The climate diplomacy podcast gives insights to current topics in international climate diplomacy. Our hosts interviews authors of recent publications or experts on their take of what needs to be done to promote climate foreign policy.
This episode features Andrew Gilmour, Executive Director of the Berghof Foundation, and Janani Vivekananda, Senior Advisor at adelphi, in an intimate fireside chat. Moderated by renowned mediator and former diplomat Günther Baechler, they discuss why and how climate change and environmental considerations should be an integral part of conflict analysis and peacebuilding processes. The speakers’ vast experiences seeing first-hand the effects of climate change on conflict dynamics around the world allows for an interesting and lively discussion about climate change in peacebuilding.
The world needs to undergo a deep, transformative change to achieve sustainability. Yet, progress on many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda is lagging while the willingness to cooperate internationally often seems to be waning. Foreign policy must help bridge this gap, ensuring ambition and providing guidance. In this episode of the Climate Diplomacy Podcast, host Martin Wall discusses the role of foreign affairs in the global sustainability architecture with Daria Ivleva, one of the editors of adelphi’s recent publication Driving Transformative Change: Foreign Affairs and the Agenda 2030.
Interviewee: Daria Ivleva, adelphi
Right-wing populist parties are already part of the governments of seven EU member states and are expected to make up a quarter of MEPs after the European elections in May 2019. The dwindling trust of citizens in democratic institutions and in Europe, the re-sorting of party spectrums, the declining influence of traditional popular parties as well as the emergence of multi-party coalitions and minority governments will all make governance increasingly difficult. At the same time, we are experiencing a profound transformation of life, work and mobility through digitalisation, urbanisation and climate change. In this episode host Martin Wall talks to the authors of an explorative study on the the voices and the weight of right-wing populist parties in the formulation of European climate policy.
Interviewees: Stella Schaller and Alexander Carius, adelphi
You can download the study "Convenient Truths - Mapping climate agendas of right-wing populist parties in Europe" here.
The Planetary Security Conference brings together experts, policy makers and politicians from around the world to discuss how best to tackle the security risks of climate change. The conference also reports on progress towards meeting the ambitions of The Hague Declaration which set out an action agenda for the community of practice on climate security. This year we spent some time interviewing some of the participants to get their insights into how climate change affects international and human security.
Interviewees include:
Also watch the Best of Video of the Planetary Security Conference 2019.
With climate change increasingly being seen as a security issue, we ask what role the United Nations Security Council could and should play. To answer this question, we are joined on the Climate Diplomacy Podcast by UN expert and Chatham House Associate Fellow Oli Brown. In this podcast, Oli explains some of the challenges that the UN Security Council has had in tackling climate change and outlines the prospects for action in the future.
Interviewee: Oli Brown, Chatham House
Martin Wall is an Irish Research Council/European Commission funded Marie Curie CAROLINE Fellow who is currently seconded to adelphi and contributes to the Climate Diplomacy Project. He is funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 713279.
The Global Climate Action Summit has created a subtle, yet resonating effect on international climate diplomacy. Arguably, its biggest contribution lies in reaffirming the active role of the US in climate action – a refreshing sign of political maturity and environmental responsibility in Trumpian times.
Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has named an anti-globalist diplomat to lead foreign affairs and his country’s relationship with the Paris Agreement. Ernesto Araújo, a relatively junior diplomat, accuses the left of using the environmental cause ‘to serve their political project of total domination’
As opposed to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, India could lead a campaign for climate-responsible international development cooperation, shifting from coal to renewables domestically and promoting the values of the International Solar Alliance globally.
Linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Latin American landmass has often been presented as one of the holy grails of development for the region. While China’s idea of a ‘Nicaraguan Canal’ has made headlines globally, another major infrastructure project is in the works further south: the Bi-Oceanic Railway. The idea has already spurred transboundary environmental cooperation, but the public is still in the dark.