COP26 Planet Pod COP26 Series Podcast

In this final episode in our COP Conversations series Amanda Carpenter and co-host Chris White from the University of Strathclyde catch up with Chris Stark, Chief Executive of the UK’s Climate Change Committee who sounds a positive note about the likely final outcome from COP26. We discuss how this COP has established a clear pathway to limiting global heating to below 2degC, if not the targetted 1.5deg C. 

With positive engagement of corporates and financiers in the debate along with mounting pressure from the younger generation and other concerned citizens, could COP26 be the tipping point to give global governments the confidence to enact tougher legislation and provide greater incentives to decarbonise? Have we finally recognised that adaptation and building resilience is a key part of mitigating climate change and are we on the way to achieving a fair transition?

Listen to this final episode to find out!   

Solving the climate emergency will need a host of innovative ideas and new business models. In this special episode recorded at COP Amanda Carpenter meets up with Hugo Spowers – entrepreneur, former motor racer and MD of Riversimple, producers of affordable, hassle free, fun-to-drive hydrogen powered eco cars and Earthshot prize winner Vaitea Cowan, co-founder of Enapter, manufacturers of the first scalable electrolyser that replaces fossil fuels with green hydrogen.

Together they discuss how they are breaking mould and reshaping our thinking on sustainable personal and larger scale transport.

As we reach the end of two weeks of debate and dialogue, Amanda Carpenter asks guest Seema Joshi from Global Witness to reflect on some of the key themes at this year’s COP.

• Since the Paris agreement global banks have lent $157bn to businesses which drive deforestation, so are we really serious about protecting global rainforests?
  
  
• With the 503 delegates representing the interests of fossil fuel companies outnumbering those from the largest country, did this COP duck the challenge of cutting our ties with fossil fuels?
  
  
• Will the non-binding words of commitments made be backed by hard-hitting and rigidly enforced regulation and law?
  
  
• As Green and Blue Zones held separate gatherings, were those whose lives and livelihoods are being affected most by climate change given the opportunity to be part of the negotiations?
  
  
• Did this COP step up to the plate or was it just – in the words of activist Greta Thunburg – just another “blah blah blah”?

It is time to rethink our relationship with cars – 30% of the time your car sits unused outside your house – we need a systems change around transport. Our guests understand the changes needed in business models, culture, planning and government policies to set us on the right road.

Amanda Carpenter is joined by Professor Greg Marsden from the University of Leeds’ Institute of Transport Studies, Hugo Spowers, reformed racing driver and founder of River Simple and Joe Ravetz from the Manchester Urban Institute at the University of Manchester. The step changes needed cannot be achieved by incremental measures. It’s time for big bold thinking.

Covid-19 has left many people tired, dazed and frustrated – there is a danger that we collectively press the ‘pause’ button to catch our breath. But accelerator for change organisation After the Pandemic, co-founded alongside Laura McHard by our guests in this episode Fergus Bruce and Graham Hogg (from Lateral North), are passionate about mobilising and engaging communities, particularly young people, to ‘rethink, reimagine and redesign spaces and places to be greener, more resilient and more vibrant’.

Joining them in conversation with Amanda Carpenter is young Glasgow student Colin Li, whose powerful climate change focused mural design was one of seven winners in the Grantham Institute’s national competition for young people and now adorns the SWG3 railway arches beside the Clydesdale Expressway. Together they highlight the power of creativity, design and education to stimulate positive grass-roots change for the world’s future.

The world’s coastlines are dynamic and constantly shifting, providing homes and livelihoods to millions of people whilst playing a key role in nature-based solutions for adapting to climate change. With sea level rise – even if every net zero target is met – coastal erosion is set to continue apace.

In this powerful episode, Amanda is joined by Professor Larissa Naylor, Professor of Geomorphology and Environmental Geography at Glasgow University and postgraduate researcher Uduak Affiah to look at the likely societal, environmental and economic impacts of our disappearing and shifting coastlines.

The vulnerability of Nigerian coastal communities serves as a graphic example of how significant numbers of people in many parts of the world are likely to be affected by coastal erosion and why this COP must heed the urgent call for a joined-up and properly financed approach to adaptation which engages local communities.

How linked are the Climate Crisis and the Nature Crisis? We talk to Professor Andy Purvis of the Natural History Museum about managing nature rather than mining it, Greta, over consumption, lobbying, shifting baselines and how we can encourage the behaviour change that nature so desperately needs.

Amanda goes on location to see first hand the threat to one small woodland rich in biodiversity and a superhighway for invertebrates is at risk of destruction.

Recorded on the eve of the Fridays for the Future Climate Strike and as COP26 talks continue apace, we step out onto the streets of Glasgow to talk with young climate activists who bring their passion and energies to the discussions.

University of Strathclyde students Ben Rapson, Ru Wallace and Lewis McDermott voice the concern many young people feel about the climate crisis and the need for action that goes beyond rhetoric. Medical students Lizzie O’Brien and Mehajabeen Farid describe how Students for Global Health is raising awareness about climate-related inequalities and health issues which disproportionately affect some of the poorest people and areas of the world.

We hear how the charity Reboot the Future helps amplify the call from young people for a more compassionate and sustainable future.

As COP26 moves through Day 3 we hear from Professor Mark Maslin, author and Professor of Earth System Science at UCL and environmental campaigner, Citizens’ Assembly megafan and drag comedy artist Alex Bradbury about the politics of this particular COP.

How, by talking about the issue - in the workplace, to friends and family, to our politicians - can we ensure that our collective wisdom base is not ignored? The climate doesn’t care what political badge we wear but nor does it have a voice. When citizens raise theirs on its behalf are they being heard?

Global heating resulting from climate change is likely to have the greatest impact on those who can do least about it.

In this episode Amanda talks with Professor Lisa Vanhala, Professor of Political Science at UCL and Michael Watson, Partner at law firm Pinsent Masons, about the non-economic loss and damage associated with unchecked climate change.

We ask where does responsibility lie – in short, who pays the price? What is the role of legislation and non-state actors (including law firms) and will this COP help provide a safe space for meaningful collaboration and constructive discussion?

As COP26 finally kicks off in Glasgow hosts for this special series Amanda and Chris begin to get a sense of how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go to sort out climate change once and for all.

WWF’s Stephen Cornelius highlights the importance of connections and collaborations at all levels whilst, fresh from an epic 500 mile walk from London to Glasgow, Ric Casales from Carbon Copy talks about the many positive examples of practical actions to address this pressing issue he is witnessing.

COP is off to a good start - best foot forward for the rest of the discussions.

In this first podcast in our special COP 26 series we talk with seasoned COP veteran and pioneering scholar Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, a renowned international expert in climate change policy, law and governance about the power of the COP process to bring hearts and minds together to address the pressing issues of climate change.

We set the scene for this important gathering in Glasgow, discuss hopes and aspirations and consider the creative, courageous and dynamic actions needed to deliver post COP26.