Carnegie Council Podcasts

Five years since the Paris Agreement came to fruition, Paul Watkinson talks to C2GTalk to provide some personal reactions, drawing on his long experience of climate action, about what comes next. How and when do we start thinking about the large-scale carbon dioxide removal that may be needed to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to well below 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels? What multilateral approaches might the world need to govern solar radiation modification?

Paul Watkinson has more than 20 years of experience in multilateral negotiations and action on climate and sustainable development issues. He served for many years as chief negotiator of France on international climate change issues. In particular, he was a member of the steering committee of COP21, heading the climate negotiating team and contributing to the development of the Paris Agreement.

He was chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for 2018 and 2019 and a member of the bureau of the COP for those two years. As such, he worked closely with the other presiding officers to put together the package of decisions adopted in Katowice in December 2018 that constitute the rulebook of the Paris Agreement as well as other decisions and conclusions to implement the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. He worked closely with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to ensure that the best available science could be used by parties in their work under the UNFCCC and also ensure a closer cooperation in multilateral work to tackle climate change and biodiversity. From 2009 until 2013 he was one of the lead negotiators of the European Union in the multilateral climate negotiations.

For more, including an edited transcript, please go to C2G's website.

This interview was recorded on November 17, 2020, and is available with interpretation into 中文, Español and Français.

Island peoples may well consider climate-altering approaches, like carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation modification, because of the existential threat posed by climate change, said Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson during a C2GTalk interview. One of the main challenges, in her view, is how to ensure that the most vulnerable will have a seat at the table when these approaches are considered.

Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson is the permanent representative of Barbados to the United Nations. She has worked in development policy for nearly 25 years. She served as an elected member of Parliament from 1994 to 2008, and at various times as minister of energy and environment, housing and lands, physical development and planning, and health.

Thompson served as assistant secretary-general of the United Nations as one of two executive coordinators at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, and engaged in a number of advisory roles within the UN system, including on the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, in the Office of the UN Secretary General, UNDP, the President of the General Assembly and on the Secretary General's global energy initiative, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL). This interview was recorded on November 24, 2020.

For more, including an edited transcript, please visit C2G's website.

The world faces a planetary emergency that requires considering all possible options to tackle it, said Johan Rockström, in a C2GTalk interview. Speaking just before the Climate Ambition Summit in December 2020, he said this was a critical moment to put the world on an irreversible path towards decarbonization, to ensure that any consideration of additional approaches—such as solar radiation modification—would not undermine that essential work.

Johan Rockström is director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam. Rockström is an internationally recognized scientist for his work on global sustainability issues. He spearheaded the internationally renowned team of scientists that developed the planetary boundaries framework, which are argued to be fundamental in maintaining a "safe operating space for humanity."

Aside from his research helping to guide policy, he acts as an advisor to several governments and business networks, and at noteworthy international meetings, such as the United Nations General Assemblies, World Economic Forums, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conferences (UNFCCC).

For more, including an edited transcript, please visit C2G's website.

This interview was recorded on December 3, 2020, and is also available with interpretation into 中文, Español and Français.

The 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly ended this week in New York with little fanfare. Yet important global discussions took place in both in-person and virtual meetings. Seton Hall University's School of Diplomacy and International Relations' Dr. Catherine Tinker joins Doorstep co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to discuss what the media missed and how the UN still plays an important role as the "People's House" bringing nations together to solve and be accountable for transnational problems like climate change, migration, and COVID-19.

What can we learn about China's ambitions from studying how its diplomats operate? In his new book "China's Civilian Army," Bloomberg's Peter Martin draws on memoirs and first-hand reporting in Beijing, to share the untold story of China's "wolf warriors," its highly disciplined diplomats who have a combative approach to asserting Chinese interests. Martin joins Senior Fellows Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev for a fascinating conversation on China's diplomatic army.

Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative's C2GTalk is a series of one-on-one interviews with influential practitioners and thought leaders, exploring the governance challenges raised by emerging approaches to alter the climate. Discussions touch on a range of ethical, cultural, economic, and political issues, whilst staying grounded in the practical and personal experiences of our guests.

In this introduction to the series, Mark Turner, host of C2GTalk, and Janos Pasztor, executive director of C2G and senior fellow at Carnegie Council, define some climate-altering technologies and discuss the work of C2G. What is carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation modification? How is C2G catalyzing conversations about the governance of these technologies? Check Carnegie Council's podcast channel every Monday for a new C2GTalk.

For more, visit C2G's website.

Politicé's Emmanuala Douyon and Brooklyn College's Jean Eddy Saint Paul join "Doorstep" co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to discuss lessons learned from Haiti's interconnected history with the U.S. and how these ideas could help the country out of its current political crisis. As the region's first Black republic and with a growing population of U.S. citizens living there, what does Haiti's future look like? How can the U.S. more effectively engage its near neighbors in the Caribbean?

In the 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, national security decisions have tested the values of American democracy. This panel, hosted by Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal, examines lessons learned from the past two decades of conflict and the role that ethical action must play in helping to provide security while adhering to democratic principles. National security experts N. W. Collins, Sean McFate, and General Joseph Votel share their thoughts on these critical issues.

One year after the global protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, where are we in terms of racial justice? In this podcast, University of Chicago's Adom Getachew looks back on the Carnegie Council/Open Society University Network "Protests in Perspective" series and discusses some early impressions of the Biden administration and details the status of protest movements around the world. Where has progress been made? How can we continue to move these conversations and actions forward?

Doorstep co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin are joined by Paul Saunders, president of the Energy Innovation Reform Project, to evaluate Vice President Kamala Harris' recent trip to Singapore and Vietnam and enumerate moves by the U.S. to engage partners in Southeast Asia. What are U.S. regional priorities and how are they related to doorstep issues? How will China and Russia respond to U.S. assertiveness? Join our discussion and send comments to @DoorstepPodcast on Twitter or email us at [email protected].