Culture

As the IPCC report finds, gender is one of the key factors that compounds vulnerability to climate change impacts.

Because women possess unique knowledge and experience, particularly at the local level, their inclusion in decision-making processes is critical to effective climate action.

At the COP 21 United Nations climate change conference in Paris, governments agreed that mobilizing stronger and more ambitious climate action is urgently required to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Gender equality is central to the SDGs. Here’s how can we address the gender disparity in climate entrepreneurship.

A review of 16 university carbon-management schemes showed that none had quantitatively considered how their land might be used to offset emissions. David Werner, Professor in Environmental Systems Modelling, Newcastle University explains why universities should use carbon offsetting strategies for the land under their management.

We need to recognize the contributions of women as decision makers, stakeholders, educators, and experts across borders and sectors to drive long-term solutions. It’s time we realize women are the missing piece in our global efforts to protect and regenerate our planet, argues Mariah Levin & Gwendoline de Ganay, World Economic Forum.

Former Mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas explains why action to confront extreme heat is nowhere near where it needs to be.

With a remit set out in law to be “the guardian of the interests of future generations in Wales”, Sophie Howe is the world’s only Future Generations Commissioner. At COP26 she discusses how her interventions have secured fundamental changes to land use planning policy, major transport schemes and Government policy on housing – ensuring that decisions taken today are fit for the future.

Massive Attack has commissioned the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to produce a roadmap for live music, setting out emissions reductions that would make the sector compatible with Paris/1.5C targets.

Research shows that halving emissions within the 2020s is possible, while youth and parents step up calls for countries to protect and better manage the ocean and water  and end fossil fuels finance. 

A number of ambitious emissions reductions targets were announced by the UNFCCC’s Sports for Climate Action Framework (S4CA) this week at COP26.

Nonprofit art hub for sustainability, ReGenesis and the UN Climate Champions convened a group of artists, representing a range of disciplines, to open up the conversation on climate and help make it accessible to everyone.

Covid has hit culture hard. In Glasgow, half of the city’s 160 cultural organizations have no plans to reopen due to financial distress. It’s time to come up with a master plan to save the arts, which allows the industry to more easily deacarbonize, says Annika Ericsoon, founder of digital art condition report tool, Articheck.

International climate change and human rights lawyer, Tessa Khan discusses the law’s role in holding governments and companies to account, the limitations of the legal process, and the eroding social license of the fossil fuel industry.

“The science is clear, business as usual is not an option and the pace we had in the past, cannot be the pace in the years to come,” H&M CEO, Helen Helmersson discusses the company’s race to become circular and climate positive.

The future of climate change is based on local solutions to local problems. In accordance with a Kenyan Swahili adage ‘Haba na haba hujaza kibaba’; small efforts build up to create long lasting impact. This is the chance to learn, educate and take action towards a sustainable Kenya, and a sustainable world. 

As we get closer to the pivotal climate conference in Glasgow, COP26, political activity and media coverage increases, but this huge, global, political event can feel far removed from our daily lives. The Giki Guide COP26 explains how we can all get involved.

50% of the global workforce has the potential to be affected by, and directly fight, climate change. According to LinkedIn co-founder Allen Blue, if we are to secure our existence on a stable planet, we need a whole-of-the-economy approach that involves redefining many of our professions. 

Sue Peachey participated in the UK’s first ever Citizens’ Assembly on climate change. Here she discusses the role of citizens in driving climate ambition with UN High Level Champion for Climate Action, Nigel Topping.

“The world’s leaders should spell out in advance of the COP, what they intend to do to ensure that voices of the most vulnerable are heard — and listened to”, Jim Wallace (Lord Wallace of Tankerness) is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

A project aimed at inspiring a wave of stories about what positive climate futures might look like for communities around the world has been launched by The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.

“Please, reach into your dreams. Into a future that can be. And draw what you see.” – Peggy Liu, Chair of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE).

Formula One World Champion and winner of 23 Grands Prix, Nico Rosberg on the power of sport, gender equality and the future of e-mobility.

“We have to address who is leading, and how we are leading, to usher in transformation more quickly and more fully than we’re seeing right now,” Dr Katharine Wilkinson on gender inequality, culture, imagination, and the good and the bad of net zero commitments.

If you could write a letter that would be read by the world’s leaders, what would you say?

Dr Elizabeth Hausler, Founder and CEO of Build Change, an organization that prevents housing loss caused by disasters, explains why everyone, from state to non-state actors, must drive the demand for resilient housing.

Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy and the Greater London Authority; Catherine McGuinness, Chair of the Policy and Resources Institute at the City of London Corporation; and Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council discuss the monumental challenge and opportunity of a net zero London.

In order to win the Race to Zero we also need a generation of thoughtful leaders who will make healthy decisions for us and our planet, argues Anu Ramamurty, founder of Kat Kid Adventure.

To mark the day, UK commercial property and investment company, Landsec hosts Race to Zero’s birthday video on its famous Piccadilly Lights.

In the last year, 4,500 non-state actors from across the global economy have committed to halving emissions by 2030, joining the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign. The rapid growth shows that halving emissions by 2030 is the new normal.

One of the world’s most carbon intensive industries, the fashion industry, is joining forces to drive faster, wider emissions reductions across the fashion value chain between now and 2050.

A coalition of stakeholders from across the climate action ecosystem have developed a roadmap aimed at steering the fashion industry on a path to a zero carbon future.

“Our big opportunity to look beyond what has always been and build a world that we can all thrive in.” A poem by Kumi Naidoo.

The zero carbon home is well within our grasp. The technologies we need already exist and are coming down in cost. Juliet Davenport OBE, Founder of Good Energy explains how we get there.

IKEA estimates that the new program will avoid 670,000 tonnes CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to approximately 3% of the total climate footprint of the IKEA value chain.

Data has shown that 40.5% of African youth respondents outlined digital inclusion as a particularly difficult challenge while 27.7% of respondents had challenges accessing reliable and affordable energy.

Adventurer, conservationist, writer and photographer, Cristina Mittermeirer has been published in hundreds of publications, including National Geographic and TIME. She believes photogaphy is a critial tool in the world’s Race to Zero and Race to Resilience.

We have to repair our connections with the ocean if we are to receive a wave of ocean benefits, argues eminent marine ecologist, Professor Carlos M Duarte.

We can transform fear into empowerment but we need tenacity, entrepreneurship, resources and appropriate tools – as well as a commitment from all  generations, argue marine ecologist Carlos M. Duarte and Russian model Ria Serebryakova.

40 healthcare institutions representing more than 3,000 hospitals and health centres have credibly committed to halve their own emissions by 2030 under the Race to Zero.

“As the world around us is changing, both in terms of the green energy revolution and in terms of the climate conditions we will have to operate in, if we do not change, adapt and add our ability to reduce emissions, then we will be left behind technologically, operationally and socially,” Lieutenant-General Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE.

“If we can do something good for our health, and it’s also good for the planet, what a winning combination!” Dr Leslie Cho, professor of medicine and section head of preventive cardiology and rehabilitation, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio.

An overgrown dumping ground is being transformed into a 224-acre solar farm of 70 megawatt solar panels which will eventually produce enough green electricity to power 1,200 homes.

Christoph H. Müller and Eduardo Makaroff – members of the Paris-based Gotan Project – have launched a new musical project, with the focus on the Anthropocene.

The Better Business Act will ensure businesses are legally responsible for benefiting workers, customers, communities and the environment while delivering profit.

Chatham House Associate Fellow and chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Karim Elgendy explores the role of buildings in the race to net zero cities.

Race to Zero and art activism platform ReGenesis are inviting artists to submit works for a digital climate art exhibition

“This is our only home. This is our ability to survive as a species. And every other issue, whether it’s animal rights, human rights or children’s rights will be negatively impacted – and is already sometimes being negatively impacted – by an unhealthy environment. It feels like the rug underneath everything else” – Lily Cole in conversation with Nigel Topping.

The second episode features former F1 World Champion, Nico Rosberg, owner of Extreme E team, Rosberg Xtreme Racing, and Sara Price, who will race for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Extreme E rallies over the course of 2021. Their mission? To demonstrate that high performing motor racing can engage people around the world in the clean transport revolution, with an aim of influencing government and private sector leaders to speed up the transition of the road transport industry.

As the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is implemented over the next decade, Razan Al Mubarak, Managing Director, Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) explains why we must prioritize enhancing the participation and engagement of women and girls.

“Literature is a great way of helping us to think better about the future. Reading is not just a retreat. For me, it’s a way of improving our thinking ability so that we can act more smartly.” – Nigel Topping, in conversation with Karuna Ezara Parikh.

Cities in the Netherlands want to make their air cleaner by banning fossil fuel delivery vehicles from urban areas from 2025.

“I have no doubt we will find the answers but only if we are bold enough to talk about things which are more inconvenient and not brush them under the carpet. We will only fight this fight if we keep our voices as clamorous as possible and talk truth to power. Only then.”

“Luxury consumption by the rich concentrates economic activity and delivers negligible extra wellbeing, yet sucks up vast amounts of resources.” Phd candidate Yannick Oswald examines how to redress this imbalance.

“Let women take the lead and see the progress that can be made in averting catastrophic climate change” – Hindou Oumarou Ibhrahim

Read award winning writer and performance artist Taylor Biedler’s spoken-word poem for the #NetZeroFashion​ event as a part of the Race to Zero November Dialogues in 2020.

New report shows how individuals can reach Net Zero, starting with ‘Cut a Tonne in ‘21’.

As water has allowed humans to thrive in the past, so it can continue to in the future

Telling the story of the Okjökull glacier in Iceland, Magnason explains why we need to start connecting to the future in a more intimate way.

Citizens and cities can work together to promote healthy 1.5 degree lifestyles, writes ICLEI.

As mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr is committed to addressing her city’s challenges using an inclusive, data-driven approach to urban development.

What we do today will impact the type of world that future generations inherit. We have the power to create a world that is healthier and more resilient.

Grappling with the impact of Covid-19, global leaders and health experts agree that investing in a green transition will strengthen public health, create jobs and make our society more resilient to future threats.

In Earthrise, Amanda Gorman – first ever American youth poet laureate – uses the power of her words to call on all of society to take action.

Let’s Go Zero 2030 campaign brings together students, parents, teachers, and school staff to create a more sustainable future, starting in the classroom.

We need to care for and live in harmony with the environment, says climate and gender activist Ernestine Leikeki Sevidzem.

Companies with large agricultural supply chains can do something about the water crisis by joining the Ceres-WWF AgWater Challenge.

Living in a city means accepting a certain level of dysfunction: long commutes, noisy streets, underutilized spaces. Carlos Moreno wants to change that.

Innovative alternatives to meat products are springing up and being welcomed by consumers, while helping to cut emissions from the food sector.

The electric fleet market is rapidly moving into the fast lane, as the environmental and running cost benefits of EVs become obvious and concerns over range and reliability start to recede.

People around the world are demanding clean air — and cities are starting to respond, says electrification advocate Monica Araya.

In conversation with urbanist and spatial justice activist Liz Ogbu, Jackson shares thoughts on leadership, tech, the environment and building a green economy.

In the wake of recent protests against racism globally, now more than ever, citizens’ concern for social and climate justice is burgeoning.

WorldGBC network launches Sustainable Buildings for Everyone, Everywhere — a new strategy to tackle the climate emergency, health and wellbeing, and resource efficiency issues in the built environment.

Cities are clear about the future they want and they are already showing what is possible. In 2020 we can build something different and better. The work has already begun.

There are clear connections between COVID-19 and the climate crisis – we must act now to tackle both systemic threats together.