The Climate Briefing (Chatham House)

Coming fresh from the Chatham House Energy Transitions Conference, Ruth Townend is joined in the studio by IPCC lead author on demand, Professor Felix Creutzig, Dr Christina Demski, Deputy Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation, and Toby Park, Principle Advisor and Head of Energy, Environment and Sustainability at the Behavioural Insights Team.

Together they discuss why we need to talk about behaviour change, however uncomfortable the conversation, and explore hot topics such as green lash, heat pumps and the future of cities.

Presented by Ruth Townend. Sound by Matthew Docherty and Jamie Reed.

Sign up to The Climate Briefing wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe

Brazil is presiding over the next UN climate change conference, COP30. In this episode, Anna and Ruth are joined by the Chief Executive Officer of COP30, Ana Toni, to discuss what the aims of the conference are, what Brazil’s COP30 diplomatic strategy looks like, and what the UNFCCC's post-negotiation phase’ means.

Climate finance is vital to tackling climate change and decarbonising economies. Past pledges, however, have often failed to deliver, especially for developing countries. In the lead-up to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, climate finance will be a major topic. Ruth Townend is joined by Jamie Fergusson, global director for Climate Business for International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, and Creon Butler, Director of the Global Economy and Finance program at Chatham House to discuss what action is needed, and from whom.

In 2021 the UK is hosting COP26, but also presiding over the G7. How can it leverage its presidency of the G7 to accelerate climate action in the run-up to COP26? To discuss this, Anna is joined by Rachel Kyte, Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University. They consider the key opportunities and debates that will emerge at the G7 Leaders Summit. 

Read the Chatham House briefing:

Kick-starting the green recovery in 2021

Credits:

Speaker: Rachel Kyte

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

September 2021 saw a series of significant diplomatic events which could be key to successful climate negotiations at COP26. Now with mere weeks to go before the main event, attention is increasing on the major actors in Glasgow. To find out the state of play, Anna speaks with Bernice Lee, Hoffmann Distinguished Fellow for Sustainability at Chatham House. 

Read The World Today article:

Ideology: Storms lie ahead in clash of climate champions

Credits:

Speaker: Bernice Lee

Host: Anna Aberg

Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced at Chatham House

Antony Froggatt is joined in the studio by Ed Mountfield who is Vice President of the World Bank in charge of Operational Policy and Country Service.

Finance remains one of the most important and contentious issues in the international climate change negotiations. As COP28 approaches, Antony discusses with Ed the World Bank's ongoing reform initiatives and delves into the degree to which climate change is given priority within these reforms. They explore the implications of this prioritization for other development objectives.

Ruth Townend is joined by Antony Froggatt, Deputy Director and Glada Lahn, Senior Research Fellow, both of the Chatham House Environment and Society Centre to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition in key under-attended-to sectors, including non-energy-uses of fossil fuels.

The podcast builds upon a series of four Chatham House roundtables kindly supported by AIG. The series explored topics including chemicals, fertilizers and plastics, the impact of the energy transition on the financial sector, rising geopolitical and market concerns about critical materials, and the phase-down of fossil fuels.

The geoeconomics of climate change are shifting. The US and the EU are among those launching major packages to gain a competitive advantage as economies transition. 

In this episode of the Climate Briefing, Antony speaks to Jane Nakano (Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS) and Suzana Carp (Cleantech for Europe) about how the US and the EU are positioning themselves in the new era of green industrial policy.

Increasingly severe climate change impacts are wreaking destruction across the world, with disastrous implications for human health, wellbeing, livelihoods, culture and security. How to deal with ‘loss and damage’ caused by climate change was for long a controversial topic within the UN climate negotiations, but at COP27 in 2022 governments agreed to establish a dedicated fund to assist developing countries in responding to the challenge.

In this episode of the Climate Briefing, Anna Aberg and Nina Jeffs (standing in for Ruth Townend) speak to Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, the Executive Director of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, about what progress that has been made in operationalizing the fund, what lies ahead, what some of the main challenges are and how the fund interacts with the wider economic architecture.

To learn more about how loss and damage finance has featured in the climate negotiations, please see the Chatham House research paper ‘Loss and damage finance in the climate negotiations: key challenges and next steps’ (available here) and the expert comment ‘The historic loss and damage fund’ (available here).

The Climate Briefing returns from its summer break with a deepdive into the history of the international climate agenda.

Professor Robert Falkner of the Grantham Institute speaks to Ben about the origins of the UN-led climate negotiations, and explains why some conferences have been more successful than others.

Then Anna discusses the historic role developing countries have played in the climate agenda with Professor Kathryn Hochstetler from the London School of Economics.

Read the International Affairs article:

The Paris Agreement and the new logic of climate politics 

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 race to create a net-zero, sustainable world, activities like mining and farming can clash with the lives of people in forests and rural areas. As the international community ponders over solutions for responsible resource management, Ghana's experiences offer invaluable lessons.

In this first episode of a two-part special of the Climate Briefing, Henry Throp takes us through a journey of discovery through the Ghanaian Gold mining industry, and the illegal artisanal gold mining, known in Ghana as the Galamsey.  Using recordings of interviews captured during a May 2023 field trip to Ghana, he explores the intricate juggling act between caring for the land, ensuring sustainable livelihoods, and meeting the rising demand for metals and lucrative cash crops.

 The episode is published in association with our new article, “Net-zero’s nature knot: A tug of war with rural realities”, which is available on our forest governance website here: https://forestgovernance.chathamhouse.org/publications/net-zeros-nature-knot-a-tug-of-war-with-rural-realities

Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre reassembles to discuss the outcomes of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, what this means for climate finance and multilateralism, and how Ben’s Christmas jumper sums up the interconnected challenges developed countries face in balancing global resilience with domestic obligations. With Chris Aylett, Richard King and Ruth Townend, and special guest host Ben Horton. 

Former US Climate Envoy Todd Stern and Director of Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre Ana Yang join hosts Ruth Townend and Anna Aberg to talk about prospects for climate action in 2025. Following Trump's inauguration, what are the likely consequences for climate diplomacy, and how will Brazil balance domestic demands against international obligations as COP30 and BRICS president this year?

With a UK a general election rapidly approaching, as announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the pouring rain, it seems that the commitment of both main parties to tackling climate change is looking almost as bedraggled as the prime minister himself.

Ruth Townend is joined by Rachel Brisley, Ipsos’s Head of Energy and Environment and Olivia O’Sullivan, the director of Chatham House’s UK in the World Programme to discuss what role the environment will play in elections, what the public really think, and whether the UK can still stake a claim to climate leadership.

The Climate Briefing is a monthly podcast from Chatham House, exploring the major issues that shape international debates around climate change. 

In this first episode, the team focus on what happened – and what didn’t happen – at the last UN Climate Change Conference, the COP25 in Madrid, and what it will mean for the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow.

Anna and Johanna are joined by two guests; Archie Young, the UK’s lead climate negotiator, and Peter Betts, an Associate Fellow at Chatham House with long experience from the UN climate negotiations.

Read the Meeting Summary:

Outcomes of the Madrid COP25 and what this means for 2020

Follow us on Twitter:

@CH_Environment

Credits:

Speakers: Peter Betts, Archibald Young

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Johanna Tilkanen, Ben Horton

Sound Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced at Chatham House.

Critical raw materials - like rare earths, cobalt and lithium - play a central role in the energy transition and profoundly influence geopolitical dynamics. Their extraction may also amplify conflict and fragility risks in host countries. In this episode of the Climate Briefing, Ruth and Anna speak to Olivia Lazard (Fellow at Carnegie Europe) and Sophia Kalantzakos (Global Distinguished Professor, Environmental Studies and Public Policy, NYU Abu Dhabi) about the interlinkages between critical raw materials and geopolitics, the challenges associated with extraction, and what a ‘good’ strategy for securing future access might look like.

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.

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

More than five years have passed since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, and there are only nine months to go until COP26. To kick off its second season the Climate Briefing podcast focuses on how climate change politics have shifted since COP21 in Paris, and explores the roles of the three largest emitters – China, the United States and the EU – in global climate action. The episode also provides a timely recap of the main aims of COP26.

To discuss these themes, Anna and Ben are joined by Camilla Born (Deputy Director of Strategy for COP26 in the UK Cabinet Office) and Antony Froggatt (Deputy Director of the Energy, Environment and Resources Programme at Chatham House).

Credits:

Speakers: Camilla Born, Antony Froggatt

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed

Original Music: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

China is the world’s largest emitter and dominates the production of low-carbon technologies worldwide. It thus plays a key role in global efforts to address the climate crisis.

How has China obtained its leading position in the production of green technologies? What role does China play in international climate negotiations? How important has the US-China relationship been in global efforts to reduce emissions, and what will happen now when Donald Trump is back in the White House?

To discuss this and more, Ruth and Anna are joined by Li Shuo (Director of China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute) and Chris Aylett (Research Fellow at the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House).

To read Chris Aylett’s report on UK-China cooperation on climate, please click here

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.

The G20 - an international gathering of leaders from 19 major states and the European Union - has a significant role to play in coordinating global action on climate change. Accounting for around two-thirds of the world's population and by some estimates 84% of global carbon emissions, agreeing on reforms within this forum could be a game-changer ahead of COP26. 

In July 2021, G20 ministerial meetings are taking place ahead of the leaders summit in October.

To assess the prospects for progress on climate change at the G20, Ben is joined by Luca Bergamaschi, co-founder of ECCO, the Italian climate think tank. 

Watch the Chatham House event:

John Kerry on the urgency of climate action

Read the Chatham House briefing:

Kick-starting the green recovery

Credits:

Speaker: Luca Bergamaschi

Host: Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

Ahead of the G7 Summit in June 2021, the Climate Briefing returns to the question of financing climate action.

While the economic challenge of dealing with climate change was already well-established before the pandemic, the costs of responding to COVID-19 threaten to limit the fiscal capacity of governments to fund climate action. 

In this episode, Anna and Ben speak to two experts about the relationship between economic development, developing country debt and climate action. 

Ben speaks to Farhana Yamin, a leading environmental lawyer who is also an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. They discuss the economic threat posed by climate change and the need for a paradigm shift away from conventional, carbon-intensive, approaches to economic development. 

Then Anna is joined by Paul Steele, Chief Economist for Shaping Sustainable Markets at the International Institute for Environment and Development, to find out how developing country debt relates to climate finance, and what can be done to address the so-called triple crisis of debt, climate change and biodiversity loss. 

Credits: 

Speakers: Farhana Yamin, Paul Steele

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House 

The Climate Briefing returns with interviews on European approaches to climate action, and the role that business can play in achieving the Paris Agreement goals.

Johanna and Ben are joined in the studio by two guests; Imke Lubbeke, Head of EU Climate and Energy Policy at the WWF, and Jen Austin, Policy Director of the We Mean Business coalition.

Please note: this episode was recorded prior to the postponement of COP26 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Read the Meeting Summary:

Climate Ambition in Europe and its Potential Global Impact

Follow us on Twitter:

@CH_Environment

Credits:

Speakers: Imke Lubbeke, Jen Austin

Hosts: Johanna Tilkanen, Ben Horton

Sound Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced at Chatham House.

In this bonus episode Tim Benton, Director of the Energy, Environment and Resources Programme at Chatham House, speaks to Anna about the environmental implications of COVID-19.

How might manmade pressures on the environment have contributed to the emergence of the virus? What are the environmental impacts of the virus-driven economic slowdown? And how can we rebuild society in a more sustainable way in the wake of this crisis? 

Read the BBC article:

Coronavirus: Why are we catching more diseases from animals?

Read the Expert Comment:

Emerging Lessons from COVID-19

Credits:

Speaker: Tim Benton

Host: Anna Aberg

Producer: Ben Horton

Sound Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

In the second of two COP28 takeover episodes, Research Fellow Ruth Townend gathers Chatham House teammates to discuss how the conference went, with a particular focus on the politics and geopolitics that shaped the conference outcome.

Ruth reflects on the global stocktake and loss and damage, while Antony Froggatt and Bernice Lee reflect on how different actors shaped the outcomes, as well as the changing shape of the conference over the years. Glada Lahn discusses the crucial text on fossil fuels, while Professor Tim Benton explores how food and agriculture were dealt with at the conference. The team finish by discussing their hopes for climate action in the year ahead.

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

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?

As COP29 kicks off in Baku, Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre assembles on the airwaves. The team talk Azerbaijan's climate leadership, World Leader vibes, prospects for the conference, and why working on climate change makes you a terrible dinner party guest. Special guest hosted by Climate Briefing Alumnus, Ben Horton. 

Indigenous peoples make up 5 per cent of the world's population and are responsible for the careful stewardship of land home to much of our planet's biodiversity. International negotiations have recently begun to recognize the important role that indigenous communities have always played for safeguarding the climate and environment. In this episode, we explore how headway has been made on recognizing this role, where there is still work to be done, and importantly, how can this recognition lead to more meaningul engagement and sharing of resources to protect the rights and livelihoods of indigenous peoples. 

What was achieved at COP26? And what do different parties make of the outcome? In this episode, Anna speaks to a range of negotiators, advisers and experts about the results of the Glasgow conference.

Interviewees include Camilla Born (policy adviser to the COP26 president), Farhana Yamin (deputy-chair of the expert advisory group of the climate vulnerable forum), Jacob Werksman (head of the EU delegation), Isatou Camara (climate finance negotiator for the least developed countries group), and Aglaja Espelage (consultant at Perspectives Climate Group).

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: Camilla Born, Isatou Camara, Aglaja Espelage, Jacob Werksman Farhana Yamin

Host: Anna Aberg

Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

In the first of two COP28 takeover episodes, Research Fellow Ruth Townend gathers Chatham House Environment and Society Centre teammates to discuss how the conference might go, and what they will be looking out for when they travel to Dubai.

This episode is released a week before the start of the conference. Professor Tim Benton discusses agriculture, food, land use and nature. Antony Froggatt talks about  energy transition and how major actors might shape action. Glada Lahn discusses climate finance and the likely wrangle around language on fossil fuels, while Ruth Townend discusses the GGA and the global stocktake. 

This week the Climate Briefing turns its attention to how societies are can deal with the real-time effects of climate change. While mitigation remains a central focus of the international climate negotiations, vulnerable states and communities are calling for greater cooperation on addressing the fallout from climate-related environmental devastation.

To discuss this, Anna is joined by H.E. Saida Muna Tasneem, Bangladesh's High Commissioner to the UK and Ambassador to Ireland and Liberia. They discuss the international politics around climate adaptation, and the contested issue of 'loss and damage'. 

Then Ben discusses how governments and aid agencies can improve adaptation practices through locally-led approaches, with Marek Soanes from the International Institute for Environment and Development. 

Read the IIED report:

Principles for locally-led adaptation

Credits:

Speakers: Saida Muna Tasneem, Marek Soanes

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Editor: Ben Horton

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

Ruth Townend is joined in the studio by Gwynne Dyer, author of Climate Wars, and Chatham House’s own Dr Daniel Quiggin to talk about climate solutions from the magical to the mundane. For his forthcoming book Intervention Earth, Dyer has spoken with more than 50 thinkers, innovators and engineers about how we might cool the planet and avoid catastrophe.

Dyer, Quiggin and Townend explore the potential of unicorns, workhorses, and the odd dark horse technology, discuss the moral hazard of reliance on unproven technology, and consider the role of both technology and governance in meeting the Paris Agreement goals. 

You can find out more about Gwynne Dyer’s work on his website, and read Daniel Quiggin’s work on the role of the aviation industry in reaching net zero on the Chatham House website.

Presented by Ruth Townend. Sound by Alex Moyler.

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Subscribe to The Climate Briefing wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe

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.

Due to gender inequalities, women are disproportionately affected by climate change, and Indigenous women and women in the Global South are on the front lines of these impacts. The UNFCCC has increasingly recognised these gender-differentiated impacts and the need to support the leadership of women and girls in addressing them.

In this episode, Nina Jeffs (Schwarzman Academy Fellow in the Environment and Society Programme) explores the relationship between gender and climate change. First she speaks with two young climate justice activists - Renata Koch Alvarenga and Zainab Yunusa - to find out more about how climate change is affecting women and girls in Brazil and Nigeria, and how women and girls are leading solutions to these challenges. Then she is joined by Gotelind Alber (Co-founder of Gender CC) to discover how gender-responsive approaches are being embedded within UNFCCC negotiations.

Read more:

Glasgow Womens Leadership Statement on gender equality and climate change: https://www.gov.scot/publications/glasgow-womens-leadership-statement-gender-equality-climate-change/

Credits:

Speakers: Gotelind Alber, Renata Koch Alvarenga, Zainab Yunusa

Host: Nina Jeffs

Editor: James Reed Sound Services

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

The crises of climate change and biodiversity destruction are closely linked. In this episode, Anna speaks to Sam Geall (CEO of China Dialogue, Associate Fellow at Chatham House, and Associate Faculty at the University of Sussex) about ongoing efforts within the UN to agree a new international biodiversity framework. The interview also zooms in on China’s evolving role in international climate and environmental politics.

Kindly note that this interview was recorded on the 26th of October - before China announced its new nationally determined contribution.

COP26 is finally upon us, and The Climate Briefing team are on the ground in Glasgow to bring you all of the latest updates and developments from the summit. 

In this episode, Ben introduces a round-up of the first week of the negotiations. Antony Froggatt (Deputy Director, Environment & Society Programme at Chatham House) provides an overview of the key agenda items at COP26, including the updated NDCs and progress on adaptation, finance and the Paris Rulebook. 

Then Nina Jeffs (Academy Fellow, Environment & Society Programme at Chatham House) explains some new developments on the interrelationship between gender and climate action, including the newly announced Glasgow Women's Leadership Statement. 

These interviews are followed by conversations with two youth activists. Calling from Botswana, Pato Kelesitse (Host of the Sustain 267 podcast) shares her perspective on how to amplify African expertise and priorities within the climate negotations. Finally, UN Youth Delegate for Iceland Finnur Ricart Andrason joins Ben on the fringes of the conference to discuss how far youth voices are being meaningfully engaged with at COP26. 

Read the Chatham House Expert Comments:

COP26: Preliminary progress as world leaders exit

Climate finance is the elephant in the room at COP26

Explore Chatham House's activities at COP26:

https://chathamhouse.cplus.live/sign-up/chatham-house-climate-risk-and-security-pavilion

Credits:

Speakers: Finnur Ricart Andrason, Antony Froggatt, Nina Jeffs, Pato Kelesitse

Host: Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

Please note: this episode was recorded on Friday 5 November.

A series of recent scientific studies have found that the world is on course for global warming far exceeding the 1.5 degree goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement. Meanwhile across the globe communities are grappling with extreme weather events and natural disasters related to the climate crisis.

But beyond the obvious impacts of climate change, a whole host of further risks are emerging, exacerbated by the interconnectedness of the global economy. To find out more about these 'cascading' climate risks, Ben speaks to Professor Tim Benton, Director of the Environment & Society Programme at Chatham House.

Read the Chatham House research papers:

What near-term climate impacts should worry us most?

Climate change risk assessment 2021

Climate change poses increasingly severe security challenges. What does this mean for defence forces? To find out, Anna speaks to Tobias Ellwood (Chair of the House of Common’s Defence Committee) and Anum Farhan (Chatham House).

The episode is published on the same day the Defence Committee is releasing its report ‘Defence and Climate Change’, which is available here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmdfence/179/report.html

The research paper ‘Preparing NATO for climate-related security challenges’, written by Anum Farhan, Signe Kossman and Armida van Rij (all Chatham House), can be accessed here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/07/preparing-nato-climate-related-security-challenges

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.

The Climate Briefing returns with two new interviews on the transition towards a renewable energy sector. 

It is widely acknowledged that slowing climate change will be impossible without reducing the global reliance on fossil fuels as a source of energy. In this episode, Ben and Anna speak to Dr Daniel Quiggin from Chatham House, and Simon Sharpe from the UK Cabinet Office, to assess the recent progress of the 'energy transition' and consider whether the coronavirus pandemic will accelerate or obstruct efforts to introduce cleaner energy sources. 

Read the Expert Comment:

Green Industries Can Accelerate a True Jobs-Focused Recovery

Credits:

Speakers: Daniel Quiggin, Simon Sharpe

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Sound Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

Coming fresh from a discussion of how private finance might close the climate finance gap, Ruth Townend is joined by Dr Nicola Ranger, Director of the Resilient Planet Finance Lab at Oxford University, and Professor Patrick Bolton, professor of finance and economics at Imperial College London.

In the run up to COP29, we explore how public international finance might be deployed to most effectively mobilise private finance, why so much private finance is still going to hydrocarbon-intensive energy investments, and the destiny of the World Bank.

Extreme weather, rising sea levels and a melting Arctic - the effects of climate change are posing an increasingly large threat to national security worldwide. In this episode the team explore the implications of climate change for national security, and how the defence establishment is incorporating environmental concerns into its military planning. 

Anna speaks to Neil Morisetti about the threats posed by climate change, before Ben asks Patricia Lewis how militaries and international organisations are adapting to these threats. 

Follow us on Twitter:

@CH_Environment

Credits:

Speakers: Neil Morisetti, Patricia Lewis

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Sound Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced at Chatham House.

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.

In the latest episode of the Climate Briefing the team explore the concept of carbon pricing, a set of mechanisms which incentivise businesses and consumers to reduce their carbon emissions, and consider the dynamics of the hotly contested Article 6 negotiations.

Ben speaks to Stuart Evans from Vivid Economics about how carbon pricing works, how it can help reduce emissions and how these mechanisms could have contrasting effects in developed and developing countries.

In the second interview, Anna and Aglaja Espelage from the Perspectives Climate Group take a deep dive into the negotiations on Article 6 with the aim of disentangling what parties are negotiating, why the negotiations are important and why it has been so difficult to reach an agreement.

Credits:

Speakers: Stuart Evans, Aglaja Espelage

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

The media cycle in the US and across the world is consumed by the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, with incumbent Donald Trump hoping to win a second term against the challenge of former Vice-President Joe Biden. Much of the debates around the election have focused on the response to COVID-19, and the candidates' positions on issues related to 'law and order'. But what will the election mean for climate policy? And how will the result affect the international negotiations at COP26 and beyond?

To find out Anna speaks to Amy Harder, an energy and climate change reporter at Axios, about Trump's first term of climate policy and the campaign pledges of the respective candidates. Then Ben discusses the international implications with Jennifer Morgan, the Executive Director of Greenpeace International. 

Credits:

Speakers: Amy Harder, Jennifer Morgan

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

Finance plays a key role in enabling climate change mitigation and adaptation. It is also a contested issue in the UN climate negotiations. The UK Government has made climate finance one of its top thematic priorities for COP26 and 2020 constitutes the deadline for developed countries to mobilise USD 100 billion per year to support climate action in developing countries. 

This week the Climate Briefing team speak to three experts to find out more. Mattias Frumerie, from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explains the key debates surrounding climate financing. Tenzin Wangmo, Lead Negotiator for the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group outlines how developing countries view these financial concerns. Finally, Rachel Ward from the IIGCC provides an insight into how investors are approaching the issue. 

Read the meeting summary:

Climate Finance and the COP

Credits:

Speakers: Matias Frumerie, Tenzin Wangmo, Rachel Ward

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton, Johanna Tilkanen

Sound Editor: Jamie Reed

Producer: Ben Horton

Recorded and produced by Chatham House

Migration is top of mind and front of rhetoric in many countries, particularly as elections approach and geopolitical trends of increasing polarisation take hold.

Ruth Townend is joined by Professor Ian Goldin, author of ‘The Shortest History of Migration’, and by Shelterbox CEO Sanj Srikanthan to discuss personal histories of migration, global trends, and the future of migration in the face of increasing pressure from climate change. 

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.