty of Public Health. Ms. Roschnik worked previously as the International Climate Policy Director for the Centre from Health Care Without Harm. Previously still, she was Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit (2018–2020).  Ms. Roschnik is the author of the global roadmap to decarbonize healthcare (2021) and worked in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the UK presidency of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26. She holds a Master of Science degree in Systems Thinking and is a UK-registered occupational therapist.The IHF is at: https://ihf-fih.org/. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com

Welcome to episode 54 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. This week, we bring you a very special joint episode of The Way Out Is In and fellow podcast Outrage + Optimism, which explores the stories behind climate change headlines. From the peace and tranquility of the International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach and journalist Jo Confino speak with Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. Christiana Figueres, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh, was one of the architects of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, and is a valued member of the Plum Village Sangha. Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010 to 2016, she is also the co-founder of Global Optimism, co-host of Outrage + Optimism, and co-author of the bestselling The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis. Tom Rivett-Carnac is a political strategist, author, and podcaster who has spent more than 20 years working to address the climate and ecological crises. He is also a Founding Partner of Global Optimism, co-host of the podcast Outrage + Optimism, and co-author of The Future We Choose. Listeners of both podcasts are invited to join an intimate and deep conversation which covers the spiritual elements missing from the climate movement; moving beyond linear timelines into exponential transformation; how to develop the power within ourselves to drive change; non-attachment to views; listening without judgment; what happens when we all stop; and much more. Plus, what is spiritual power and how can it support us? So bring your tea to the table and let the radical collaboration begin. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/ With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resourcesChristiana Figuereshttp://christianafigueres.com/#/ Tom Rivett-Carnachttps://www.globaloptimism.com/tom-rivett-carnac The Art of Powerhttps://www.parallax.org/product/art-of-power/ Brother Phap Linh (Brother Spirit)https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/brother-phap-linh The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Villagehttps://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village The B Teamhttps://bteam.org/ The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)https://unfccc.int/Zen and the Art of Saving the Planethttps://www.harpercollins.com/products/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-thich-nhat-hanh Music for Difficult Times: Awakening the Heart of Compassion by Brother Phap Linhhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarhXTDs8Z4 The Way Out Is In: ‘Being the Change We Want to See in the World: A Conversation with Christiana Figueres (Episode #21)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/being-the-change-we-want-to-see-in-the-world-a-conversation-with-christiana-figueres-episode-21 The Way Out Is In: ‘Benefitting from a Spiritual Practice: In Conversation with Tom Rivett-Carnac (Episode #37)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/benefitting-from-a-spiritual-practice-in-conversation-with-tom-rivett-carnac-episode-37 The Way Out Is In: ‘Bringing the Ultimate Dimension Down to Earth (Episode #40)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/bringing-the-ultimate-dimension-down-to-earth-episode-40 Aeschylushttps://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aeschylus Quotes “Recognizing our own presence is already a power.” “The linearity of time is something that those of us who work on climate change live with on a daily basis. We have an alarm clock that is with us all the time because we have very clear timelines. We know that by 2100, we absolutely must have guaranteed that we do not go over 1.5 degrees [Celsius]. We know that in order to get there, we have to be at net zero by 2050. We know that in order to get to net zero by 2050, we have to be at one half of global emissions by 2030. And we know that to be at half emissions by 2030, we have to reduce yearly by 7%. So we take time and we pull it into our current experience and we derive mathematically, we derive then the implications of time upon our work. And so it is not surprising that those of us who work on climate change have a huge anxiety about time.” “Time and space, we have to be attentive and mindful of them, but we can also be free from them, because this present moment that we’re living deeply is the seed that we need to plant for the future.” “Some of our transformation and actions of today, we may not see them until two, three, or five generations later – but nothing is lost. And that is the insight. And I believe it’s the truth of karma. The word karma, for us, is not what you hear in music: ‘What comes around, goes around,' ‘Do better'… Yes, do better, but karma is much more profound than that. The actions of today, we don’t see them. Some of it, we will experience right away; we experience the transformation right away. But there are deeper transformations that need time for ripening.” “Love has no frontier, it goes on forever.” “There’s no way to find common ground without respecting and understanding the differences, because then you don’t see what’s common.” “You can be a different person in how you show up.” “When you are able to live in the present moment, the right action emerges out of that space, out of that ultimate dimension that you are able to inhabit. If you can stay there and can trust that the best way to prepare for the future is to be in the present moment when it comes – rather than spend all of your time in your head trying to plan it out and think it through, which I think a lot of people get stuck in. Then, when that moment comes, what’s needed is there.” “Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God” – Aeschylus.

This year's climate talks have already drawn widespread criticism. Can they make progress?COP28, this year's Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is still five months away, but the discussion around it is already intense. The conference is being held in Dubai, a choice that has drawn criticism because the United Arab Emirates is one of the world's leading oil-producing countries. Last year's COP27, held in Egypt, was widely considered a failure. There was a lack of new commitments to cut emissions, and many analysts have concluded that the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees C is now slipping out of reach. Environmental groups have warned that the influence of fossil fuel producers could mean that COP28 marks another year without real progress.On the other hand, there is an argument that the effort to tackle climate change has to be global, involving every country in the world, even if not every country makes the same contribution. Oil-producing countries, and the countries that use that oil, have to be included in the negotiations. If they are not, the effort to cut global emissions will fail.Joining host Ed Crooks to explore the issues around COP28 is Emily Grubert, Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy Policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. They are joined by Joseph Majkut, Director of the Energy, Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The gang also discuss battery technologies for long duration energy storage. As wind and solar now, there's a greatly increased need for more solutions to help manage the stability of the grid, and companies are now coming forward with commercially viable long duration batteries to meet that need.What are the new technologies beyond the lithium ion batteries used in everything from phones to EVs? How can our electricity systems be made more resilient with the help of batteries that can deliver power not just for a few hours, but for several days? As grids across North America are challenged by heatwaves and wildfires, it is an increasingly urgent question.Follow the show on Twitter – we're @theenergygang and subscribe so you don't miss an episode.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We need to talk about COP28, the 28th installment of the United Nations Climate Talks, which will take place in Dubai, UAE at the end of this year. For the first time ever, the CEO of an oil company - literally the constituency that must stop all new oil & gas and phase-down existing oil & gas - has been appointed as the President of a COP - literally the global forum which is supposed to phase-down the production of oil & gas. Does this mean that Big Oil has finally succeeded in completing its hijacking of the annual meeting of 198 countries to act on climate? Should the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat be going nuts about it and acting (fat chance, probably)? Or does fighting climate change require all hands on deck, as some prominent voices have argued? Listen, weep or cheer, and make up your own mind. Then do something about it. 

Land use, pollution and the climate crisis are driving what may be the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the planet has seen an average 68% drop in mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian populations since 1970. In order to help address species collapse, over 190 countries – signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biodiversity – recently agreed to an ambitious new plan, called 30x30, which aims to conserve 30% of the world's land and waters by 2030. Will the framework be enough to bring biodiversity back from the breaking point?  This episode is supported in part by Resources Legacy Fund. Guests: Tanya Sanerib, International Legal Director, Center for Biological Diversity Ian Urbina, Director and Founder, The Outlaw Ocean Project  Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Managing Director of Policy, Nia Tero  For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Land use, pollution and the climate crisis are driving what may be the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the planet has seen an average 68% drop in mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian populations since 1970. In order to help address species collapse, over 190 countries – signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biodiversity – recently agreed to an ambitious new plan, called 30x30, which aims to conserve 30% of the world's land and waters by 2030. Will the framework be enough to bring biodiversity back from the breaking point?  This episode is supported in part by Resources Legacy Fund. Guests: Tanya Sanerib, International Legal Director, Center for Biological Diversity Ian Urbina, Director and Founder, The Outlaw Ocean Project  Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Managing Director of Policy, Nia Tero  For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices