Climate Policy

Climate-related disclosure: Bridging the data gap

High quality data is essential if we are to achieve our global climate related goals. Sue Armstrong-Brown, Global Director of Environmental Standards and Thought Leadership at CDP, explains how data obtained through disclosure informed the Global Stocktake to be agreed at COP28 and how the world is taking action to fill the shortage of climate-related information.

Are we making progress towards a net zero future?

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest report sets a roadmap for net zero emissions by 2050. From progress and positive signals, to bottlenecks and rising challenges we look at how researchers, media and NGOs have reacted to the report. “Governments need to separate climate from geopolitics, given the scale of the challenge at hand,” says IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

air-quality

Elly Vaughan: The climate-health nexus between pollen and heatwaves

The interplay between climate change, air quality and lung health is a key issue that requires innovative approaches and solutions. “It’s not just what the empirical evidence is telling us about different particle concentration levels in the air but how people are perceiving air quality,” says health policy expert at Economist Impact Elly Vaughan.

soil texture

Unearthing perspectives: the new European soil health law

The wellbeing of our planet also rests on the health of our soil. With over 60% of European soil believed to be in an unhealthy state many see the Union’s soil monitoring, health and resilience proposal as too little too late. Media and experts reactions to the new European Soil Health Law.

white flower blooming

Disclosure

Transparency from companies and governments about climate-related information, risks and opportunities is crucial for building a resilient economy, empowering communities and creating an equal and fair society. In the era of climate change, a standardized disclosure framework to understand climate risk is not only helpful to investors, it’s also critical to companies for strategic planning.

Every story is a climate story – Ep. 09

We know a lot about the crisis. We know that it is time to progress from understanding the problems to solving them. However, we also know that there is no perfect solution. It is a matter of shifting understanding and knowledge from science to society, from data to stories, from facts to solutions.

What is environmental intelligence?

It can leverage new technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning to greatly improve the selection, processing and use of the vast amounts of climate data we currently have. The result? More informed and effective decision making from the local to the global level. Scientists, startuppers and representatives of EU institutions dialogue on funding opportunities, innovation and applications.

Artificial Intelligence: the future of the science-policy interface is here

“When you are involved in making decisions on critical issues, such as managing a given climate emergency, operational value of forecasts guides you towards more impactful decisions.” Andrea Castelletti walks us through some of the most exciting developments in climate science and how Artificial Intelligence is opening a new frontier in the scientific process.

Who believes in green promises?

A team of scientists analyses the interaction between heterogeneous expectations, investment decisions and climate mitigation policymaking, examining how firms invest in low versus high carbon capital based on their beliefs about future carbon prices.

How much is it? The cost of climate change – Ep. 08

Money moves the attention of people, investors, and capital owners. Money is part of many solutions to the climate deadlock. But numbers are not enough to calculate the economic value of the climate issue. Numbers are only the final step on a pathway that passes through many crossroads. Climate change has huge economic, social and cultural costs. Assessing these costs is challenging yet vital for our planet’s future. And when it comes to climate policies, responding to different climate emergencies requires different lenses.

Business and policy: climate ambitions beyond greenwashing

It is the ambition loop. It involves science-based knowledge, business support and policy action. It is about raising “the bar higher and higher” towards climate targets and backing them with concrete commitments. Sophie Punte tells us all about the link between business action and policy advocacy by the We Mean Business Coalition.

Ocean waves (1878-1940) vintage Japanese woodcut prints by Uehara Konen

“A historic moment for the ocean” – international reactions to the new High Seas Treaty

Top ranking representatives of international institutions, opinion leaders, diplomats, scientists and civil society: from emotional reactions to pragmatic comments, the international community hails the Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBJN) treaty. After almost two decades of negotiations, a two-week-long conference, more than 48 hours of talks, international efforts led to an agreement for the conservation and protection of ocean areas that fall beyond national borders.