In the 3rd episode of the 2nd season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Dennis “Denny” McGinn, a retired Vice Admiral from the United States Navy, about why climate change is a threat to global security and stability. 

Prior to his retirement, Vice Admiral McGinn served as the Commander of the 3rd US Fleet and as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. He crowned a distinguished military career by working as President Obama’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 2013 to 2017. In this capacity, Vice Admiral McGinn led the ‘greening’ of U.S. naval installations toward greater resiliency to climate change. 

He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the American think-tank “The Center for Climate and Security”. 

Vice Admiral McGinn explains how a group of retired high-ranking officers first raised political awareness in the US about climate change as a national security threat. Their 2007 report “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change” was seminal in portraying climate change as a “threat multiplier” for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.

McGinn argues that climate change is a threat multiplier that exacerbates existing challenges like resource conflicts, food security and cross-border migration and points to the conflict in Syria as an example of this.

Moreover, he points out that climate change is not just changing the geography by creating droughts and new shipping routes, but is also altering the foundations of geopolitics with widespread ramifications for the Arctic and the relationship between the great powers. 

He portends that the development is making “soft power” more important and set limits for traditional “hard power”, such as the use of military force. In McGinn’s view, NATO and its member states are currently insufficiently prepared to handle this change.

The Vice Admiral also talks about his work to make the US Navy more resilient to climate change and to reduce its carbon footprint. 

In the 2nd episode of season 2 of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Li Shuo from Greenpeace East Asia about Chinese domestic and international climate politics ahead of COP26.

 Li Shuo works as Greenpeace’s Senior Climate and Energy Policy Officer  in Beijing and leads the NGO’s international political delegation at the COP-meetings. Thus, he offers a unique insight regarding China’s domestic environmental policies and its relationship to the international climate negotiations.

 Li Shuo argues that the Sino-American relationship has deteriorated during Trump’s Presidency and is now at rock bottom. Thus, even though both countries realize that they have to work together in order to achieve a successful outcome at COP26, it will be quite difficult to resume the bilateral collaboration that forged the Paris Agreement.

 Accordingly, the EU could play an important role at COP26, in what Li Shuo describes as a “tricycle dynamic”. Due to Europe’s ambitious climate goals and policies, it acts as the tricycle’s front wheel, while the US and China have been acting as parallel rear-wheels.

Li Shuo also provides a different perspective on China’s recent dual goals to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. He argues that the announcement of the goals in and by itself should be seen as a trial balloon to gauge the level of consensus within the Chinese leadership for unilateral climate action. 

Furthermore, he explains how China’s remarkable economic growth over the last four decades was largely spurred by coal-based manufacturing. However, while economic growth remains a priority for the Chinese leadership, the resulting air pollution has emerged as a defining political priority.

However, while China’s leadership is trying to wean the country off coal, it faces stiff opposition from the domestic coal industry that retains preferential access to the electricity grid and seeks to delay deployment of renewables.

In this first episode of a new season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with David Wallace-Wells about the multitude of interlinked problems created by climate change. 

Wallace-Wells, a journalist and deputy editor of New York Magazine, achieved global fame by writing the long-form essay “The Uninhabitable Earth” in 2017. 

The essay laid out – in excruciating detail – just how dire the climate crisis is for the prospects of human civilization. Wallace-Wells went beyond the traditional portrayals of rising sea levels and extreme weather events, by focusing on how it also affects food security, access to freshwater, spread of communicable disease and armed conflict.
In 2019, David Wallace-Wells expanded on the article and wrote a book with the same title that reached the number one spot on the New York Times Bestseller List.  

On the podcast, Jørgensen and Wallace-Wells discuss how the media’s coverage of climate change has been misleading on three counts: 

1) speed, 2) scope and 3) severity. 

Furthermore, Wallace-Wells describes not only the range of possibilities for the destruction of our physical world, but also puts the spotlight on how climate change will affect us as human beings. 

However, Wallace-Wells warns against taking a fatalistic view and points to the rapid development of renewable energy as a cause for optimism.

In the 14th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Sharan Burrow about how we can make the green transition fair for workers.

Burrow is General Secretary of “ITUC” (the International Trade Union Confederation), a Brussels-based union organization that works to promote and defend workers’ rights and interests around the world. 

During Burrow’s tenure as General Secretary, ITUC has become an increasingly important voice on climate action but remains deeply committed to a “just transition” and calls for measures to protect workers, their families and communities.

She argues that unions and employers should strengthen their dialogue and create a “floor”, a strong basis of worker’s rights, as it is the case in the Nordic countries. 

It is not only a question of providing job training for skills needed in the renewable energy sector, but also about shielding workers from the economic turmoil  that the transition creates.

Thus, we should learn from the mistakes made during the financial crisis and shun austerity measures, and increase taxation on the wealthiest and international tech-companies.

Burrow also points to the importance of national transition agreements such as the one the Spanish government concluded with its coal miners. However, to attain a truly just transition, we must focus on all sectors as exemplified by Scotland’s “Just Transition Commission”.

In the 13th episode of Planet A, we commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, as Dan Jørgensen talks with Alden Meyer about the history of the international climate negotiations. 

Meyer is one of the world’s most prominent advisers on climate policy and served as Director of Strategy and Policy at the Union of Concerned Scientistsfor four decades. Today he is senior associate for the climate think-tank E3G. 

During the conversation, Meyer takes us through from the adoption of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992 to the conclusion of the Paris Agreement in 2015.

He explains how COP15, while often described as a failure, also helped lay the groundwork for the Paris Agreement by introducing voluntary climate goals and a mechanism for ramping up national ambitions.

Furthermore, Meyer discusses the numerous conflicts throughout the negotiation between the developed and the developing countries as well as between fossil fuel companies and NGOs.

Meyer argues that the world is “moving in the right direction, but not fast enough”. Yet, he remains an optimist due to the surge of climate activism from young people around the globe and the increasing climate action from sub-national actors such as cities and states. 

In the 12th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Poland’s Minister of Climate and Environment, Michał Kurtyka, about his experience as President of COP24 as well as his country’s goal to reduce coal power and build more renewable energy.

This is no small feat, considering how important coal mining is to the Polish economy.

Thus the overarching theme of this episode is the question of a “just transition” and its impact on Poland. The country has been the European heartland of coal mining for ages. When the Iron Curtain fell, more than 400.000 Poles worked in the coal industry. Today, that number is down to 80.000 people.

Kurtyka talks about the challenges to retrain coal miners for other jobs. He argues it is not a mere question of providing new opportunities, but that the strong identity of mining communities makes the transition difficult.

At the same time, Kurtyka has presented an ambitious plan to reduce coal power and deploy more renewable energy. He recently released ”PEP2040” - the plan for Poland’s energy policy to 2040 - aiming to reduce coal’s share of the country’s electricity generation from about 75% at present to 37-56% in 2030 and 11-28% by 2040. 

To reach the goal, Poland will build 8 GW capacity of offshore wind energy in the Baltic Sea. Drawing on Denmark’s extensive experiences with offshore wind, the Polish government is collaborating with its Danish counterpart.

Kurtyka is a truly remarkable political figure. He started his career as a civil servant, but made the unusual transition from civil service to political office, when he was appointed as Poland’s first Minister of Climate and Environment in 2019.

Prior to becoming a Minister, he worked as Poland’s State Secretary of Energy and the President of COP24 in 2018. In this capacity, he successfully guided the conference that led to the agreement of the so-called Katowice Rulebook.

In the 11th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with the former Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed. 

Mr. Nasheed managed to put his country on the map of global climate politics during his tenure as President of the Maldives (2008-12) and became one of the strongest global voices on climate action.

After being ousted in 2012, Nasheed was exiled to England where he was granted political asylum. However, two years ago, he returned to the Maldives and last year his party (The Maldives Democratic Party) won the parliamentary election in a landslide victory. Today, he serves as the Speaker of the Maldivian Parliament.

Despite of his stature as an international luminary of the international climate negotiations, Mr. Nasheed believes that next year’s COP in Glasgow should be the last COP.

He argues that the COP-process is so constrained by its consensus-based decision-making process that it has run its course. He further contends that the general approach to climate action, based on the premise that people should give up economic development is misguided.

Mr. Nasheed reasons that the developed world simply does not have sufficient means to finance the developing countries green transition. Thus, he calls for a new approach to economics that combines high employment and GDP growth with a low carbon strategy.

During the conversation, Mr. Nasheed also call for a radically different approach to climate adaptation, that advances nature based solutions. Not only should the Maldives use natural reefs or mangrove as infrastructure to cope with rising sea levels. Mr. Nasheed also emphasizes the need to double down on “assisted evolution” and the use of genetically modified corals.

He also touches upon the Maldives ambition to become carbon neutral, the importance of public-private partnerships and the possibility of resettling the Maldivian population on artificial, floating islands.

In the 10th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Barack Obama's former Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz. 

Dr. Moniz holds a doctoral degree in theoretical nuclear physics and made his first foray into Washington-politics as President Bill Clinton’s Under Secretary of Energy (1997-2001).

He is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet, when it comes to energy, science and politics. Thus, it should be no surprise that POLITICO ranks him as a leading contender to be President-elect Joe Biden’s next Secretary of Energy

During the conversation, Dr. Moniz shares his view on the future of American climate and energy politics, in the wake of the recent elections. He also speaks on the promise and pitfalls of specific technologies, including:

• Carbon capture, usage and storage
• Technology enhanced natural processes such as “advanced mineralization”
• Advanced nuclear
• Hydrogen
• Renewables

Dr. Moniz also talks about his experience with directing governmental energy technology research and development. Furthermore, he speaks about the need for social equity in energy politics. Finally, he explains how his knowledge about politics and science came in handy as he negotiated both the Iran Nuclear Agreement and the Paris Agreement.

He started his illustrious academic career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (perhaps best known as the MIT) in 1973 and is currently serving as Director of their Energy Initiative, working to develop no-carbon and low-carbon solutions. 

A brief note on this episode: 

During the interview, Moniz and Jørgensen touch upon President Theodore Roosevelt’s friendship with the Danish immigrant, Jacob Riis. Riis became a prominent activist, documenting the deplorable social conditions of the poor in New York City and calling for social equity.

You can learn more about Jacob Riis at the US Library of Congress homepage or at the homepage of the Danish “Jacob A. Riis Museum”.

In the 9th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Svenja Schulze

Minister Schulze is one of the world’s most important decision makers in contemporary climate politics. 

In her current job, she is not only facing the monumental task of decarbonizing Germany, Europe’s largest economy. Minister Schulze is also shouldering a vital international task, as Germany holds the presidency of the European Council for the autumn of 2020.

The German presidency comes at a crucial moment for European politics in general and for climate politics in particular. 

In this episode, Minister Schulze speaks about the European Union’s climate agenda during her tenure. To her, the two most important items this fall are the European Climate Law and the new EU 2030-emission reduction target.

Schulze points to the Commission’s assessment that an increased climate target of at least 55 percent will be beneficial to the EU’s economy and essential for sustaining global climate momentum. Reflecting on her role as a moderator, Schulze points to the fact that the member states have different starting points when it comes to the deployment of renewable energy.

She concludes that a legally binding climate law, combined with an increased reduction target will result in more than 50 new EU laws. This will pave the way for a green transition and create abundant opportunities for green growth that can help revitalize the economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 8th episode of Planet A is a special edition, featuring highlights from the preceding 7 episodes of the podcast. 

The roster of guests is (in order of appearance on this episode): 

• Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Dr. Jane Goodall,  Primatologist and Conservationist
• Katherine Richardson, Professor in Biological Oceanography at the University of Copenhagen
• Lord Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.
• Jeffrey Sachs, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
• Dr. Julio Friedmann, Lead of President Obama’s Research and Development program for Carbon Capture and Storage and CO2 utilization.
• John Kerry, former U.S. Secretary of State.

You can hear their views on some of the most pressing issues related to climate change, including tipping points, The Paris Agreement and the future COP process, COVID-19, the global politics of climate change, the economics of climate change and the prospects of technological developments and solutions.