This episode features a conversation with Boaz Paldi, Chief Creative Officer at the United Nations Development Programme. It was recorded in February 2025.

In this role, Boaz oversees UNDP’s advocacy, campaigns, events, and activations. For example, back in 2021, he launched the now iconic #DontChooseExtinction campaign, featuring a dinosaur gatecrashing the UN General Assembly, highlighting research that revealed that for every dollar pledged to tackle the climate crisis, four dollars are spent on fossil fuel subsidies that keep that same crisis alive. Last year, Boaz delivered the award-winning #WeatherKids campaign, which used children to deliver weather reports from the future, spotlighting the catastrophic consequences of global inaction on climate change and its impact on the next generations.

Through these, and other, activations at the UN, Boaz continues to push the envelope on the kinds of communication we see when it comes to climate, more broadly, as well as shifting what’s expected, and see as acceptable, when it comes to the messaging coming out of the most significant organization on the planet.

Prior to joining UNDP, Boaz worked as a TV journalist for almost two decades, covering conflicts, natural disasters, and human-interest stories across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, first for the BBC, then for Reuters, where he worked as Executive Producer for TV News.

Amongst other things, Boaz and I discussed the essential components of great climate campaigns, what happens behind the scenes to bring groundbreaking activations to life, and how the element of surprise can help us break through the noise.

Additional links:

Watch the #Don’tChooseExtinction campaign film

Find out more about #WeatherKids

Watch Weather Kids on YouTube

Check out Activista Agency

See more from the Framestore Production House

Explore work from climate writer Casey Rand

Discover Anzu in-game advertising

See more work from The Artery

See Oli Frost annoy fossil fuel financiers

Check out the documentary film, The Game Changers