Planet A – Talks on Climate Change

In this 1st episode of the new 6th season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks to Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University, about the geopolitics of fossil fuels and how the green energy transition affects the world order.

Thompson´s current research concentrates on the political economy of energy and the democratic, economic, and geopolitical disruptions of the twenty-first century.

She is also well known for co-hosting the highly acclaimed podcast Talking Politics.

Her most recent book Disorder – Hard Times in the 21st Century was published on year ago - on the 24th of February 2022 – the same day Russia invaded Ukraine.

The book which weaves together energy and geopolitics in a historic perspective couldn’t have had a more timely launch.

Thompson’s book has received glowing reviews and was shortlisted by the Financial Times for Best Business Book of the year 2022.

The book portrays an increasing instability of the global political system today and the ramifications of the current attempt to transition to clean energy worldwide.

The heat waves of the future could produce deadly “wet bulb temperatures” that would kill millions of people by sheer heat exhaustion. How will governments, citizens and international organizations react, if a heat wave killed 20 million people in India? That is the premise of the novel “The Ministry for the Future” – a novel that mixes science fiction and environmentalism.

The guest on the premiere episode of the fifth season of Planet A is renowned science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson. In “The Ministry for the Future”, he writes about a dystopian, near future where the devastating consequences of climate change are ravaging the world. The book describes how governments and philanthropists try to use geoengineering, like spraying sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere or capturing meltwater of The Greenland Ice Sheet to stem climate change. 

While his book “The Ministry for the Future” invites readers into a world where nothing is unthinkable and everything is possible, the solutions he describes are not all science fiction.

And in this episode of Planet A he discusses the promise and perils of geoengineering, the COP-process, the current energy crisis and whether we need nuclear energy in the global green transition with host Minister Dan Jørgensen.

Solutions to climate change are ideas worth spreading. And that is what TED is all about. 
On the sixth episode of Planet A’s fourth season, the curator of TED, Chris Anderson, spreads his ideas on how to make a good talk and address climate change in a way that excites and motivates people.

TED has been sharing big ideas on climate change for more than 15 years with prominent speakers like Al Gore, Bill Gates, and Prince William – as well as the host of this podcast, Dan Jørgensen.

So how do we push transformative ideas for the green transition moving forward?

Listen for yourself in this episode.

You can find the TED talks referenced here:

Al Gore: Averting the climate crisis

Dan Jørgensen: How wind energy could power Earth ... 18 times over

Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a procrastinator

Sometimes having good talks on climate change requires a good listener.  And we have one of the best in Professor Jason Box on the 5th episode of Planet A’s fourth season where Dan Jørgensen talks with the esteemed professor of glaciology about the state of the Greenland Ice Sheet and what it can tells us about the changing climate.

Jason Box has been co-author of the latest three assessment reports from IPCC and co-wrote the decisive UN report ‘Climate Change 2007’ for which the team was co-awarded the Nobel Peace prize the same year. He has also participated in more than 30 expeditions in Greenland to study climate changes and monitor the development of the ice sheet. 

So what does the ice tell us? 

Listen for yourself in this episode of Planet A.

In the 4th episode of Planet A’s fourth season, Dan Jørgensen talks with the renowned American author, Jonathan Safran Foer.  

His debut “Everything Is Illuminated” and his later novels “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” and “Here I Am” has established him as one of the most thought provoking American authors in this century. 

Over the last decade his non-fiction books “Eating Animals” and “We Are the Weather – Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast” plunged him into the debate on climate change – and on this episode of Planet A.

And it all begins with what we eat for breakfast. Safran Foer proposes that we cut as many animal products as possible from our diet – until dinner. That way we can find comfort in the food we are used to eat, while still taking action on one of the biggest emission sources

Safran Foer suggests that we have overlooked what we can do about climate change ourselves. Thus, while we cannot change human nature, we can make choices about what we eat.

In the 3rd episode of Planet A’s fourth season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Dr. Debra Roberts co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC).

The IPCC recently released its report ”Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” that assesses the impact climate change could have on ecosystems, biodiversity and human communities.

Dr. Roberts calls the report a clear wake-up call that will force us to either ”adapt or die”.

For some animals, the latter option may become their fate. The report finds that - even if we meet the goal enshrined in the Paris Accord - there will be a severe loss of biodiversity.

Thus, an increase in global temperatures of 1.5° will ”very likely” result in the extinction of somewhere between 3 and 14 percent of the several thousand land dwelling species that the IPCC looked at.

Furthermore, a 5° increase in global temperatures could eradicate up to 48 % of the land based species.

Some developments - such as hydrological changes resulting from the retreat of glaciers – have already become irreversible, leading to more droughts and rising sea levels.

However, the report also outlines feasible and effective adaptation options, which can reduce risks to people and nature. 

Dr. Roberts argues that to enable climate resilient development, it will require systemic change in everything from the way we produce energy to how we build cities and manage ecosystems.

In the 2nd episode of Planet A’s fourth season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Lutz Weischer, Head of Policy for the NGO Germanwatch.  

Germanwatch works on a wide range of environmental issues, but is perhaps best known for its annual publication of “CCPI” - the Climate Change Performance Index.  

As evident in numerous international assessments, the world is currently not on track to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees celsius and climate action is urgently needed.  

Thus, the CCPI aims to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables comparison of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries. 

In this episode, Mr. Weischer explains how the CCPI compares the climate policies and actions of different countries. The CCPI is unusual in the way that the top-ranked country is in fourth place. Germanwatch argues that no country performs well enough to be ranked and achieve an overall very high rating. Accordingly, the first three positions in the overall ranking therefore remain empty as even though all countries were as committed as the current frontrunners, it would still not be enough to prevent dangerous climate change. 

The index is produced in collaboration with the think tank NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Network (CAN) - a global network of more than 1,300 civil society organizations in over 130 countries. 

In the 1st episode of Planet A’s fourth season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Professor Joseph Nye of Harvard University.

Professor Nye gained global fame by introducing the term “soft power”, that is the ability of a country to persuade others to do what it wants – without using force or coercion.

In this episode of Planet A, he explains how soft power is particularly relevant to address transnational problems like climate change. 

Professor Nye also talks about the increasing importance of exerting “power with” - rather than “power over” - other nations. To him, climate change is an example of a problem that no government can control by working alone – it demands collaboration with other governments.

Furthermore, he argues there are two great power shifts going on in this century. 

One is a power shift from Europe and the US to Asia, particularly countries like China and India. The other great power shift is from vertical to horizontal power. That is the power shift from governments to non-governmental and transnational actors, which manifests itself at the COP-negotiations.

However, despite the rising influence of activists and the growing power of social media, nation-states remain the most important actors in the international system. 

But we can only stem climate change if nation states strengthen international collaboration about creating common norms, rules and institutions.

In the 5th episode of Planet A’s third season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Dr. Kate Marvel.

Dr. Marvel is a research scientist at Columbia University and works for NASA, studying how climate change affects our planet. 

Her research has not only made her an eminent expert on the interplay between clouds and climate change, but also brought her international prominence for her TED Talk “Can clouds save us from climate change?”.

In the podcast, she explains how clouds both warms and cools the Earth, by either trapping heat or blocking sunlight. But in fact, climate change is also affecting the movement of clouds, pushing them from the tropics towards the North and South Pole. 

Furthermore, Dr. Marvel explains about possibilities and perils of geoengineering. While generally skeptical about the use of geoengineering, to her the question of - who should decide what to do - is front and center.

She also argues that while science has confirmed patterns like warming of the Arctic, the existing climate models failed to predict the occurrence of other climate induced events.The latter point indicates that there are gaps in the scientific understanding of climate change and that its impact could be worse than anticipated.

However, she ends on a positive note arguing that climate science is gaining more prominent in the wider public debate about climate change. But even more importantly, she underlines that the science shows that we still can avert a disaster.

NB. Apologies for the background noise on the recording that is due to on-going construction work in Dr. Marvel’s building.

In the 3rd episode of Planet A’s third season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Inger Andersen, the Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Director of UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme).

UNEP recently published this year’s “Emissions Gap Report: The Heat Is On”. The Gap Report is a science-based assessment of the gap between countries’ climate pledges and the reductions required to deliver a global temperature increase of below 2°C by the end of this century.

UNEP also publishes two related reports that are discussed in this episode. Firstly, the “Production Gap Report” that tracks the discrepancy between governments’ planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with the Paris Agreement’s goals. Secondly, the “Adaptation Gap Report” that looks at progress in planning for, financing and implementing adaptation

In this episode, Andersen focuses on the “Emission Gap Report” and its conclusion that the new national climate pledges combined with other mitigation measures put the world on track for a global temperature rise of 2.7°C by the end of the century.

Andersen also explains how the annual reports are prepared and why it is pivotal to have a scientific, factual and apolitical assessment of the gap between pledged and required reductions.  

She underlines that it is well above the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and would lead to catastrophic changes in the Earth’s climate. To keep global warming below 1.5°C this century, the aspirational goal of the Paris Agreement, the world needs to halve annual greenhouse gas emissions in the next eight years.

Furthermore, Jørgensen and Andersen discuss what role the report will play at COP26 and how net-zero targets can play in bridging the emissions gap.

In the 2nd episode of Planet A’s third season, Dan Jørgensen talks with David Livingston and Varun Sivaram.

Livingston and Sivaram serve as Senior Advisers to President Biden’s Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. Thus, they play a key role in fulfilling President Joe Biden's climate policy on the world stage.

In this episode, Livingston and Sivaram discuss the US priorities and expectations for COP26. They argue that COP26 can act as an accelerator for more ambitious climate targets, while they are keenly aware that the window of opportunity to stem climate change is closing.

Thus, the US is not merely pursuing climate action at the COP, but at a wide range of international fora such as the G20, the Major Economies Forum and at President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate.

They also discuss the question of finance by the developed countries and the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion dollars a year by 2020 which is key to a successful COP26.

Beyond COP26, Livingston and Sivaram argue, two things are imperative to limit global warming. Deployment of renewable energy and other existing sustainable technologies will only provide 50 percent of the needed emission reductions. The remaining 50 percent will have to come from technologies that are not yet developed or matured.

Accordingly, innovation in long-term energy storage, heavy industry, shipping, aviation and agriculture will be essential to tackle the climate crisis. To promote innovation, the Biden administration is encouraging companies to make pledges that will promote demand for sustainable products such as green concrete or hydrogen.

In the 1st episode of Planet A’s third season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Dr. Juergen Voegele, the World Bank’s Vice President for Sustainable Development.

Dr. Voegele is one of the world’s leading experts on the interplay between food production, agriculture and climate change. In his current capacity, he oversees the World Bank’s entire efforts on agriculture, food, climate change and the environment. 

In recent years, Dr. Voegele has emerged as a thought leader on the challenges that the growing global population and changing climate will pose for humanity in the coming decades. Most notably, he has applied his expertise as co-chair for the World Economic Forum’s sustainability network “Global Future Councils”.

In this episode, Dr. Voegele talks about the challenges posed by the expected global population growth from 7.7 billion people in 2019 to 9.7 billion in 2050. Firstly, we have to increase food production. Secondly, we have to make agriculture more resilient to a changing climate. Thirdly, we have to do it without drastically increasing land-use.

Dr. Voegele also lambasts the agricultural sector for failing to produce game changing innovation that can stem climate change. Not only, in terms of advancing crops and plants that can re-absorb more carbon. But also for failing to mass produce sustainable crops such as algae or inventing a viable fertilizer.

To Dr. Voegele, the international community needs to look at the entire food system. On the consumption side, a major problem is not merely diets based on carbon intensive stables such as beef, but also food waste. Today, food waste makes up 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – more than the total emissions of India and its 1.4 billion people.

Another question is whether – and how – we can transform agriculture into “carbon farms”; that not only feeds more people, but also serves as a carbon sink by growing crops that can capture and store CO2.

In the 10th episode of Planet A’s second season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Jason Bordoff, the Director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the Dean of the University’s Climate School.

They touch upon the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis and the temporary decline in global energy consumption, the Biden administration and climate politics in the US. 

And they discuss the geopolitics of climate change, where Bordoff argues there is a difference between the influence that “electro states” such as China will have in the future and “petro states” such as Saudi Arabia have had in the past, which means that the transition to a zero-carbon world will shift power in very unexpected ways.

Last year Bordoff wrote a comment in Foreign Policy magazine on this very subject:

“Everything You Think About the Geopolitics of Climate Change Is Wrong - The transition to a zero-carbon world will shift power in very unexpected ways”.

Over the last eight years, Bordoff has made the Center on Global Energy Policy one of the world’s leading institutions on energy and climate issues.

The Center has not only attracted scores of high-profile speakers, but also covers a wide range of issues from carbon taxation to technology development and the role of geopolitics.

Before joining academia, Bordoff served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama. And, prior to that, he held several other senior positions at the White House. He has also worked in President Bill Clinton’s Administration, the consultancy

McKinsey & Company and the renowned think tank, the Brookings Institution. Moreover, Bordoff is a regular columnist for Foreign Policy magazine and a frequent commentator for the BBC. Furthermore, he has been writing on energy and climate politics for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

In the 9th episode of Planet A’s second season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Jennifer Morgan, the Executive Director of Greenpeace International. 

Over the last twenty years, Morgan has worked with climate change at leading NGOs such as World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wildlife Foundation (WWF).

Moreover, she has participated in every single COP and served as Review Editor for the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

During the interview, they discuss the importance of climate activism and how NGOs can influence policy decisions. 

Morgan starts out by explaining what Greenpeace hopes to achieve at COP26; More ambitious climate targets, increased support for the world’s poorest countries and to stop what it perceives as “false solutions”, such as using offsets.

Furthermore, Morgan explains how Greenpeace works to advance its causes. The NGO’s campaigns to raise consciousness about environmental issues such as curbing commercial whaling are known around the world. 

However, campaigning it is not the only tool that Greenpeace has in its armory – it is also litigating both corporations and countries. 

Just last month, it achieved a landmark victory, when the German Supreme Court ruled that the government’s national climate protection measures were insufficient. 

Further still, Greenpeace investigates corporate corruption and takes to social media platforms to inform the public. For instance, it has successfully exposed corruption in Indonesia’s coal mining sector and logging.

Finally, Morgan and Jørgensen talk about how the transition to carbon free societies can be just and equitable.

In the 8th episode of Planet A’s second season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Officer, Dr. Lucas Joppa. 

Dr. Joppa has worked at the nexus of data and sustainability throughout his career and is now leading Microsoft’s efforts to become a carbon negative company. Furthermore, he leads the company’s work on data and tech solutions that can help decarbonize the entire world.

Perhaps unbeknownst to many, the use, storage and processing of data emit as much  CO2 as the global airline industry.

While Dr. Joppa is keenly aware of the fact that data is contributing to the problem of climate change, he is also a strong believer in its ability to create sustainable solutions. 

During the conversation, Dr. Joppa also talks about Microsoft’s investment in carbon removal through both “nature based solutions” and mechanical carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Through Microsoft’s partnerships with NGOs and start-ups, he has also pioneered the use of data solutions and artificial intelligence to advance sustainable solutions. 

Most notably, Dr. Joppa founded “AI for Earth” - a computing platform that can predict and thereby help prevent environmental threats. 

To him, the global community has not focused enough on how technology and data can help promote sustainability. 

In order to create an efficient carbon market, we need to have more data and measurements. 

For instance, no one knows exactly how many trees there are in the United States, which would be a prerequisite to analyze the price of both nature based and technological CCS solutions.

In the 7th episode of Planet A’s second season, Dan Jørgensen talks with the journalist and author, Elizabeth Kolbert. 

Kolbert first achieved international prominence when her bestselling book “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 and the Guardian named it the best non-fiction book of all time. 

She has worked for the New York Times and the New Yorker magazine since the early 1980’s. A recurring theme in her writing has been the consequences of environmental degradation.

On the podcast, Kolbert speaks about the prospect for a mass extinction on Earth, due to the climate and biodiversity crises - and the large-scale interventions that could help turn the tide. 

Kolbert has explored the issue in her latest book “Under a White Sky: The Nature of The Future”, which was published just a few months ago. 

She studied “solar geoengineering”, the idea of injecting sulfate into the stratosphere to limit how much direct sunlight that would hit the Earth. 

This would emulate a volcanic eruption and could lower the global temperature. 

However, it can also lead to new problems and raises grave ethical questions. For instance, it would make the sky appear whiter.

The book makes for gloomy reading and Kolbert is certainly no optimist when it comes to the future of the planet. 

Nonetheless, she finds some hope in community driven approaches to the climate crisis and is very fond of the Danish Island of Samsø that has been pioneering the green transition through a bottom-up-approach.

In the 6th episode of Planet A’s second season, Dan Jørgensen talks with the American economist and Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz.

Stiglitz explains why he is a strong supporter of a “Cross Border Adjustment tax”, which adds the cost of carbon emissions to the price on imported goods and thus prevents carbon leakage. 

The economist underlines the importance of imposing a higher social cost of carbon and believes it should be upwards of 100 US dollars per emitted ton CO2. Stiglitz and Jørgensen precedes to discuss the benefits and disadvantages of different tools to price carbon, including carbon taxation and “cap and trade” systems such as the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS).

While Stiglitz is a strong proponent of a carbon tax, he advocates for a parallel implementation of political regulation and the use of public investments on research and development, if we are to meet the climate goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Stiglitz currently works as a professor at Columbia University but has also taught at several other institutions of higher education including Cambridge, Oxford, Princeton, Stanford and MIT.

Aside from his academic career, he has worked as President Bill Clinton’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House and as the Chief Economist of the World Bank. 

He is also the author of numerous scholarly articles, op-eds in the New York Times and several best-selling books. Most notably, he has authored “Globalization and its discontents”, “The Price of Inequality” and “People, Power and Profits”.

In the 5th episode of Planet A’s second season, Dan Jørgensen talks with the British writer, activist and environmentalist, George Monbiot. 

Monbiot has been a regular columnist for The Guardian since 1996 and authored ten books on social justice, climate change and other environmental issues. 

He achieved global acclaim for his award-winning book “Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding”. In the book, Monbiot advocates that humanity must “rewild”; that society must free nature from human intervention and allow it to resume its natural ecological processes.

In the interview, Monbiot uses the example of how the introduction of wolves into the Yellowstone National Park helped regenerate the park’s ecosystem and in turn changed the flow of its rivers.

To Monbiot, it is pivotal to promote what he calls “positive environmentalism”. That we need to show how environmental action can make the world a better place, not just “a little less rubbish”.

He argues that we should double down on natural climate solutions, such as the flooding of peatlands and restoration of oceans, to help mitigate climate change. 

Furthermore, Monbiot points to the deployment of offshore wind as an example of how renewable energy can promote ecological reserves for fish and marine life. 

The offshore wind farms not only creates artificial “reefs”, but also protects the seabed and thus sequesters carbon.

In this 4th episode of the 2nd season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with the American writer Jonathan Franzen. 

Franzen is the author of numerous short stories and essays, but is most widely known for his novels “The Corrections”, “Freedom” and “Purity”. Furthermore, he has been a contributor to “The New Yorker” Magazine since 1994 and written seminal essays on climate change and environmentalism.

During the interview, Franzen talks about his essay “What if We Stopped Pretending?” that sparked controversy due to its argument that humanity may no longer be able to stop climate change. The essay attracted vocal criticism and Franzen was accused of being a climate denier.

Franzen also explains how he first got interested in environmental conservation and what his love for birds has meant for his approach to life. He expands on his views described in another essay; “Has climate change made it harder for people to care about conservation?” explaining how concerns about climate change can overshadow other environmental issues.

Furthermore, the discussion explores the narratives that surround climate change. Franzen argues that climate action should be motivated by a moral imperative, love for nature and the hope of a better future – not by fear mongering.

During the interview Franzen mentions Jem Bendell, a British professor of sustainability leadership and founder of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at the University of Cumbria. He is founder of the Deep Adaptation Forum to support responses to hypothetical societal disruption from the perceived dangers of climate change - also called climate anxiety in more popular terms.

Franzen’s upcoming novel “Crossroads” will be published in October 2021 as the first installment in a trilogy entitled  “A Key to All Mythologies?”

In the 3rd episode of the 2nd season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Dennis “Denny” McGinn, a retired Vice Admiral from the United States Navy, about why climate change is a threat to global security and stability. 

Prior to his retirement, Vice Admiral McGinn served as the Commander of the 3rd US Fleet and as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. He crowned a distinguished military career by working as President Obama’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 2013 to 2017. In this capacity, Vice Admiral McGinn led the ‘greening’ of U.S. naval installations toward greater resiliency to climate change. 

He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the American think-tank “The Center for Climate and Security”. 

Vice Admiral McGinn explains how a group of retired high-ranking officers first raised political awareness in the US about climate change as a national security threat. Their 2007 report “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change” was seminal in portraying climate change as a “threat multiplier” for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.

McGinn argues that climate change is a threat multiplier that exacerbates existing challenges like resource conflicts, food security and cross-border migration and points to the conflict in Syria as an example of this.

Moreover, he points out that climate change is not just changing the geography by creating droughts and new shipping routes, but is also altering the foundations of geopolitics with widespread ramifications for the Arctic and the relationship between the great powers. 

He portends that the development is making “soft power” more important and set limits for traditional “hard power”, such as the use of military force. In McGinn’s view, NATO and its member states are currently insufficiently prepared to handle this change.

The Vice Admiral also talks about his work to make the US Navy more resilient to climate change and to reduce its carbon footprint. 

In the 2nd episode of season 2 of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Li Shuo from Greenpeace East Asia about Chinese domestic and international climate politics ahead of COP26.

 Li Shuo works as Greenpeace’s Senior Climate and Energy Policy Officer  in Beijing and leads the NGO’s international political delegation at the COP-meetings. Thus, he offers a unique insight regarding China’s domestic environmental policies and its relationship to the international climate negotiations.

 Li Shuo argues that the Sino-American relationship has deteriorated during Trump’s Presidency and is now at rock bottom. Thus, even though both countries realize that they have to work together in order to achieve a successful outcome at COP26, it will be quite difficult to resume the bilateral collaboration that forged the Paris Agreement.

 Accordingly, the EU could play an important role at COP26, in what Li Shuo describes as a “tricycle dynamic”. Due to Europe’s ambitious climate goals and policies, it acts as the tricycle’s front wheel, while the US and China have been acting as parallel rear-wheels.

Li Shuo also provides a different perspective on China’s recent dual goals to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. He argues that the announcement of the goals in and by itself should be seen as a trial balloon to gauge the level of consensus within the Chinese leadership for unilateral climate action. 

Furthermore, he explains how China’s remarkable economic growth over the last four decades was largely spurred by coal-based manufacturing. However, while economic growth remains a priority for the Chinese leadership, the resulting air pollution has emerged as a defining political priority.

However, while China’s leadership is trying to wean the country off coal, it faces stiff opposition from the domestic coal industry that retains preferential access to the electricity grid and seeks to delay deployment of renewables.

In this first episode of a new season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with David Wallace-Wells about the multitude of interlinked problems created by climate change. 

Wallace-Wells, a journalist and deputy editor of New York Magazine, achieved global fame by writing the long-form essay “The Uninhabitable Earth” in 2017. 

The essay laid out – in excruciating detail – just how dire the climate crisis is for the prospects of human civilization. Wallace-Wells went beyond the traditional portrayals of rising sea levels and extreme weather events, by focusing on how it also affects food security, access to freshwater, spread of communicable disease and armed conflict.
In 2019, David Wallace-Wells expanded on the article and wrote a book with the same title that reached the number one spot on the New York Times Bestseller List.  

On the podcast, Jørgensen and Wallace-Wells discuss how the media’s coverage of climate change has been misleading on three counts: 

1) speed, 2) scope and 3) severity. 

Furthermore, Wallace-Wells describes not only the range of possibilities for the destruction of our physical world, but also puts the spotlight on how climate change will affect us as human beings. 

However, Wallace-Wells warns against taking a fatalistic view and points to the rapid development of renewable energy as a cause for optimism.

In the 14th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Sharan Burrow about how we can make the green transition fair for workers.

Burrow is General Secretary of “ITUC” (the International Trade Union Confederation), a Brussels-based union organization that works to promote and defend workers’ rights and interests around the world. 

During Burrow’s tenure as General Secretary, ITUC has become an increasingly important voice on climate action but remains deeply committed to a “just transition” and calls for measures to protect workers, their families and communities.

She argues that unions and employers should strengthen their dialogue and create a “floor”, a strong basis of worker’s rights, as it is the case in the Nordic countries. 

It is not only a question of providing job training for skills needed in the renewable energy sector, but also about shielding workers from the economic turmoil  that the transition creates.

Thus, we should learn from the mistakes made during the financial crisis and shun austerity measures, and increase taxation on the wealthiest and international tech-companies.

Burrow also points to the importance of national transition agreements such as the one the Spanish government concluded with its coal miners. However, to attain a truly just transition, we must focus on all sectors as exemplified by Scotland’s “Just Transition Commission”.

In the 13th episode of Planet A, we commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, as Dan Jørgensen talks with Alden Meyer about the history of the international climate negotiations. 

Meyer is one of the world’s most prominent advisers on climate policy and served as Director of Strategy and Policy at the Union of Concerned Scientistsfor four decades. Today he is senior associate for the climate think-tank E3G. 

During the conversation, Meyer takes us through from the adoption of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992 to the conclusion of the Paris Agreement in 2015.

He explains how COP15, while often described as a failure, also helped lay the groundwork for the Paris Agreement by introducing voluntary climate goals and a mechanism for ramping up national ambitions.

Furthermore, Meyer discusses the numerous conflicts throughout the negotiation between the developed and the developing countries as well as between fossil fuel companies and NGOs.

Meyer argues that the world is “moving in the right direction, but not fast enough”. Yet, he remains an optimist due to the surge of climate activism from young people around the globe and the increasing climate action from sub-national actors such as cities and states. 

In the 12th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Poland’s Minister of Climate and Environment, Michał Kurtyka, about his experience as President of COP24 as well as his country’s goal to reduce coal power and build more renewable energy.

This is no small feat, considering how important coal mining is to the Polish economy.

Thus the overarching theme of this episode is the question of a “just transition” and its impact on Poland. The country has been the European heartland of coal mining for ages. When the Iron Curtain fell, more than 400.000 Poles worked in the coal industry. Today, that number is down to 80.000 people.

Kurtyka talks about the challenges to retrain coal miners for other jobs. He argues it is not a mere question of providing new opportunities, but that the strong identity of mining communities makes the transition difficult.

At the same time, Kurtyka has presented an ambitious plan to reduce coal power and deploy more renewable energy. He recently released ”PEP2040” - the plan for Poland’s energy policy to 2040 - aiming to reduce coal’s share of the country’s electricity generation from about 75% at present to 37-56% in 2030 and 11-28% by 2040. 

To reach the goal, Poland will build 8 GW capacity of offshore wind energy in the Baltic Sea. Drawing on Denmark’s extensive experiences with offshore wind, the Polish government is collaborating with its Danish counterpart.

Kurtyka is a truly remarkable political figure. He started his career as a civil servant, but made the unusual transition from civil service to political office, when he was appointed as Poland’s first Minister of Climate and Environment in 2019.

Prior to becoming a Minister, he worked as Poland’s State Secretary of Energy and the President of COP24 in 2018. In this capacity, he successfully guided the conference that led to the agreement of the so-called Katowice Rulebook.

In the 11th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with the former Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed. 

Mr. Nasheed managed to put his country on the map of global climate politics during his tenure as President of the Maldives (2008-12) and became one of the strongest global voices on climate action.

After being ousted in 2012, Nasheed was exiled to England where he was granted political asylum. However, two years ago, he returned to the Maldives and last year his party (The Maldives Democratic Party) won the parliamentary election in a landslide victory. Today, he serves as the Speaker of the Maldivian Parliament.

Despite of his stature as an international luminary of the international climate negotiations, Mr. Nasheed believes that next year’s COP in Glasgow should be the last COP.

He argues that the COP-process is so constrained by its consensus-based decision-making process that it has run its course. He further contends that the general approach to climate action, based on the premise that people should give up economic development is misguided.

Mr. Nasheed reasons that the developed world simply does not have sufficient means to finance the developing countries green transition. Thus, he calls for a new approach to economics that combines high employment and GDP growth with a low carbon strategy.

During the conversation, Mr. Nasheed also call for a radically different approach to climate adaptation, that advances nature based solutions. Not only should the Maldives use natural reefs or mangrove as infrastructure to cope with rising sea levels. Mr. Nasheed also emphasizes the need to double down on “assisted evolution” and the use of genetically modified corals.

He also touches upon the Maldives ambition to become carbon neutral, the importance of public-private partnerships and the possibility of resettling the Maldivian population on artificial, floating islands.

In the 10th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Barack Obama's former Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz. 

Dr. Moniz holds a doctoral degree in theoretical nuclear physics and made his first foray into Washington-politics as President Bill Clinton’s Under Secretary of Energy (1997-2001).

He is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet, when it comes to energy, science and politics. Thus, it should be no surprise that POLITICO ranks him as a leading contender to be President-elect Joe Biden’s next Secretary of Energy

During the conversation, Dr. Moniz shares his view on the future of American climate and energy politics, in the wake of the recent elections. He also speaks on the promise and pitfalls of specific technologies, including:

• Carbon capture, usage and storage
• Technology enhanced natural processes such as “advanced mineralization”
• Advanced nuclear
• Hydrogen
• Renewables

Dr. Moniz also talks about his experience with directing governmental energy technology research and development. Furthermore, he speaks about the need for social equity in energy politics. Finally, he explains how his knowledge about politics and science came in handy as he negotiated both the Iran Nuclear Agreement and the Paris Agreement.

He started his illustrious academic career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (perhaps best known as the MIT) in 1973 and is currently serving as Director of their Energy Initiative, working to develop no-carbon and low-carbon solutions. 

A brief note on this episode: 

During the interview, Moniz and Jørgensen touch upon President Theodore Roosevelt’s friendship with the Danish immigrant, Jacob Riis. Riis became a prominent activist, documenting the deplorable social conditions of the poor in New York City and calling for social equity.

You can learn more about Jacob Riis at the US Library of Congress homepage or at the homepage of the Danish “Jacob A. Riis Museum”.

In the 9th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Svenja Schulze

Minister Schulze is one of the world’s most important decision makers in contemporary climate politics. 

In her current job, she is not only facing the monumental task of decarbonizing Germany, Europe’s largest economy. Minister Schulze is also shouldering a vital international task, as Germany holds the presidency of the European Council for the autumn of 2020.

The German presidency comes at a crucial moment for European politics in general and for climate politics in particular. 

In this episode, Minister Schulze speaks about the European Union’s climate agenda during her tenure. To her, the two most important items this fall are the European Climate Law and the new EU 2030-emission reduction target.

Schulze points to the Commission’s assessment that an increased climate target of at least 55 percent will be beneficial to the EU’s economy and essential for sustaining global climate momentum. Reflecting on her role as a moderator, Schulze points to the fact that the member states have different starting points when it comes to the deployment of renewable energy.

She concludes that a legally binding climate law, combined with an increased reduction target will result in more than 50 new EU laws. This will pave the way for a green transition and create abundant opportunities for green growth that can help revitalize the economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 8th episode of Planet A is a special edition, featuring highlights from the preceding 7 episodes of the podcast. 

The roster of guests is (in order of appearance on this episode): 

• Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Dr. Jane Goodall,  Primatologist and Conservationist
• Katherine Richardson, Professor in Biological Oceanography at the University of Copenhagen
• Lord Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.
• Jeffrey Sachs, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
• Dr. Julio Friedmann, Lead of President Obama’s Research and Development program for Carbon Capture and Storage and CO2 utilization.
• John Kerry, former U.S. Secretary of State.

You can hear their views on some of the most pressing issues related to climate change, including tipping points, The Paris Agreement and the future COP process, COVID-19, the global politics of climate change, the economics of climate change and the prospects of technological developments and solutions.

In the seventh episode of the podcast, Dan Jørgensen talks with Dr. Julio Friedmann, who served as Lead of President Obama’s Research and Development program for Carbon Capture and Storage and CO2 utilization in the U.S. Department of Energy. 

Dr. Friedmann is renowned as one of the world’s leading experts on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as well as Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). The discussion on the podcast covers CCS – the process of capturing carbon and storing it underground – and CCUS – the process of using the carbon to produce green hydrogen, methanol or ammonia.

Dr. Friedmann argues that both CCS and CCUS are prerequisites to combat climate change. He explains that the technologies has been available for decades, but that we need more research, development and finance to scale the technology and bring down costs. He says that CCS is not a product per se, and thus need financial incentives to be further developed.

Today, Dr. Friedmann, a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy where he is leads their Carbon Mitigation Research Initiative.

While originally educated as a musical composer, Dr. Friedmann received his Ph.D. in Geology, before embarking on his career in both academia, politics and the business world. 

Prior to working for President Obama, he was the Chief Energy Technologist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - one of the United States leading energy research institutions. 

He has also worked as a research scientist at the University of Maryland and as a Senior Research Scientist at ExxonMobil.

During the interview, Dr. Friedmann mentions his former boss, “Ernie Moniz” – a reference to Dr. Ernest Moniz, the United States Secretary of Energy from 2013-17.

In the sixth episode of the podcast, Dan Jørgensen talks with Christiana Figueres, the former United Nations’ Climate Chief about the past, present and future of the international climate negotiations.

Figueres was appointed Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC in July 2010 and five years later she successfully rallied 195 nations around the Paris Agreement.

She recounts the change from COP15 in Copenhagen to COP21 in Paris, resulting from gradually changing the political mindset from one of confrontation to one of collaboration. 

To Figueres, the outcome of the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections will decide the global geopolitical outlook for not only next year’s COP26 in Glasgow, but for many decades. Finally, Figueres shares her views on the transition to a low carbon economy, including on the need to re-train coal workers and bringing other countries on-board.

Even though it has been four years since she left the UN, Figueres remains one of the most important voices in the global environmental debate: In 2017, she co-founded “Global Optimism”, a group focused on social and environmental change. Furthermore she has authored the book “The Future We Choose” and co-hosts the weekly climate podcast “Outrage and Optimism”.

Prior to joining the UN, Figueres worked as a Costa Rican diplomat and served as Director of the Renewable Energy in the Americas (REIA) Initiative, and directed the non-profit Center for Sustainable Development of the Americas (CSDA).

In the fifth episode of the podcast Dan Jørgensen talks with Dr. Jane Goodall, the world’s leading primatologist, about the similarities between chimpanzees and humans as well as how climate change impact us all.

She describes how the changing climate disproportionally affects wildlife and the poorest people around the globe.

Dr. Goodall argues, that the world must overcome poverty, consumerism and population growth to prevent an environmental catastrophe. Particularly people in the developed world need to make more ethical choices; ensuring that they do not buy products that have harmed the environment, were made in inhumane working conditions or led to animal cruelty. 

Dr. Goodall began her groundbreaking research on apes in Gombe, Tanzania, in 1960, which has transformed our understanding of chimpanzees, and redefined the relationship between humans and animals in ways that continue to emanate around the world.

However, Dr. Goodall is not only an eminent scientist, but has also excelled as a conservationist and activist over the last eight decades. Most notably, she founded the “Jane Goodall Institute”, an organization that creates sanctuaries for Apes. She has also established “Roots & Shoots” - a program that works in nearly 100 countries to raise awareness of environmental issues among schoolchildren. 

Furthermore, Dr. Goodall has been the subject of more than 40 films and authored dozens of books for both adults and children.

She has received countless awards, prizes and honorary titles, including her appointment as “Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” by Queen Elizabeth II.

We apologize for the sporadic poor sound quality during the episode, which was caused by digital interference on the internet connection during the recording.

In the fourth episode of the podcast, Dan Jørgensen talks with Katherine Richardson, Professor in Biological Oceanography at the University of Copenhagen and one of the world’s leading experts on climate change.

Based on her research article “Climate tipping points - too risky to bet against”, they discuss the notion of climate tipping points - such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest and the West Antarctic ice sheet – and how they can cause irreversible damage to the global eco-system. 

Richardson also explains about feedback loops, such as the “Albedo Effect” where if snow covering areas warm up and melts, more sunlight is absorbed, and the temperature tends to increase.

They conclude by discussing planetary boundaries and what humanity can learn from nature.

Katherine Richardson was born in the U.S. and educated at Harvard University, but have lived and worked in Denmark since the 1980’s. 

Aside from her extraordinary academic work, Richardson has been a member of numerous esteemed advisory groups, including the Danish Council on Climate Change and the United Nations Expert Panel that prepared the 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report.

In the third episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. 

Jørgensen and Stern discuss the economics of climate change, climatic change feedback mechanisms and the need to build sustainable infrastructure in the coming decades. 

Stern argues that the consequences of climate change is “far, far worse” than he anticipated in his 2006 report “The Economics of Climate Change”. Nevertheless, the rapid development of renewable energy technology, has meant that Stern is optimistic that humankind can tackle climate change. 

Finally, Stern talks about need to rebuild the economy in the wake of COVID-19-crisis and touches upon the lessons we can learn from the failure to double down on climate action in response to the 2008 financial crisis.  

Stern has distinguished himself as a professor of economics at a number of the world’s leading universities and as the World Bank’s Chief Economist. However, he emerged as the global thought leader on the nexus between economics and climate change, when he authored the landmark report “The Economics of Climate Change” (also known as the Stern Review) for the British government in 2006. 

In this second episode of the podcast, Dan Jørgensen talks with Jeffrey Sachs, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

They discuss climate change and the urgent need for a swift global green energy transition in light of Sachs’ new – and very timely – book, “The Ages of Globalization”. A discussion that also touches on the subjects of poverty, sustainability and happiness.

Professor Sachs started his illustrious career as an academic and is perhaps best known for his tenure as Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016.

During that time, he led a university-wide organization of more than 850 research scientists and policy experts in support of sustainable development.

But Professor Sachs is not only one of the most prominent economists of our time. He was twice named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders and is a bestselling author and syndicated columnist whose monthly newspaper columns appear in more than one hundred countries.

Professor Sachs has also had a prolific career as adviser to three UN Secretary Generals (Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon, and António Guterres) as well as dozens of heads of state, prime ministers and even Pope John Paul II (on the encyclical Centesimus Annus).

He is currently Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development.

In this first episode of the podcast, Dan Jørgensen talks with former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the outlook for climate politics, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

They discuss the consequences of COVID-19, the urgent need for global leadership on the climate issue, the promise of the Paris Agreement and the importance of big investors engaging in the green transformation. Furthermore Kerry shares his view on the resurgence of activism and the potential of the climate movement.

John Kerry has had a distinguished career in American and international politics. He served as U.S. Senator for 28 years and was the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He also ran for President against George W. Bush in 2004 and served as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State from 2013-2017.

In the podcast, Kerry identifies the American environmentalist Rachel Carson as a source of inspiration for his interest in sustainability as a teenager. Rachel Carson is renowned for her writings on environmental pollution and bestselling books such as “The Sea Around Us” (1951) and “Silent Spring” (1962).

Recently, John Kerry was appointed to lead Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders Unity Task Force alongside congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Task Force released its recommendations this week which will serve as the Democratic Party’s political platform on a number of issues, including climate change.

Kerry has led a number of consequential international negotiations, including on the Paris Agreement, the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, the nuclear deal with Iran and the U.S.-China Strategic dialogue.

John Kerry is currently a Visiting Distinguished Statesman at the think tank The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, working with conflict resolution and global environmental challenges.

The fact of the matter is that we do not have a “Planet B”. 

Welcome to Planet A - a podcast on climate change hosted by the Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities, Dan Jørgensen.

This podcast will invite some of the world’s leading experts, policy makers and activists to share their thoughts with us.  Not only to address the challenges and dilemmas inherent in climate change. But also to talk about its possible solutions. 

The first three episodes will feature former Secretary of State John Kerry, professor Jeffrey Sachs and Lord Stern as guests.

In this podcast trailer, you will hear the voices of some prominent figures in the global debate on climate change. The voices are in chronological order:

• Al Gore - Nobel Lecture 2007 - courtesy of Nobelmedia.
• Greta Thunberg - UN Climate Action Summit, NYC 2019.
• Frans Timmermans - Closing statement on the European Green Deal, 2019.
• Laurent Fabious - Announcing the Paris Agreement at COP21, 2015.
• Barack Obama - Speech in the Rose Garden on the Paris Agreement, 2016. 
• Ban Ki-moon - Climate Week NYC, 2014 by The Climate Group.
• Leonardo DiCaprio, High-level Signature Ceremony for the Paris Agreement, 2016.