The Climate Briefing

Ambassador Patricia Espinosa Cantellano served as executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between July 2016 and July 2022.

In this role, she headed the UN entity tasked with supporting the global response to climate change.

In this episode of the Climate Briefing, Ambassador Cantellano talks about the major developments in international climate politics during her tenure, and discusses the key issues tackled by the role of executive secretary at the UNFCCC.

A conversation with Vanatu's climate change minister about building a coalition within the United Nations (UN) to request an advisory opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

An advisory opinion could help provide clarity on how existing international laws can be applied to strengthen action on climate change, protect people and the environment, and save the Paris Agreement.

To find out more about the ICJ initiative and its potential impact on climate action, Anna speaks to His Excellency Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Meteorology and Geo-Hazards, Energy, Environment and Disaster Risk Management.

In December 2021, governments agreed on a new Global Biodiversity Framework to halt and reverse the alarming rate of biodiversity loss we are currently witnessing. But will the new framework make a difference? To find out, Antony speaks to Professor Andrew Gonzalez of McGill University.

In the first episode of the season, Anna speaks to Laurence Tubiana about the outcomes of the 2022 UN climate conference in Egypt, COP27, and the issues that will shape the international climate agenda in 2023.

Tubiana was a key architect of the Paris Agreement in her previous role as France's Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for COP21, and currently serves as CEO of the European Climate Foundation and a professor at Sciences Po.

South Asia is home to one-quarter of the global population who reside in only 3.5 per cent of the world's land area, making it the most populous and most densely-populated region in the world.

It is also one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change: a recent study found that Chittagong in Bangladesh and Ahmedabad in India are two of the fastest-sinking coastal cities, leaving millions of people vulnerable to rising sea levels.

This episode takes place during COP15, the UN's Biodiversity Conference, and explores how climate change is threatening coastal cities, including megacities like Mumbai, Karachi, and Dhaka, and how community initiatives such as the Fishing Cat Conservancy are responding to adapt and build resilience.

The discussion also considers whether there are alternative models to foster regional cooperation and to encourage working together on a common climate agenda.

Speakers:

• Yusuf Jameel, Research Manager, Project Drawdown
• Ashwin Naidu, Founder, Fishing Cat Conservancy
• Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education
• Anum Farhan, Programme Coordinator, Environment and Society Programme, Chatham House

Earlier this year, India and Pakistan witnessed a prolonged heatwave, starting in March months before usual hot weather. This was followed by, and was in part the cause of, major flooding in Pakistan, as well as in parts of India.

The heatwave severely affected agriculture, while the flooding came with immense cost to property and infrastructure. Millions of people were affected.

South Asia has experienced devastating climate extremes – more than half of all South Asians have been affected by at least one climate-related disaster in the last two decades.

In this episode, Gareth speaks to Aisha Khan, Executive Director, Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change; Dr Daanish Mustafa, Professor in Critical Geography, King's College London; and Jakob Steiner, Glacier Hydrologist, ICIMOD.

They discuss how climate risks in South Asia are being felt, and how the region can work to build resilience to these threats.

Negotiators left COP26 in Glasgow with a relatively ambitious outcome. What progress has been made on the climate agenda since COP26, and what are some of the key issues to watch at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh?

Mere days before COP27, Anna is joined by Bernice Lee (Hoffmann Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House) to discuss these important questions.

Read the explainer:

What are the key issues at COP27?

The crossover between water security and climate change is hugely important especially given that the next two COPs are taking place in Africa and the Middle East, both with a history of being water stressed.

What should policymakers and negotiators from these regions working on water security focus on at COP27? What does it mean to achieve water security? What are the main barriers or challenges? How is water security relevant to climate change?

Carol Chouchani Cherfane – Director, Arab Centre for Climate Change Policies; Cluster Leader, Climate Change and Natural Resource Sustainability, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Sareen Malik – Executive Secretary of the African Civil Society Network for Water and Sanitation (ANEW) and Vice Chair of the Steering Committee for the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) Partnership

Chair: Antony Froggatt – Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, Environment and Society Programme, Chatham House

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the UK Aid-funded Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) programme which facilitates the use of evidence and learning in international development policy and programming.

The Climate Briefing podcast returns! The new season kicks off with an episode focusing on the next UN climate change conference (COP27), which takes place 7-18 November 2022 in Egypt.

Anna speaks to Tom Evans from E3G about what the conference aims to achieve, what the main challenges are, and what needs to happen in the run-up to the summit to enable a good outcome.

Quamrul Chowdhury has been involved in the climate negotiations for almost three decades. He currently serves as a lead negotiator for the G77 and the least developed countries group, and is a member of Bangladesh's negotiating team. In this bonus episode of the Climate Briefing, Anna speaks to Mr. Chowdhury about the outcome of COP26.

Find out more:

COP26: What happened, what does this mean, and what happens next? >> https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/11/cop26-what-happened-what-does-mean-and-what-happens-next

Undercurrents: COP26 analysis, and the politics of language survival >> https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/11/undercurrents-cop26-analysis-and-politics-language-survival

How to ensure the COP26 forest declaration is a success >> https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/11/how-ensure-cop26-forest-declaration-success

Credits:

Speakers: Quamrul Chowdhury

Host: Anna Aberg

Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services

Recorded and produced by Chatham House