Forsaken Futures

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Recent scientific assessments have shifted the climate debate from questions of “if” and “when” global warming will reach a certain point to the question of just how bad things will get. Anticipations of a hotter world have brought the issues of adaptation and climate justice to the fore. What is owed to those whose lives and livelihoods have already – or will soon be – irreversibly disrupted? What is climate justice, and what does it demand? And how can public policy, finance, and technology be leveraged to protect vulnerable communities in a dangerously warmer world?

 

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Speakers

Agenda

Moderator: Jo Coburn
3:00PMKeynote Address
  1. Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank
Session One – Risky Business
When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global energy and commodity prices surging upward, it added yet another bullet point to a global risk profile that has also come to include new concepts like “green swans” and transition risk. How should governments, businesses, and investors navigate the fraught new global environment now that the days of relative peace and price stability appear to be over?
3:05PMPanel Discussion and Q&A with International Media:
  1. Mary Burce Warlick, Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency
  2. Tom Brookes, CEO of the Global Strategic Communications Council
  3. Megan Greene, Global Chief Economist at the Kroll Institute
  4. Landry Signé, Professor and Executive Director at Thunderbird School of Global Management
3:55PMClosing Remarks
  1. Dan Jørgensen, Minister of Climate, Energy, and Public Utilities of Denmark
  2. Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA
4:00PMBreak
Session Two – Justice Underwater
Although some progress has been made in recent years to elevate climate justice to a higher place on the global agenda, the world’s leading emitters still have not risen to the occasion. What, precisely, does the rich world owe developing countries - particularly small island states? What will it take to get high-emitting countries to support developing countries’ climate mitigation and adaptation efforts? And what risks does it run by failing to do so?
4:15PMOpening Remarks
  1. Laura Chinchilla, Former President of Costa Rica
4:20PMPanel Discussion and Q&A with International Media:
  1. Bill McKibben, Co-Founder of 350.org
  2. Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President of the Club of Rome
  3. Mohamed Nasheed, Former President of the Maldives
  4. Shaama Sandooyea, Climate activist
5:00PMClosing Remarks
  1. Daniel Beltrá, Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers
5:05PMBreak
Session Three – Code Green?
One of the most controversial ideas in the broader climate discourse, geoengineering remains a topic of much debate. While its proponents argue that we should at least research every potential option at our disposal, its opponents warn that the environmental and political risks simply are too great. Meanwhile, for those living in settings that could disappear entirely as a result of climate change, “break the glass” options have become more attractive, introducing the risk that some governments will simply take matters into their own hands. How has this issue evolved in recent years, and are there any prospects for establishing some globally amenable common ground?
5:20PMFrom Limits to Growth to Earth for All
5:30PMFireside Chat
  1. Marcia McNutt, President of the US National Academy of Sciences
  2. Carlo Ratti, Professor at MIT
6:15PMClosing Remarks
  1. David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee

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