Episode 4 | Change Beyond Climate

Earlier this year, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced that keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius was no longer feasible. A summer of wildfires and droughts from the west coast of the United States to southern Spain kept the impact of climate change in the transatlantic headlines. Yet somehow, it seemed like there were always more salient political issues stealing attention away from climate action. But the idea that climate change is a separate issue from war, economic uncertainty, and political turmoil is false, explain the guests on this episode. Listen to hear three climate change experts discuss how global warming not only makes our climate more volatile, but also contributes to the likelihood of future conflict, shapes our political discourse, and is being increasingly incorporated into financial risk assessments.

First, Olivia Lazard, Fellow at Carnegie Europe, lays out how competition for the resources needed to shift to greener energy can lead to conflict. Matto Mildenberger, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, compares how the different political systems in the United States and Europe have affected how climate change is treated in public discourse. And finally, Madison Condon, Associate Professor of Law at Boston University, explains how large asset managers are incorporating climate change into risk assessment for their investments.

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