The COP28 Survival Guide: How it Works and What to Expect

Release Date: 10/19/2023

Modelling Economic Complexity: Insights for Risk Professionals

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Prof. J. Doyne Farmer, Professor of Complex Systems Science at the University of Oxford, as we explore new modelling approaches designed to better capture the complex and chaotic nature of our climate and economy. We spend a lot of time on this podcast covering the transition to a low carbon economy, which will be driven largely by policies and technological innovation. These policies tend to be based on insights from economics. And our view on the pace of innovation is often informed by expert judgement. But traditional economic models often oversimplify the world, leading to poor...

Predicting Our Climate Future: What We Do, Don’t and Can’t Know

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Prof. David Stainforth of LSE’s Grantham Research Institute, as we explore the limitations of climate modelling and the implications for risk management. There are some things in life that we can be virtually certain about: if one throws a ball into the air, it will fall back down. Similarly, scientists have evidence beyond reasonable doubt that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased a lot in the recent past. But there are quite a lot of things that we don’t know with any confidence, giving rise to significant uncertainty when we try to forecast those...

How to Fix Climate Change & Biodiversity Loss at the Same Time

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Prof. Pete Smith of the University of Aberdeen, as we explore the overlap in the challenges from, and solutions to, climate change and biodiversity loss. Climate change and biodiversity loss are often treated separately – in science, policy, and even risk management. But as the connections between these global crises come into sharper focus, it’s clear that understanding them together is essential for real progress. In this episode, we break down those silos of climate and nature, exploring an integrated approach and how it might help us address these challenges...

Carbon Pricing: Harnessing the Power of Markets to Drive Climate Action

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Gordon Bennett, Managing Director at ICE, as we dive into theory and practice of carbon pricing and its important role in driving the transition to net zero. Carbon pricing is the poster child of market-based solutions to climate change. The principle is simple: by assigning a cost to greenhouse gas emissions, we incentivize polluters to emit less, and to do so in the most cost-effective way. But there’s a significant gap between the theory and practice. Currently, only 24% of global emissions – about 12.8 gigatonnes – are covered by pricing mechanisms such as carbon taxes...

Rethinking Natural Catastrophe Modeling: New Approaches for a Changing Climate

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from three leading experts in natural catastrophe modeling, as we explore how climate change is causing the insurance industry to rethink their approach to modeling extreme weather. In the previous episode, we discussed the challenges facing the insurance industry from climate change – so in this episode, we’re going to dive into some of the solutions. Since natural catastrophe (Nat Cat) modeling was established in the late 1980s, the predictive power of their models has come from the statistical analysis of historical data. But as climate change continues to push the frequency and...

Uninsurable: The Future of Insurance in a Changing Climate

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from two leading experts, as we explore how insurance is adapting to climate change and the role of the industry beyond underwriting. Insurance plays a critical role in protecting households and businesses from the impacts of climate change, and with physical risks on the rise, it will become ever more important. However, insurers have also been significantly impacted by these risks, with annual losses from natural catastrophes exceeding 100 billion dollars for four consecutive years. The primary concern is that these physical risks eventually become uninsurable, as we are already...

Urban Resilience: How Our Cities Must Adapt to Climate Change

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair of the London Climate Resilience Review, as we dive into the challenges of climate adaptation and what it means for our cities. 2023 was not only the warmest year on record, it also marked the warmest 10-year period on record. As we witness first-hand the impacts of a warming climate, including heatwaves, more intense precipitation and increased flooding, the case for building resilience against these risks becomes ever more important. This is particularly so in our cities, where the concentration of populations and economic activity make adaptation...

GARP’s Sustainability & Climate Risk Certificate: Register Now

Climate Risk Podcast

In this special episode, hear from Tony Rooke, Executive Director at Howden Group Holdings and Beth Gould Creller, GARP’s Sustainability & Climate Risk Program Lead, as they discuss the recent improvements to the SCR’s syllabus and learning experience. Long-time listeners of the podcast will have noticed that we often mention GARP’s Sustainability & Climate Risk (SCR) Certificate. It’s a program that GARP launched in 2020, providing all the foundational knowledge you need to become a climate risk leader within your own firm. This episode is a special one, as we bring...

Why NDCs Aren’t Working and How to Fix Them

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, as we explore the shortcomings of nationally determined contributions and how they might be improved. Nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, are a bit like transition plans for countries, in that they set out what a country plans to do in order to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. However, NDCs are voluntary, and collectively they don’t currently have us on track to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees, let alone the more ambitious target of 1.5 degrees. Today’s guest believes that this is a...

Why Nature Belongs in Corporate Thinking

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Robin Millington, CEO of Planet Tracker, as we discuss how and why businesses should be thinking about their dependencies and impacts on nature. Sustainability is a complex topic, and for a long time, climate has been at the heart of discussion. Other challenges like pollution and biodiversity loss have often been sidelined. Recently however, following the work of the TNFD and others, these issues have risen up the corporate agenda, within the wider context of our impact and dependency on nature. Throughout her career, this guest has highlighted the importance of integrating...

More Episodes

Hear from Nigel Topping, Former UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP26, as we set the scene for COP28 in Dubai.

The COP, or Conference of Parties, is the annual convention of the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is where all the high-level decision-making around the global transition to net-zero occurs – as such, it’s an incredibly important event for stakeholders all around the world.

With the next one just around the corner, this episode will set the scene for COP28 in Dubai, explaining the inner workings of the COP and identifying the key issues up for discussion. We’ll explore:

The successes and shortcomings of the COP mechanism, and how it squares up to the challenge of multilateral negotiations;
The complex ecosystem of government, business, civil society and lobbying that has coalesced around the formal proceedings, and the challenges and opportunities that it brings;
And the headline issues that will be faced (and hopefully resolved) over the course of COP28.

To find out more about the Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) Certificate, follow this link: https://www.garp.org/scr

For more information on climate risk, visit GARP’s Global Sustainability and Climate Risk Resource Center: https://www.garp.org/sustainability-climate

If you have any questions, thoughts, or feedback regarding this podcast series, we would love to hear from you at: [email protected]

Links from today’s discussion:

UNFCCC High-Level Champions - https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/global-ambassadors/
Our Episode with Sir Dieter Helm - https://www.garp.org/podcast/not-net-zero-cr-210708
UNFCCC, Global Stocktake - https://unfccc.int/topics/global-stocktake
The Inevitable Policy Response - https://www.unpri.org/sustainability-issues/climate-change/inevitable-policy-response
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries/University of Exeter, The Emperor’s New Climate Scenarios - https://actuaries.org.uk/emperors-new-climate-scenarios
Rocky Mountain Institute, X-Change: Electricity - https://rmi.org/insight/x-change-electricity/

Speaker’s Bio

Nigel Topping, Global Ambassador with the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions

As one of the 14 Global Ambassadors, Nigel was selected by the UN to help accelerate the implementation of net-zero targets and climate adaptation. Until November 2022, Nigel was the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion from COP26 in Glasgow, having been appointed by the UK Prime Minister in January 2020.

Working alongside Egypt’s High-Level Champion for COP27, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Nigel helped strengthen collaboration and drive action from businesses, investors, organisations, cities, and regions on climate change, and coordinate this work with governments and Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Previously, Nigel was CEO of We Mean Business, a coalition of businesses working to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy. Before that, he was Executive Director of the CDP, following an 18-year career in the private sector, having worked across the world in emerging markets and manufacturing. Nigel is also a non-executive director of the UK Infrastructure Bank, and is a member of the UK’s Climate Change Committee.

Speaker’s Bio

TOPICS