ClimateGenn hosted by Nick Breeze

In part 3 with Joe, we discuss how dodgy offsets and double accounting feed into COP28 and ask the question - is the COP process set-up to fail? A link to Joe’s in-depth paper on all of this is in the notes.To get full episodes much earlier, join via Youtube or Patreon: https://patreon.com/genncc

Link to Joe's paper on offsets: https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/web.sas.upenn.edu/dist/0/896/files/2023/06/OffsetPaper7.0-6-27-23-FINAL2.pdf

Part 3 Content Guide

1. With so many nations trying to defraud the Paris Agreement carbon accounting mechanism, will we ever achieve our goals?


2. Denmark, the oil company and Microsoft - blending the real with the fake offsets for cash.3. UNFCCC Jargon: Authorised offsets, corresponding adjustments… agreed but not compulsory.

3. Where are the positives in all this?


4. Is the COP set-up to fail?

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Link to Joe Romm's paper on offsets: https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/web.sas.upenn.edu/dist/0/896/files/2023/06/OffsetPaper7.0-6-27-23-FINAL2.pdf

In part 3 with Joe, we discuss how dodgy offsets and double accounting feed into COP28 and ask the question - is the COP process set-up to fail? A link to Joe’s in-depth paper on all of this is in the notes.

Content guide:

1. Switching from the voluntary market to the “compliance market”.

2. Defining emissions double accounting.

3. Who gets to count the emissions reduction and why.

4. Paris Agreement did not solve this issue.

5. Two solutions (aside from banning offsets): ‘Mitigation contributions’ and ‘corresponding adjustment’ (an authorised offset).

6. How authorised offsets backfire on developing nations.

7. COP26 made is easier for developed countries to skim off cheap emissions from developing nations who will have to pay later.

8. Climate colonialism or imperialism if the phoney (unregulated)  offset price is used.

9. The price of offsets will rise. 

10. Don’t believe the lies of abundant cheap emissions reduction.

11. They are cheap because they are meaningless.

12. Switzerland buying up cheap carbon offsets to pretend they are making an effort.

13. Don’t be a bad faith actor in good faith market.

14. It doesn’t cut $2 a tonne to go to zero!

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Download Joes Paper here.

1 - A license to pollute

2 - Offsets relationship to “net zero”

3 - “Carbon neutral” claims = greenwash

4 - Pay to pollute

5 - 94% of offsets are worthless

6 - Quantifying deforestation is tricky

7 - 2 types of lawsuit

8 - Disputing claims of carbon neutrality

9 - Unregulated markets

10 - Solving the climate problem for a few bucks a tonne (?)

11 - European Carbon Trading System

12 - Unregulated Markets

In this first of three part interview with Dr Joe Romm, we discuss how dodgy off-sets and double accounting are plaguing climate progress at a time when the world urgently needs to get serious about climate change. 

Joe Romm was the acting assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewables in the US Department of Energy, back in the 1990’s and also the founder of the now ceased Climate Progress blog. Today Joe is a senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Centre for Science, Sustainability and Media.

Part 1 focuses on the how offsets are misused by big brand names and nations in unregulated markets to peddle lies to the public.

In Part 2 we discuss how this impacts the NDC accounting systems that underpin the Paris Agreement and expose much less well off countries to yet another form of what Joe calls Climate Imperialism. 

In Part 3 we discuss how COP28 does not bode well having an oil boss as the president and how all these strands come together to reinforce the notion that the UNFCCC process is set-up to fail.

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In this ClimateGenn episode I speak with the Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Tzepora Berman. Tzepora and her colleagues are designing the framework by which we can begin to switch off the fossil fuel supply that is the root cause of what is a real-time climate emergency.

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1. Fossil fuel companies were never a partner is solving climate change.
2. The possible world that we see emerging around us.

3. How do we face the strength of the fossil fuel industry?
4. COP28 is symbolic of political failure.

5. Fossil fuel companies are trying to take over key structural processes.

6. We must all use our collective agency.

7. The Energy Charter Treaty (ETC), and why it must be ended.

8. The fossil fuel industry is fragile; don’t be duped into inaction.

9. There is another world we can create from this.

10. Become the mainstream by better articulating the mission.

Links:

https://www.fossilbanks.org/

https://fossilfueltreaty.org/

https://www.celinekeller.com/dawn-of-the-ect

https://www.beyond-growth-2023.eu/

Full 25 min version: [members link: https://youtu.be/NSdk6BwsSQA or https://genn.cc/dr-alice-hill-insurance/ ] Welcome to the ClimateGenn podcast. This summary version is edited from the full interview. Included are the key points from the discussion and the full version can be accessed by all Youtube and Patreon members. Overview of topics covered: US politicians debate the causes of extreme weather, stymying effective longterm policy. “California is the 4th largest insurance market in the world… so to pull out of that is big news!” State run back-up plan - but back-up plans are ballooning as concentrated risk discourages insurers. Extensive wildfires in 2017 and 2018 wiped out quarter of a century (25yrs) of profits in California. Insurers in California are not allowed to use models that account for the growing risk of climate change. Insurance policies evaluate 1 year of risk but climate is a long-term issue. AXA: At some point the world becomes uninsurable with climate change. Can the risk be spread across the nation? How do we build national resilience (fortresses?)? Too much infrastructure already at great risk. Post Covid, many Americans moved into areas “destined to burn”. East coast of America is subsiding and has one of the worst rates of sea-level rise in the world - “A bad combination!” “A profound risk to the stability of our real estate markets. We are watching the problem but there is a reluctance to address the problem… because it is so large!” What do we need to do? We will see large movements of people and devaluation of assets over time.

Full versions on: https://genn.cc - https://patreon.com/genncc - https://www.youtube.com/@NickBreeze/membership

Full 26 min members version Contents:

1. Antarctica Sea Ice Decline
2. Antarctic versus Arctic differences
3. Greenland can change the global map
4. Arctic methane release and potential warming
5. Have we crossed a global threshold?
6. Can we repair climate?
7. Interventions - climate repair?
8. Climate is only one of our challenges
9. We need new economic models
10. UN COPs and broken promises
11. Climate is a today problem from Bangladesh to Vietnam
12. Loss & Damage is the insurance of the future
13. Can we save Antarctic Ice Sheets?
14. COP28 nightmare

(Full Episode 27 mins - members: https://youtu.be/xZ7i5_m7udE or https://genn.cc/dr-chad-briggs-risk/) Contents: Military lens - military objectives requires enemies. A hammer in search of a nail. US Air Force - largest user of fuel in the world. Mitigation inevitably leads to less flight hours. Not an option. All military, governmental and even social responses have a technology bias. “Reducing emissions” is unpalatable. In Washington, Trump era impacts on EPA, hangover into Biden Administration. EPA not responding to disinformation, which has a negative impact on policymaking. Biden has already approved more oil and gas projects than the entire Trump presidency. Willow Project and LNG projects with 1200km pipelines across thawing permafrost. Huge cost - what benefit? Persistent belief that magical techno-fixes will remove pollution from the atmosphere. SRM - Can’t be controlled once aerosols are up in the stratosphere. Issues with deployment - companies attached to smaller countries sidestepping regulation. Conspiracies kill rational discussion. The Pentagon won’t even discuss it. New paradigm of disaster era present need for integrating disaster risk with climate policy. Companies still seeking to profit off climate destruction with business models projecting out 10-20 years into the future.

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Here we focus on three factors in the climate system that drive these extremes and are still set to break more records, creating a great deal more destruction this year. We focus on the forming El Niño climate phenomenon, as well as ocean heatwaves, impacting the Atlantic and the North Pacific. 

Finally, we also discuss the role of the thinning sea ice that is accelerating change in the Arctic region. These changes drive up heat in the Arctic faster, impacting ecosystems and altering the jet stream, these latter impacts being the focus of Dr Francis’s research for over a decade. 

You can support this channel via Patreon or by becoming a Youtube member, where episodes appear early and for Water and Food level members, there is access to a growing number of longer, unpublished, and previously unseen content.

Thank you.

Please support this work via https://patreon.com/genncc - view more episodes at https://genn.cc.

In they climate Genn episode I am speaking with Namibian Activist, Ina-Maria Shikongo (Twitter: @IMariashikongo).  Ina Maria has been speaking out about the unlawful exploitation of the Okavango Delta in Africa, calling on the Canadian oil company, Recon Africa, to leave Namibia.

Visit https://genn.cc for more information and become a member for exclusive unseen interview content via https://patreon.com/genncc)

This conversation highlights the plight of countries like Namibia in Africa and beyond, where consumption in the west creates misery and destruction elsewhere. It is absolutely critical that we understand that wider destruction is accelerating back towards us and, if we don’t take radical action to change course and consume much less, as Ina-Maria points out, the future will be bleak for us too.

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Far from a 2008 financial domino effect, Ethan says this is a case of ‘one particularly mismanaged institution’, highlighting an unforeseen upside.

In any conversation of this kind, it is critical to state clearly, that all of this is waste of time if anthropogenic carbon emissions are not drastically reduced to zero in the shortest possible time. That is something that is clearly not happening now and something we all need to push for.

What piqued my interest in Capture6 is the potential coupling with existing large-scale technology such as desalination of seawater. In a drier world, we urgently need to make sure we can supply water without further damaging ecosystems. 

The atmospheric burden of greenhouse gases is now so high that we are starting breach critical thresholds in the earth system. We don’t just need to stop burning fossil fuels, we need to accelerate the reduction of atmospheric carbon, down from the current levels of around 420 parts per million to well below 350 parts per million. Policymakers are currently not making the structural changes necessary for a system-wide downward shift of the emissions curve.

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We discuss the origins, treatment and what next? Aspect of how do we reclaim and respond appropriately in a real Climate Emergency - much like the one we are irrefutably in.

I have also inserted a segment from this first interview with Professor Hansen in the interview with David, to better highlight how perilous the lack of action over the last decade has really been. 

Patreon and Youtube ‘Water Tier’ members can watch the whole unedited 26 minutes interview with Professor Hansen that I have just uploaded. Given the lack off any progress on tackling climate change, much of what Jim said in 2012 is entirely relevant today.

Thank you for listening. I am currently working on the interview and article with Professor Jingfang Fan at the University of Beijing and also Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. We discuss his research on teleconnections between Earth system tipping points and the identification of possible cascade mechanisms.

Thank you.

Reclaiming 'climate emergency’”,  today published in English in the Slovenian journal Filozofski vestnik.

The article is also available at:

https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/filozofski-vestnik/article/view/12054/11185

The whole issue is at:

https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/filozofski-vestnik

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For those that are not familiar with Ecocide it has this simple definition: Ecocide means unlawful or wanton acts, committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or longterm damage to the environment, being caused by those acts.

A law of Ecocide was first proposed by the late Polly Higgins and it is fantastic to see the progress the organisation is making in fulfilling its objectives. Outlawing environmental destruction is a critical part of how we as a species, reassess our relationship with nature, in the face of climate and ecological breakdown.

In the next episode I am speaking with David Spratt, Research Director, Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration, in Australia about his new article on reclaiming the Climate Emergency.

Thanks for listening.

Discussing the critical drought situation in Europe with a focus on Italy. Visit https://genn.cc for more information. View more in the water series by backing this channel on Patreon or by becoming a Youtube member. 

Quote by Dr Francesco Avanzi:

“Droughts are often called the creeping disaster because at the very beginning, you don't realise that it's coming up. And when you realise that it's often too late. And in that the dynamic is somehow similar to how the COVID pandemic played out in the early months. That awareness came when somehow it was already too late.”

“what we also see is a shift towards earlier snow seasons. So a later start, earlier melt out date. There are data from some colleagues of ours from CIMA, that have just showed that the duration of the snow season right now is unprecedented over the last 600 years in the Alps. So that's also part of the problem. So this means that, on the one hand, we have to cope with less water from snow, coming earlier than usual during spring. This means that we will have to rethink, to some extent, some of our practice in terms of where and when we store water, and when and how we use it. Last year gave us already quite a lot of lessons and I think to some extent it raised our awareness of changes that are happening. We will have to continue that adaptation and mitigation.”

Nick Breeze: This reminds us, as Francesco said at the outset, that drought is a creeping disaster. The water is stored as snow in the mountains. It runs down into rivers, into the soils and is stored beneath as groundwater. It is a mechanism that we regard as an infinite cycle. Human made climate change is interrupting the cycle by erasing the source of the water.

Dr Francesco Avanzi

“…snow that is not accumulating in a mountain during winter is water that we are not going to have during summer. That's when we need water the most for agriculture, for freshwater supply, and that translated into significant streamflow deficit…

“Groundwater is a savings account. We can take from that to cope with a single dry year. But then when we look at several dry years in a row, that reserve may dry up.”

The UN Climate COP’s are not succeeding in solving the longterm problem of overshooting our Paris climate commitments. This episode focuses on the emerging voices that are defining the overshoot agenda. Full transcript at: https://genn.cc/2023-overshoot/ You can support this work on Patreon: https://patreon.com/genncc

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Dan has extensive experience working with the US negotiating team over the years and shares his insights as to what motivates negotiators and how the nature pot the COP’s themselves are changing from bureaucratic conferences to mega-COP jamborees where the circus atmosphere leeches into the proceedings and influences the outcomes.

However, none of this appears to be stemming the rise of global emissions to below 1.5ºC, the scientific red line that is commonly used to measure the effectiveness of climate policy.

As the breakdown of trust between Global North and South countries continues to haunt the talks, a new think tank appeared at COP27 called The Overshoot Commission tasking itself with looking at navigating a climatically unstable world.

With geoengineering in the form of carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management firmly back on the table, Dan highlights that these investigations are currently about the exclusion of technologies that will not deliver, rather than the selection of technologies for deployment.

The clock ticks and the world is moving into new territory on multiple fronts.

Thank you for listening to this podcast. Please check the genn.cc website for the full COP27 interview and session list. Patreon backers will have access to extra content collected from the conference.

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Saleem has been involved in the negotiations here since day 1 so is well placed to discuss the function and dysfunction of the COP process whilst keeping in mind that this is the only forum in the world where poorer vulnerable nations have a seat at the table, even if, as he says, they are not listened to.

All this must change, and fast if we are going to survive the onslaught of accelerating extreme climate impacts like fires, floods, and droughts.

Here at the COP, in the wake of incredible destructive flooding that took lives and destroyed heritage, the nation of Pakistan offers this portentous warning: “What happened in Pakistan won’t stay in Pakistan

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Professor Hayhoe is a Canadian climate scientist and communicator at the Nature Conservancy and Texas Tech University on the United States.

I this episode we discuss the shifting momentum away from 1.5ºC as a boundary for climate heating, as well as the new arrival of Loss & Damage into the negotiations.

Are the public becoming too cynical and are we all, on the outside, powerless to have any impact? Katharine gives her take on all these issues.

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This so-called Zombie Ice is not included in the mainstream models, and when added to other sources such as glaciers and even the Sleeping Giant, Antarctica, then sea level rises will far exceed current forecasts.

You can find out more on Jason’s dedicated Faster Than Forecast Youtube Channel that I have linked to in the text.

Next week I will be reporting from COP27 in Egypt. It is widely assumed that the conference can deliver nothing in the way of meaningful change in global emissions. Many are shunning the conference and it is easy to see why.

It is worth stating that for billions of people in the Global South, the COP is the only forum they have to make a case for climate justice and seek help as they try to adapt to the catastrophic impacts they are facing today because of our continued sustained burning of coal, oil, and gas.

On the flip side, many global south communities are pushing forward with adaptation strategies and becoming as resilient as possible. As climate chaos spreads, we will need their expertise in order to respond to climate extremes that are now arriving in the Global North.

Thanks for listening.

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By protecting and restoring ocean ecosystems we can start to create resilience in an area we know is in decline but yet we know so little about.

We have much of the technology and we have the intelligence but we still lack the political will and the investment to protect the world's fast-declining marine ecosystems that our lives are codependent up on.

In the next pre-COP episode I am also speaking with Professor Jason Box to highlight his new work around the Zombie ice on Greenlands ice sheet that is already committed to rising global sea levels this century and is not included in any of the climate models that we depend on for policymaking.

I’ll be catching up with both Nathalie and Jason among many others during week 2 at COP27 in Sharm El-Shiek. This is being dubbed the African COP to draw attention to the world's most vulnerable societies in the global south.

We are striving too for a global loss and damage fund that even you and I may be in need of, in the rapidly advancing onset of extreme climate impacts.

Thanks for listening. You can support my work via Patreon and on Genn.cc. Please do subscribe and leave feedback on any of the channels where you listen or watch this content.

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We discuss the absence of global leadership in the fight to hold temperature rise to within the boundaries that humanity has thrived for the last 11 thousand years. The rate of change means that the next 100 years, let alone the next ten thousand, really require global leadership and collective action from everyone on Earth who has the ability and agency to act.

In the next episode, I speak with former XR spokesman, author, and philosopher, Professor Rupert Read, and Systems and culture change strategist, Paddy Loughman, who have been working towards establishing a new inclusive cross-societal paradigm of action to tackle climate breakdown, that they call the Moderate Flank.

Thanks for listening to ClimateGenn, you can subscribe on all major podcast channels and Youtube to stay up to date and you can also support this channel via Patreon.

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We discuss how the programme evolved from a need to respond to worsening climatic conditions, into a solid certification programme to help communicate the measured results of producers who take sustainability seriously.  João also discusses how the programme consciously developed a knowledge-sharing network to accelerate the uptake of best practices.  

Some of these best practices include the use of regenerative farming which, in a drought-prone region like Alentejo, is showing very positive results. The difference here, as João says, is between trying to survive in a desert, or, thriving in a garden of Eden. Either way, viticulture at higher temperatures has to mean working with nature, as Professor Kimberly Nicholas has said earlier in the series.  

The last point, as Dr Gregory Jones mentioned earlier, is about finding ways to expand these best practices beyond the regional level to the national and international levels.  This is where the wine producers and journalists and communicators interface to tell those stories. It seems to me that it is up to all of us to try and decode what is behind the certification labels.  We do this best by telling the stories of contemporary viticulture that respects nature, promotes stewardship of the land, and ultimately inspires trust in consumers that the wine industry is on a sustainable pathway.

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As the Centre for Climate Repair forges ahead with its 3 R’s strategy of reducing emissions, removing carbon from the atmosphere and repairing essential climate systems such as the Arctic, Shaun has high hopes for large scale ocean sequestration but does not stop short of stating the need for urgent research into engineering methods for reflecting sunlight away from the Earth.

These are controversial proposals for many people and yet the climate problem keeps getting worse, with many governments only making tiny incremental commitments that maintain the status quo of a fossil fuel driven economy and society.

The truth is, as Professor Kevin Anderson has stated, that if we rely on the current ambition our political leaders, we really “are going to hell in a handcart”.

I am interested to hear feedback from listeners and gauge your thoughts on these kinds of proposals.

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When I visited the estate, Luis gave me a guided tour to demonstrate how the 600+ hectare cork oak forest, 50 hectares of vines, and the 40 hectare walnut orchard are being transformed into a regenerated resilient, and balanced ecosystem that is simply glorious.

It wasn’t always like this. The estate had more of a focus on hunting, running all the way back to 1467. It was only at the end of the last century, that Coelheiros started to be transformed into what is now a buzz of biodiversity.

Luis explains how their biggest challenge has been small birds and bugs, that eat everything from the plants themselves to the fruit they produce.

Wetland restoration and ending centuries of hunting have seen the return of birds of prey such as eagles and falcons. These in return have driven away the small birds that eat the fruit, and the introduction of bats is proving effective at balancing the bug population.

Luis also talks about the increased use of grapes more suited to the climate. Alicant Bouschet is again a favourite for this purpose, where the berries have proven to be more resilient to heatwaves, as well as having a later ripening period.

A feature of this conversation is that Luis talks about the positive impact this process of ‘working with nature’ has had on the wine quality, which he describes as being “ more pure and with greater richness on the palate”.

This kind of readiness for the new cycles of hotter and intense climatic conditions mean that Coelheiros is one of the leaders in Alentejo in starting out on the pilgrimage towards a truly sustainable viticulture.

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To date the models have been poor anticipators of the speed of localised climate changes. Levke gives an insightful and sincere perspective on the importance of the AMOC as a critical piece of the climate system jigsaw.

In the next episode, we stay in the oceans and speak with Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair in Cambridge, about the collaborative effort they are involved with to develop kelp seaweed for both carbon sequestration and the benefit of marine ecosystems and more.

Subscribers via Patreon can also access another episode with Professor Bill McGuire discussing his new book Hothouse Earth and, very shortly, a new interview from my visit to the Monaco Scientific Centre to interview Dr Nathalie Hilmi about the centre's work in ocean research and conservation with corals and whales among other marine ecosystems on the agenda.

Please also check out the Sustainability in Alentejo wine series that I have been posting. The latest episode features an interview with Professor Kimberly Nicholas at the University of Lund about regenerative practices that underscore the critical importance of learning to work with nature rather than against nature.

Thanks for listening to ClimateGenn. Please do like, follow, share, or subscribe if you can. Also, please do leave feedback on episodes.

Animation sources - NASA:

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Kimberly is originally from Sonoma in California’s wine country and is currently based in Sweden at the University of Lund. She has also recently published a book titled ‘Under The Sky We Make’ highlighting the agency available to all of us to contribute toward a better world. Kimberly also produces a monthly advice column called We Can Fix It sharing thoughts and engaging in broader discussion on this complex subject.

With the lens focussed primarily on wine, we look at the benefits of using a wider range of grape varieties, as well as the growing trend towards regenerative agriculture, to restore soil carbon and build resilience.

To give some context to why there is an emphasis on words like urgency, catastrophe, and resilience, is because the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC), a scientist-led division of the United Nations, have in 2022 stated that we need to reduce our emissions in developed nations by 10-12% per year, in order to have a 50% chance of holding warming from rising above 1.5ºC global mean average.

Reducing emissions this fast is a colossal task and is why so many people now agree we are in a climate emergency. Action must start now across our society if we are going to stand a chance of succeeding in sustaining a liveable climate.

The world of wine may only be a tiny percentage of global agriculture but it is also a very sensitive crop and widely regarded as a cultural and luxury product. It is also greatly exposed to the risks of a changing climate and is widely seen as a leader in taking the actions required to transition towards true sustainability.

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The worsening risks we face mean climate interventions to cool the planet are back in discussion in the corridors of power. We discuss the hold ups and the necessity for research that could give all of us a clear idea as to whether such schemes should be deployed or not.

We also discuss how engaging the talents of global south scientists beyond the current superficial level could be a game changer in advancing our ability to respond, and to intervene, in order to counter the catastrophic impacts of warming we are seeing accelerating all around us.

Quotes:

“We are in the far end of what looks like a really bad place for climate change.”

“The media is telling us the math doesn’t add up and the situation is getting a little bit frightening.”

On climate interventions: “Looking at the system where it is and the dangers to people… and the dangers to natural systems, ecology and biodiversity, we are now seeing there is more openness in those communities who were extremely opposed to this than they were in the past… and that’s new!”

“Ultimately, in the United States, and we’ll make this call to the rest of the world, we think there needs to be a step function, a real multi-billion dollar increase in investing against our observations and out model improvements. Separate from climate intervention, just to do the problems, we are not investing enough.”

“We quickly need money and this technical access for researchers in the global south if we want to say that their participation is meaningful… I’ll speak bluntly, I think their participation is more superficial than it should be because they don’t have the capacity to actually do the science.”

Excerpts from interview with Kelly Wanser, Exec Director of SilverLining Institute.

View more at https://genn.cc/alentejo

And so it is to this day with Borba producing around 10 million bottles per year.

The co-op is also renowned for its quality with their very popular Adega de Borba Reserva being a top seller with its iconic label printed on cork.

During my visit I was given a tour of the winery and the cellars by Helena Ferreira, the director in charge of production and quality control. Helena has been implementing an impressive suite of sustainability protocols right across the organisation.

These include training the 300 growers, covering over 2200 hectares of vineyards, to improving energy, water, and waste management. All of this work is to ensure that the one thousand families who rely on Adega de Borba for their living, have confidence that they will be producing wine there in the years and decades yet to come.

This is episode 4 of 8 in a special series on sustainability in Alentejo in Southern Portugal - one of the most vulnerable wine regions in the world.

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Dr Lisa Schipper is an Environmental Social Science Research Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford whose work focuses on adaptation to climate change in developing countries, looking at factors that include gender, religion, and culture, to understand what drives vulnerability.

As vulnerability and suffering increase, it is critical we are able to engage as many people as possible to help shape the solutions that benefit us all and avoid critical errors that can have long-lasting detrimental effects.

In the next episode, I am speaking with Kelly Wanser from the Silver Lining Institute in Washington about their work in trying to counter near-term Earth system destabilisation by a combination of advanced supercomputer situations and interventions that might include marine cloud brightening.

Thanks for listening to ClimateGenn - you can support this work and get episodes earlier by becoming a Patron backer and you can also subscribe for free on YouTube and all major podcast channels.

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Mouchão is a great example of an integrated estate in Alentejo where different flora and fauna are interwoven to create the whole.

The Sobreiro, or cork oak trees, are an integral part of the history of this region and yet, as Iain tells us, climate is one of the drivers that is causing a substantial die-off against which he and his team are fighting.

For reference, the Arroba, mentioned in this recording is actually a measure used for weighing cork, equivalent to 15 kilograms.

The story of Mouchao is one that really marries the past with the present in terms of identifying the moment where history and tradition are faced with the need for non-linear responses in order to achieve sustainability.

It is the story that really connects the glass of wine, or jug of olive oil, to the seemingly infinite physical and chemical interactions within the biosphere.

It is also the great human challenge to adapt to these changes, regenerate our soils, and build resilience while learning to live in a different world.

This feeds back into the importance of what programmes like WASP can achieve when they provide the framework for measuring change and disseminating knowledge.

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In this ClimateGenn episode, I speak with Lieutenant General Norman Seip, the President of the American Security Project, about the urgency for the US Senate to stop playing dice with the global climate and vote through policy that will steer America back on course to being a nation worthy of respect. Ever since President George Bush Senior declared the American Way of Life is not up for negotiation, the United States has stood in the way of global efforts to limit the impacts of climate destruction.   

We are now unnecessarily gambling our collective futures away because US politicians put wealth and ideology above the endless warnings of climate scientists, ecologists, among many others now screaming for change to avert disaster.  It is late in the day and we are all now at risk from business as usual policy and investment that prolongs the use of fossil fuels. Changing now could avert some suffering and, as we discuss here, the United States must grow up and face its responsibility as the world's largest emitter.

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Nick Breeze, Dr Greg V Jones

In the second episode of the Alentejo climate and sustainability series, I'm speaking with winemaker and climate scientist Dr. Greg Jones, who has co-authored climate and wine research papers looking at the vulnerability of certain regions to climate change. One, in particular, that is relevant to this series titled 'Climate Change & Global Wine Quality', published in 2005 states, "Other regions currently with warmer growing seasons, i.e. southern Portugal may become too warm for the existing varieties grown there and hot climate maturity regions may become too warm to produce high-quality wines of any type." 

A couple of factors that are important in responding to this deduction are as follows. Mitigation is still essential. Every one of us, every business, every wine business, must play a part in the decarbonisation of human systems. Doing so is a collective responsibility that runs all the way through the wine business, from the vineyards, to how wine is communicated and consumed. But this alone is not enough wine producers have to go further in building resilience, regenerating soils, and ecosystems. This is as much about stewardship as it is about survival. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC recently released a report that states adaptation is critical, because climate impacts due to human-caused global warming, are now unavoidable. Here, Dr. Jones outlines some of the impacts we can expect in regions such as Alentejo, which are among the world's most vulnerable to heat increases and drought conditions. He also gives us his view on why regional certification programs such as the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme play a crucial role in the sharing of knowledge, as well as providing the framework by which actions and progress can be measured. This second episode represents a broader view before we zoom in and meet the producers in Alentejo and hear their fascinating stories about the actions they are taking to boost resilience and protect the quality and reputation of the region.

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At a time when the UK is reeling from extreme heatwaves, the government are holding back on renewable energy projects and backing fossil fuel investments that will please their backers and make the climate problem much, much worse. They are also using the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an excuse to increase coal, oil and gas extraction across the British Isles.

Activist groups like Fossil Free London help to highlight who the polluters are and bring public attention to their careless and destructive activities. As has been said in previous interviews, the activists and civil society groups are more inline with what the science tells us we need to do than the policymakers entrusted to protect us. This has to stop.

Thanks for listening to Climate Genn. In the next episode I am speaking with a retired US General Norman Seip who is now President of the American Security Project and who agrees with me that as much as Climate Change is a US National Security Threat, US climate policy is itself a security threat to the rest of the world.

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Alentejo Episodes to be released 1 per week for 8 weeks:

EP. 1 Sustainability & Wine in Alentejo An Introduction - Alentejo, a climate-vulnerable region

EP. 2 Dr Greg Jones - we need regional schemes that build into broader framework at a global level

EP. 3 Herdade do Mouchão, Iain Richardson - 600 mature cork oak trees a year lost, it was tragic!

EP. 4 Adega de Borba, Helena Ferriera - 1000 families depend on this business

EP. 5 Herdade do Esporão, João Roquette - Leaders In Portugal

EP. 6 Professor Kimberly Nicholas, Working With Nature

EP. 7 Herdade de Coelheiros, Luis Patrão - If we don’t adapt we are finished

EP. 8 Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme (WASP) João Barroso

In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking to climate psychologist and Deputy Director and theme lead for the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation (CAST Centre) Dr Stuart Capstick from Cardiff University about why scientists who research aspects of climate change are deciding to protest in public, and in some cases getting arrested.

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We discuss the role of scientists in society as a group that have for many years played a key role in informing policy - but what happens when policymakers are not listening and the consequences mean risking the lives and well beings of citizens, which of course, includes their own family and friends.

Stuart is a researcher looking at many aspects of civil disobedience and the publics response to it and has a lot to say that implies to me that more and more people with positions of authority are saying that is enough is enough - the risks to our own existence are now too high.

In the next episode I speak with Nuri Syed Corser from Fossil Free London, a group of activists specifically targeting the fossil fuel industry, their backers and enablers, by, for example, disrupting shareholder events and other tactics.

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In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking with Sunny Morgan in South Africa about the Debt for Climate Campaign that is calling for the global north to cancel the debts of the global south, which are both crippling the economies in developing nations and financing huge fossil fuel projects that we desperately need to get rid of.

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Sunny outlines how these institutions work with corporations to lock in hugely destructive projects that are destroying natural ecology, trashing the climate, and ruining people's lives.

This is a system of corruption that must be stopped as part of the just transition to a fairer and cleaner world. There simply is no place for what equates to a contemporary form of colonialism and the campaign will be making its case at the G7 meeting later this month in Germany and again at COP27 in Egypt in November. Check out their website at debtforclimate.org

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The Living Earth Movement asks us all to look at how we can reshape humanity to act as part of the ecosphere and not against it. A major part of John’s mission is to call on the US and China to stop competing and start working together as leaders in the change we need to end the destruction of our planet.

John implores all of us as individuals to think about the way we live and not take anything for granted, especially now that we are committed to devastating impacts from the ecological destruction we are bringing on ourselves.

The Living Earth Movement (livingearthmovement.eco) was founded in February, this year at the same time that John turned 97 years old, clearly demonstrating that it is never too late to take action to strive for a better world for all ecology.

Action and activism are hot topics at the moment and in the next episode I am speaking Sunny Morgan in South Africa about a new campaign called Cancel The Debt - a call from thousands of activists in the global south demanding the global north cancel the very debts that are preventing them rising out of poverty and accelerating a green transition.

Thank you for listening. Please subscribe and share on Youtube, or any major podcast channel. If you want to access episodes early, and gain access to unseen interviews, please consider becoming a member on Patreon where more climate emergency interviews and insights will be posted in the months to come.

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In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking with professor Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre at Manchester University.

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This is a longer interview with many, I believe, crucial points for consideration.

We discuss our current usage of the available carbon budget for 1.5ºCelsius at just under 1% per month.

Also the dangerous and foolish behaviour of UK Secretary of State for Energy, Kwasi Kwarteng, in trying to reclassify natural gas (methane), as a green gas in order to increase investment.

Download the Phase-Out Paper being discussed: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/213256008/Tyndall_Production_Phaseout_Report_final_text_3_.pdf

Kevin Anderson Quotes:

“Practically and morally, we are obliged to help [poorer nations] leapfrog over their fossil fuel period.”

“Every month we are using just under 1% of the carbon budget.”

“Senior academics are the new climate skeptics in my view!”

“Natural gas - Methane is a transition fuel… to 4ºC”

“We all paint a picture that fits with our world view but as we reassess that world view repeatedly, eventually it doesn’t sit with our world view.”

“It is disturbing and interesting in the law that we will protect things that are causing incredible damage and we will prosecute things that are trying to stop that incredible damage being caused.”

“Particularly academics, we are paid to be honest and direct about our research and we will sweeten the pill, hugely sweeten the pill in public and I think that is deeply arrogant, of often very decent people, fast we think the public can’t deal with it”

“The policymakers are simply not up to the job.”

In March, Kevin and colleagues at the Tyndall Centre released a research paper titled: Phaseout Pathways for Fossil Fuel Production within Paris-compliant Carbon Budgets. I begin by asking Kevin to clarify the critical points of this paper as he can do this much more clearly than I can!

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In this ClimateGenn episode, I am introducing Alentejo in Southern Portugal, declared in 2005 as one of the most climate-vulnerable wine regions in the world. The Alentejo region has been seeing temperatures rise and drought conditions intensify as rain patterns become more erratic and extreme.

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In June I will be releasing a series of 9 recordings from my visit and interviews with producers and members of the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme, looking at how they are responding to the emergent climate challenges.

In the next ClimateGenn episode out this week, I am speaking with Professor Kevin Anderson about his recent research paper on phasing out fossil fuels to stay within the 1.5ºC obligation that governments set in Paris in 2015. This is a detailed conversation where Kevin talks about our current predicament being ‘The worst of both worlds with dire consequences and less carbon budget available to transition to clean energy’.

What follows is the narration of the typescript of my overall response to the presentation given in London by the Wines of Alentejo producers.

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The Global Reward Coin would be backed by central banks around the world in order to provide stability and a mechanism to account for what he calls, The Living Systems Economy.  

By making a comparative analysis of this concept with other economic proposals, Delton asserts that de-growth and circular economy proposals are inadequate to solve the climate emergency when placed in the context of the current paradigm of human civilisation.  Please do comment or send feedback as I will be interested to hear what people think. 

Also, thank you for listening and subscribing. If you do want to support this work then please share the episode on whatever available channel, or you can back it on Patreon.

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Over 70% of land use on the planet is given over to animal agriculture and vast amounts of plant-based crops are being used to feed that livestock, we are emitting vastly more carbon than we need and leaving ourselves wide open for uncomfortable and unaffordable shocks.

Paul talks about the changes that we can and should make in order to build resilience and make the food system actually work for all.

Emerging science is showing that we are now vulnerable to multiple extreme events in bread baskets around the world happening at the same time.

With 10% of the world’s population already struggling to feed itself, is now the time for us all to take the action required causing a social tipping point that, for a change, moves in our favour?

Thanks for listening to ClimateGenn. In the next episode, I speak with Dr Delton Chen. Dr Chen is the creator of the Global Carbon Reward coin, a concept made famous in Kim Stanley Robinson’s climate fiction novel, Ministry For The Future.

Through the creation of the Living Systems Economy, Chen believes he has a winning formula to finance the restoration of the biosphere, including tackling ecological breakdown and reducing atmospheric carbon.

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Thank you.

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In this ClimateGenn episode I am speaking with Research Director of the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration in Melbourne, David Spratt, about assessing climate risk and why incremental tweaks to reduce emissions are failing us.

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We also discuss IPCC forecasts, political failure, and how change is possible but it requires a huge mobilisation of resources, coupled with public and political participation and leadership of the Zelensky variety.

The clock is ticking, parts of the system are tipping, whether you call it: code-red, an emergency, or blah blah blah, no one is immune from the cascade of climate impacts that we will face if we continue to do nothing to avert the growing threat of climate change this decade and into the future.

Thanks for listening to ClimateGenn, especially at a time when there is so much violence and the threat of escalation of war.

The pain that this is causing so many is inextricably linked to corruption and fossil fuels that extend well beyond Putin’s regime. I would very much like to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people, as well as with Russians who are standing up to the regime.

https://www.breakthroughonline.org.au/

http://www.climatecodered.org/

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In recent weeks I have exchanged emails again with Dr Hansen to discuss his recent work that has a working title of ‘The Big Climate Short’. Hopefully this will be recorded once his latest work is submitted for publication.

What strikes me about this decade old interview is that the language is so clear and the warnings regarding urgent action are in the timeframe of the next 1-1.5years. He even states the danger of waiting a decade to what would be 2022.

Hansen made international news in the late 80’s when he testified to US Congress about the need to change our energy system and reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases. He is straight pragmatic speaker who has consistently issued warnings that have been ignored despite the rising cost inflicted by such ignorance.

Here he gives very clear definitions of what tipping points are and the danger of crossing them. He discusses the challenges that scientists face in communicating these problems.

He also highlights evidenced strategies that could have significantly dealt with them at the time but with each passing year create an ever growing challenge.

We are now where we are. The recent IPCC report talks about the closing window of opportunity to act. Coming at a time of extreme chaos and suffering in Europe, it is hard to see how we will navigate the coming weeks, months and years.

How we deal with our own fear and concern regarding these issues is very important. War is obviously not the answer and neither is any sense of nihilism. Being able to focus on the problems and act with a broader sense of community is far more rewarding.

In the next episode I am speaking to climate and policy analyst, David Spratt, Research Director at the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration in Melbourne, Australia.

We will be discussing a range of subjects including the accelerating rate of impacts, what climate models don’t tell us, as well as the tipping point risks we can’t see or measure and that may already have been crossed.

Thank you for listening to ClimateGenn. I have many more episodes to produce so please do subscribe. Thank you to all who are supporting the channel via Patreon. You can also drop me a note or comment on my website genn.cc and I will always try to respond.

Thank you.

In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking with Eden Project founder, Sir Tim Smit about the stories that need to be told to create the future we want to have.

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Sir Tim sees the now as a moment of great revolution that is emerging from what he calls the new green enlightenment. With world leaders of low-calibre and backward thinking, it is right to ask from whence will these great game-changers emerge?

If you have just got your head around exponential climate change then why not have a go at exponential biosphere healing? With 20th century style aggression erupting in Europe, it will take a leap of great faith and hope to keep the lantern burning in these dark dystopian times.

Some key quotes:

i. “I am at a real sea change with Eden."

ii. “A very rapid reappraisal is necessary of the whole world of science, of scientific research, the way it is funded…”

iii. “Our disrespect for biology has led to many of the pickles we are now in.”

iv. “I think we are living at a time of great revolution… in twenty years time we will be looking at this as the start of a new green enlightenment.”

v. “I know many many top business people who feel they would not like to do anything other than have a shower after they have been with many bankers!”

vi. “I have met very few leaders who are champions of citizenship. They see leadership as being about being decisive!”

Vii. “I see us a shop window on a future that is still ours to make!”

Thank you for listening to ClimateGenn where we explore the reality of what to do, and how to come to terms with such a severely changing world. You can support this work via https://patreon.com/genncc or by subscribing on any major podcast channel and Youtube. Please also consider sharing any episodes of interest.