Challenging Climate

Today’s guest is Dr. Shuchi Talati, a climate technology and governance expert and the founder of The Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering. In this episode, we discuss ethics and governance of solar geoengineering, the formal cancellation of Harvard’s SCoPEx experiment, and the UN Environment Assembly deliberations on Solar Radiation Modification. Links: profileThe Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineeringthis paperSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Today’s guest is Ulrike Lohmann, Professor of Experimental Atmospheric Physics in the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich. Lohmann is also the Principal Investigator of the CLOUDLAB project, a multi-year project to investigate aerosol-cloud interactions in wintertime stratus clouds over the Alps. In this episode, we discuss the role of clouds and aerosols in our climate. We dive deep into aerosol-cloud interactions to uncover the science behind solar radiation modification (SRM) techniques like marine cloud brightening, and discuss a novel proposed SRM technique - Mixed Phase Cloud Thinning. Links: profilethe CLOUDLAB projectSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Benjamin Sovacool and Dr. Chad Baum, about their newly published, high-impact paper, “Public Perceptions and Support of Climate Intervention Technologies across the Global North and Global South”. Join us as we discuss the key findings of their work, and how these findings can and should influence policy and governance methods. Dr. Benjamin Sovacool is a professor with affiliations at Aarhus University, the University of Sussex and Boston University. Dr. Chad Baum is Assistant Professor at the Department of Business Development and Technology of Aarhus University. Links: profileprofileGENIEPublic Perceptions and Support of Climate Intervention Technologies across the Global North and Global Southaccessible summarysentiments and emotions of climate tech on Twitter field testing radical climate interventionsco-impactsLuke IsemanSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

George Monbiot is a renowned British author, The Guardian Columnist and environmental activist. George is the author of more than a dozen books, the most recent of which is Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, and he was awarded the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2022. In this episode, we discuss topics of his insightful and provocative articles such as de-throning GDP, radical climate activism, the ‘wealth curse’ and contentious technologies such as nuclear energy, GMO and SRM. Links: profileThe Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed PeopleRegenesisRelated articles by Monbiot: Here’s a question Cop28 won’t address: why are billionaires blocking action to save the planet?The hard right and climate catastrophe are intimately linked. This is howUK climate politicsradical climate activismanother oneSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

This episode’s guest is Janos Pasztor. He has four decades of work experience in the areas of energy, environment, climate change, and sustainable development, including roles as Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G) and UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change. In this episode, we explore the political lens of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM), discussing the progress of CDR and SRM discourse, as well as its challenges and controversies. CORRECTION: Jesse suggested that the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) had a dozen or so members, but Janos pointed out that in fact it has universal membership, i.e., every UN member state is a member. Links: Janos Pasztor’s profileCarnegie Climate Governance Initiativethe role of UN Secretary-General in Climate Change Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

David Stainforth is a Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics. David has had a long career studying the climate problem and the challenges of making predictions of future climate change. His research spans the philosophy of climate science, climate economics, climate modelling, and decision-making under deep uncertainty. In this episode, we discuss David’s new book ‘Predicting our climate future’, exploring the challenges of making predictions about future climate change, and navigating this uncertainty to address climate problems. Links: David Stainforth’s profilePredicting our climate futureSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

David Keith is a Professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and the Founding Faculty Director of the Climate Systems Engineering initiative. Keith previously led the development of Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program. In this episode, we discuss Keith’s Climate Systems Engineering initiatives, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and geoengineering techniques. Drawing on David’s decades of expertise, we dive deep into topics such as CDR, solar geoengineering, ice sheet geoengineering. Links: David Keith’s profileold profileClimate Systems Engineering initiative Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Jennifer Allan is a Strategic Adviser and Team Leader with Earth Negotiations Bulletin, and Lecturer at Cardiff University. Jen has attended roughly 40 UN conferences where states negotiate the rules of global climate governance. Her work explores how global rules are made and remade, and currently focuses on the politics of ecosystem services and green recovery. In this episode, we discuss with Jen key agenda themes in the forthcoming COP28, the social inequality of climate change and whether COPs deliver useful outcomes - or is it just fanfare? Links: Jennifer Allan’s profileThematic ProgramOil demand to peak by 2030Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Today’s episode is brought to you in collaboration with our friends at the Energy vs Climate podcast. Energy vs Climate breaks down the trade-offs and hard truths of the energy transition in Alberta, Canada, and beyond with energy experts David Keith, Sara Hastings-Simon and Ed Whittingham. In this episode, they speak with Greg Nemet, a Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. His research focuses on technological change in energy and the ways in which public policy can affect it. Listen as they discuss the trajectory of solar energy, coming down the cost curve and the energy supply chain. Links: Energy vs ClimateprofileHow Solar Energy Became CheapTopic links: Inter-technology knowledge spillovers for energy technologiesEvaluating the causes of cost reduction in photovoltaic modulesU.S. Solar Photovoltaic System and Energy Storage Cost Benchmark: Q1 2020Originally published on The Energy vs Climate show on 24 Feb 2022. Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

As we break for the summer, listen here for some highlights of our previous episodes and catch up on the ones you've missed. See you in October! Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Richard S.J. Tol is a Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Sussex and the Professor of the Economics of Climate Change, Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is also the author of Climate Economics: Economic Analysis of Climate, Climate Change and Climate Policy. In this episode, Tol breaks down climate economics – the economic and social costs and benefits of carbon. We also discuss the case for geoengineering and his criticisms on IPCC. Links: Richard Tol’s profileThe Economic Impacts of Climate ChangeSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Emma Marris is an environmental writer and Institute Fellow at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She has also written for National Geographic, the Atlantic, the New York Times, Wired, and other publications. In this episode, we dive into the concepts introduced in her book Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World, such as wilderness and nature purity. We discuss the relationship between nature and humans, from assisted migration to climate change, and how we can re-envision it. Links: Emma Marris’ profileweekly articlesher booksThe Lost Rainforests of Britain Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Dr John Moore is a Research Professor at University of Lapland, Finland and Chief Scientist of GCESS at Beijing Normal University. His research focuses on geoengineering, sea level change, and ice sheet dynamics. In this episode, we take a deep dive into the cryosphere – the state and future of glaciers, sea ice and permafrost, as well as consider marine glacier geoengineering. John also shares his unique experience as a leader of a major geoengineering research program in China. Links: John Moore’s profileseveral cryosphere interventionsmarine glacier geoengineeringocean curtain ideaSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Dr Steve Smith is the Executive Director of CO2RE, as well as Executive Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative, based at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He also previously co-led the Climate Science Team at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In this episode, we take a holistic deep dive into Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and discuss his expertise on net zero pledges, the political and economic strategies for CDR, and technology readiness. Links: Smith School profileCO2RE profileNet Zero TrackerThe State of Carbon Dioxide RemovalSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Dr Heleen de Coninck is a Professor of Socio-Technical Innovation and Climate Change at Eindhoven University of Technology, and Associate Professor in Innovation Studies and Sustainability at Radboud University. She is also the newly appointed deputy chair of the Dutch Scientific Climate Council. In this episode, we discuss the four Net Zero transitions set out in the 2018 IPCC 1.5ºC report, and specifically how to facilitate a just transition. Towards the end, we debate on how much focus on geoengineering technologies is healthy. Links: profileLecture transcript: system change, not climate change"Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage”“Global Warming of 1.5 ºC”Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Dr David Fahey is the Director of the Chemical Sciences Laboratory in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and he also serves as a Co-Chair of its the Montreal Protocol’s Scientific Assessment Panel, which produces the quadrennial assessments of stratospheric ozone depletion. In this episode, we discuss flying planes into the stratosphere to conduct experiments on ozone depletion, the success of the Montreal Protocol, and solar radiation modification (SRM) - potential impacts, future for research and deployment regulation. Links: profileworkthis paperScientific Assessment PanelQuadrennial reportExecutive SummaryOne AtmosphereEpisode chapter markers Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Chris Stark is the Chief Executive of the UK‘s Climate Change Committee. Previously, he worked as the Director of Energy and Climate Change in the Scottish Government. In this episode, Chris breaks down the role of the CCC in UK’s climate policy. We then take a close look at how UK has done so far in cutting emissions, what else needs to be done, and the challenges that lie ahead. We end off with a discussion of where geoengineering techniques like SAI sit on the UKCCC’s radar. Links: profilechapter markers Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Ken Caldeira is a senior scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science and is also a senior scientist at Breakthrough Energy. Ken has a wide-spectrum approach to analyzing the world’s climate systems - with particular interests in modeling the Earth system and the energy transition, and in using experiments and observation to study our changing coasts and coral reefs. In this episode, Ken takes us through his fascinating journey into environmental and climate science. We dive deep into navigating political influences on environmental research, the technical and social feasibility of the energy transition, and his views on wider underrepresented climate issues. Links: profileprofilechapter markers Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Andrew Revkin is one of the world's leading science and environmental journalists, with over 30 years' experience thinking and writing about climate change and sustainability. He has written at The New York Times and ProPublica, and his current outlet is “Sustain What?” at Substack. He is also the founding director of the new Initiative on Communication and Sustainability at Columbia University's Earth Institute. In this episode, Revkin shares his remarkable journalistic experiences, such as reporting from the Arctic, and how media and the climate discussion have evolved throughout his career. Our discussion is dynamic and wide-ranging, from extreme weather, to narrative capture, to tackling questions posed in previous episodes like climate doomism and ‘Is 1.5ºC still alive?’ Links: Profile'Sustain What?'2003 Q&A2005 Montreal'Dot Earth'An Anthropocene Journey Support the Show. Subscribe for email updates

Dr Daniel Harrison is an oceanographer at Southern Cross University in Australia. His research focuses on how engineering intervention in marine systems can be used to improve ecological, environmental, or societal outcomes. In this episode, we explore Daniel’s work in applying Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) to protect the Great Barrier Reef against global warming. We find out what MCB is, discuss how it can be implemented responsibly and effectively to save the Great Barrier Reef, and other potential applications. Links: profileGreat Barrier Reef is added to the 'In Danger' listReef Restoration and Adaptation ProgramC2G Youtube100 climate conversationsSupport the Show. Subscribe for email updates