Carnegie Council Podcasts

Latest Episodes:

C2GDiscuss: Ocean-Based Climate Altering Approaches in Context: the Ocean-Climate Nexus Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

The oceans and climate change are inextricably connected. On the one hand, the oceans are faced with significant threats posed by climate change through acidification, loss of oxygen, and warming; on the other hand, the oceans play a critical role in regulating the climate system, acting as a major heat and carbon sink, and have been increasingly regarded as a source of solutions to climate change.

A range of additional ocean-based climate-altering approaches are being explored to limit climate impacts. For example, introducing additional nutrients to enhance photosynthesis of plankton to remove CO2 from the ocean surface and transport it to the deep ocean; cultivating large-scale seaweed to capture carbon through photosynthesis for sequestration; and brightening marine clouds through spraying sea water to deliver cooling locally.

However, all these approaches may present potential benefits and risks. What do the ocean protection community and the climate protection community say about these approaches? Is there a panacea for addressing the major environmental and socio-political challenges that these approaches pose? How can their risks and benefits be weighed up against the expected impacts of climate change?

In this C2GDiscuss, three experts share their views on these approaches.

Stefanos Fotiou is director in the Office of Sustainable Development Goals in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. At the time of this recording, he was the director of the Environment and Development Division in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP).

Kristina M. Gjerde is is senior high seas advisor to IUCN's Global Marine and Polar Programme (GMPP) and adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, where she teaches international marine law.

Joyashree Roy is the inaugural Bangabandhu Chair Professor at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).

Janos Pasztor (moderator) is executive director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G).

This interview was recorded on June 1, 2021, and is also available with interpretation into 中文, Español, and Français.

For more, please go to C2G's website.

The Doorstep: The Hidden Global Growth Crisis, with Rachel Ziemba Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

Over the past year, America has imported more oil from Russia and goods from China to address domestic inflation and supply chain issues. Abroad, the U.S. is threatening sanctions against Russia and keeping diplomats from attending the Beijing Olympics. Center for a New American Security's Rachel Ziemba joins Doorstep co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to discuss the tensions between U.S. domestic and foreign policy goals and how an impending global growth crisis may upend the Biden/Harris administration's "foreign policy for the middle class."

For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org.

American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History, with Casey Michel Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Last October, millions of leaked documents known as the Pandora Papers exposed the shadowy financial structures global power players from politicians to billionaires use to hide money, move markets, and transform countries. Author Casey Michel delves deep into the underbelly of this global scheming in American Kleptocracy. In this virtual event, Michel and Doorstep co-hosts Nikolas Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin discuss corruption in the United States and its effects around the world.

For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org.

C2GDiscuss: Exploring the role of trees in large-scale carbon dioxide removal Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is required in all pathways to keep global warming under 1.5°C. A range of approaches to CDR are under consideration, including technological or biological approaches, with the latter being increasingly referred to as "nature-based solutions."

Afforestation and reforestation, together with other nature-based approaches to CDR, have been gaining international attraction because of their huge potential to remove carbon from atmosphere but also due to the other prospective environmental and social benefits they could bring. However, there are concerns raised around "moral hazard," competition for resources, permanence of sequestration, and other potential risks of deployment of large-scale afforestation and reforestation, which pose governance challenges.

How do we address these challenges and make decisions that maximize synergies and co-benefits and minimize tradeoffs? What can we learn from previous large-scale afforestation and reforestation initiatives?

To explore these questions, C2G brought together a diverse group of policy, intergovernmental, independent research organization, NGO, and academic experts for a "C2GDiscuss" podcast on July 20, 2020.

Featuring:

Li Fang, chief representative, World Resources Institute Beijing Representative Office, China
Martin Frick, deputy to the special envoy, UN Food Systems Summit 2021
Thelma Krug, senior researcher (retired) at National Institute for Space Research, Brazil and vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Kelsey Perlman (speaking on behalf of CAN International), forest and climate campaigner, Fern
Artur Runge-Metzger, director for climate strategy, governance, and emissions from non-trading sectors, DG CLIMA, European Commission
Janos Pasztor, executive director, C2G (Moderator)

For more, please go to C2G's website.

AI, Movable Type, & Federated Learning, with Blaise Aguera y Arcas Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

Are we reaching for the wrong metaphors and narratives in our eagerness to govern AI? In this Artificial Intelligence & Equality podcast, Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen is joined by Google Research's Blaise Aguera y Arcas. In a talk that spans from Gutenberg to federated learning models to what we can learn from nuclear research, they discuss what we need to be mindful of when discussing and engaging with future applications of machine intelligence.

For more on this podcast, please go to carnegiecouncil.org.

For more on the Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI), please go to carnegieaie.org.

C2GDiscuss: Governing Solar Radiation Modification Research: Insights from Marine Cloud Brightening and the Great Barrier Reef Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

In response to climate change risks, scientists are considering the viability of developing and deploying marine cloud brightening (MCB), which seeks to whiten clouds over the ocean to reflect solar radiation back into space in order to achieve cooling. MCB is still largely theoretical, but if ever deployed at scale, could create large and potentially long-term risks and governance challenges.

The recent first outdoor MCB experiment conducted by Australian scientists went largely unnoticed by the general public and has generated some interesting but limited debate. In this C2GDiscuss, the panelists explore:

How to situate MCB in the global challenges of response to climate risks context?
What is the latest research and debate about MCB as well as the governance implications of potential deployment?
What could we learn from the recent MCB outdoor experiment in Australia to move forward the governance of solar radiation modification research?

The C2GDiscuss features:

Kerryn Brent, lecturer at the University of Adelaide and member of the Australian Forum for Climate Intervention Governance;
Silvia Ribeiro, Latin America Director, ETC Group;
Phillip Williamson, Honorary Reader, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Paul Rouse, Science Advisor, C2G (Moderator)

For more, please go to C2G's website.

C2GDiscuss: An Introduction to the Series, with C2G Executive Director Janos Pasztor Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

C2GDiscuss is a series of moderated in-depth conversations between diverse experts on some of the governance challenges of climate-altering approaches. In this podcast, Mark Turner, communications consultant at C2G, interviews Janos Pasztor, C2G's executive director, about how how these discussions encourage an engaging conversation about some of the toughest questions faced by decision-makers on climate change, now and in the future.

C2GDisccuss and C2GTalk are posted on Monday on Carnegie Council's podcast channels.

For more, please go to C2G's website.

The Doorstep: Opportunities for New Narratives in Foreign Policy, with Judah Grunstein Jan 13, 2022

Show notes

Judah Grunstein, editor-in-chief of World Politics Review, returns to The Doorstep to discuss 2022 trends in U.S. global engagement with co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin. Where is the Biden/Harris team succeeding on the world stage? Where are they missing opportunities? Is the American public ready to participate in shaping new narratives for how the U.S. shows up in the world?

For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org.

C2GTalk: How can fiction help people think about solar radiation modification? with Eliot Peper Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

When author Eliot Peper first heard about solar geoengineering, or solar radiation modification, he knew he had to write a novel. "There are so many different angles on this kind of a problem. It raises so many questions that impact every area of our lives," he told C2GTalk. Speculative fiction, says Peper, can spark people's curiosity and inspire them to become engaged. "If it makes other people look more deeply and pay more attention, to me that's a huge win."

Eliot Peper is the author of nine novels, including Veil, Cumulus, Bandwidth, and Neon Fever Dream. He also publishes a blog, and sends a monthly newsletter. He is on Twitter, @eliotpeper.

Peper's most recent novel, Veil, is a speculative thriller about diplomats, hackers, spies, scientists, and billionaires racing to control our climate future. Janos Pastor, C2G's executive director, calls Veil "the tale we need to confront climate change. Peper deftly explores one of the most controversial ideas on the climate agenda—solar geoengineering—and its geopolitical quandaries—raising tough questions and showing why we require new forms of governance to answer them."

This interview was recorded on December 14, 2021 and will be available with interpretation into 中文, Español, and Français.

For an edited transcript, please go to C2G's website.

"That Wasn't My Intent": Reenvisioning Ethics in the Information Age, with Shannon Vallor Jan 05, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of the Artificial Intelligence & Equality podcast, Senior Fellow Wendell Wallach sits down with Professor Shannon Vallor to discuss how to reenvision ethics and empower it to deal with AI, emerging technologies, and new power dynamics in the information age.

For more on this talk, please go to carnegiecouncil.org.

For more on the Carnegie Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative, please go to carnegieaie.org.