New Climate Capitalism

About New Climate Capitalism

New Climate Capitalism is a podcast about change-makers working at the intersection of activism, finance and investment. thezeroist.substack.com (https://thezeroist.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Denise Young

Category

business · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Apr 2020

Latest episode

25 Jan 2023

Latest episodes

29 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Jan 2023

   🎧 #27 What's the secret to Australia's kick-ass record on climate lawsuits

   Today I am talking with Elaine Johnson from the Environmental Defenders Office (https://www.edo.org.au/) about climate litigation in Australia. With a unique situation as a rich country on the frontlines of climate impacts and a coal exporter, Australia has emerged as a world leader in climate litigation and 2022 was a bumper year. Among the big headline wins was the Tiwi Santos case (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-04/nt-explainer-santos-federal-court-loss-barossa-gas/101730568) which barred oil and gas company Santos from offshore drilling in the Northern Territory, and another which shut down billionaire Clive Palmer’s plans for a coal mine (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/25/court-finds-clive-palmers-queensland-coalmine-will-harm-future-generations-in-landmark-climate-ruling) in Queensland. As this field matures, we are seeing new frontiers emerge and one of the most exciting trends is lawsuits on greenwashing. So watch out in 2023 for the lawsuit against Santos for misleading and deceptive claims in its net zero plan (https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/landmark-greenwash-case-sees-gas-firm-santos-face-new-claim). Despite the impact of these lawsuits, Elaine cautions that the biggest challenge is the stranglehold of the industry narrative on the media. That narrative asserts that coal is part of the transition, that Australian coal is cleaner than coal from other places, and that coal is a part of the national identity. Don’t miss our conversation on this exciting, and fast developing field. 🗒 And you can find a full transcript of our conversation over on the podcast website here (https://climatenarratives.co/episode-27-elaine-johnson/). What we talked about: 2:25 Why Australia has a big role to play in reducing emissions as historically the country has been a big exporter of coal, oil and gas. But it is also one of the driest continents on earth, and vulnerable to climate impacts. 4.40 Elaine talks about an ongoing case, which is a world first, challenging gas company Santos for misleading and deceptive claims in their corporate net zero plan for 2040. 12.40 Landmark human rights case in 2022 in Queensland in which youth group including First Nations Australians defeated Clive Palmer’s plans to build a massive coal mine, invoking threat to human rights of young people and First Nations Australians. 16.30 This case involved an important innovation in how evidence is heard. First time ever that the land court which hears all the applications for mining projects in Queensland, was invited to hear from First Nations witnesses on country, and welcomed on country. The court is now looking to formalize that process in court rules. 21.56 This judgement was a historic and memorable day. Judge thanked the communities for welcoming the court onto their country and for everything she had learned through that experience. 22.50 What are the main challenges? How are vested interests fighting back? Narrative is the biggest challenge: industry has well crafted narratives that are constantly brought up in mainstream media that say that coal is part of the transition. Lawyers can address parts of those claims, but they need partners across the spectrum of civil society to achieve the needed transformation. 28.00 Regulators in Australia are taking a keen interest in the wake of the net zero challenge to Santos to investigate what other misleading claims they should explore. 29.15 New trend to watch: corporate accountability for loss and damage. As we start to see impacts of climate change being felt in Australia and the Pacific there will be more claimants bringing cases against carbon majors. 32.30 Elaine observes that the tide has turned in the last 12-24 months, in part because of the intense impacts of climate change that Australia has experienced in recent years plus the strength of attribution science. Its been slow, but she’s surprised by the number of big wins in the past 12 months. 34.33 To challenge the industry narrative will take more than legal cases, and the Australian media needs to do more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thezeroist.substack.com (https://thezeroist.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   13 Dec 2022

   🎧 #26 "Unlocking the trillions" will not suffice: a new Grand Bargain is needed between North and South

   Today we are excited to welcome back Sony Kapoor to the podcast, and we’re talking about the Bridgetown Initiative, a new plan - an exciting new plan - to overhaul the international financial system to unlock huge flows of finance to the global South for the energy transition. Now disagreement between the North and the South on how to finance the latter’s exit from fossil fuels provides a useful lens on a wider problem about the geo-economics of today’s world of multiple, intersecting crises. Sony outlines the nuts and bolts of this new plan - championed by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, to “unlock the trillions” for the global South. But, more importantly, he explains why this approach is far from sufficient. He questions whether headline-grabbing news that focuses on big numbers instead of the quality of the finance, is the answer. And raises the issue of which economic model the new engines of global growth - India and Indonesia - can follow in a world where we no longer have the carbon budget to replicate China’s carbon-intensive trajectory. Now Sony has a plan for a new “grand bargain” between the North and the South for a new development model led by services and virtual delivery of services that respects global environmental boundaries. This is arguably one of the most important policy conversation of our times, so stay tuned. What we talked about: 0:57 Stocktake after COP27 3:47 The loss and damage fund is for now an empty shell 5:31 Why the Bretton Woods system is well overdue for reform 8:01 Note that World Bank/IMF played big role in opening up of China in 1980s and liberalization of India’s economy in 1990s 10:03 But today these bodies are not tackling the urgent debate about which economic model the new engines of global growth such as India should follow, as replicating China’s carbon-intensive model is not an option 11:00 Climate change still doesn’t feature in the IMF core function of macroeconomic surveillance. World Bank calls itself the world’s bigggest climate finance lender, but this is only because it is the world’s biggest lender. 12.19 Enter the Bridgetown Initiative: what’s good about it 14.15 Why the ambition of Bridgetown falls short 16:43 Bridgetown - short term aspect seeks to reduce the outflow of money by extending the suspension of debt repayments agreed during peak of COVID crisis. 22.55 Medium-term - how Bridgetown proposes to allow lending up up to a trillion dollars of cheap money to developing countries 29.37 If climate risk is properly assessed and taken into account by markets and credit rating agencies, the poorest countries will see their already sub-par credit ratings go down several notches because they face many physical risks from extreme weather. 31.04 Why the quality of finance matters more than the quantity. Too many discussions about climate finance focus coming up with the largest headline number. 32.55 Sony’s Grand Bargain, explained. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thezeroist.substack.com (https://thezeroist.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   8 Aug 2022

   #25 Why we need indigenous expertise for the water crisis

   The summer of 2022 may go down in history as the moment the world woke up to the global water crisis. So I’m thrilled to introduce today’s conversation with Nigel Crawhall, who heads up the local and indigenous knowledge division at UNESCO (https://en.unesco.org/links). What I wanted to learn about is a recent upsurge in demand for indigenous perspectives and solutions in the water space. Nigel recently attended an important UN meeting on water in Tajikistan where he facilitated a first ever forum for indigenous people to have a voice in this political process to reshape how we think about and and act on water in an era of crisis. Nigel explains the nuts and bolts of how to bring indigenous perspectives into fora previously dominated by Western knowledge. We also talk about the new geopolitics of water - why high altitude actors, for example, are now influential players, the role of decolonization in closed-door meetings and everything you need to know about the latest IPBES assessments on wild species and values of nature. Nigel has a fantastic ability to convey vast amounts of knowledge through great storytelling. So if you’ve found this topic challenging in the past, our conversation will definitely open new doors. What we talked about: 2.34 The paradigm shift on indigenous knowledge dates back to the 2007 UN Declaration on rights of indigenous peoples. Over time, this converged with global challenges around sustainability - the idea that we need everyone at the table, that exclusion is part of the problem so participation is part of the solution 4.13 The new normal is bringing in multiple streams of evidence including indigenous knowledge into scientufuc assessments and decision making. 6.38 For too long we have been focused on western models & urban living & missed out on the majority of human understanding & knowledge about the world. 7.38 Zoom into the politics of water: why did the UN wait nearly half a century to hold a big international conference in water next March in NY? 8.41 Why is it difficult for indigenous people to be involved in water policy ? 9.28 What is the UN water action decade ? UN Decades are major areas of international policy concern -they are a global agenda setting tool. Alongside water currently there are Decades on Ocean Science (https://en.unesco.org/ocean-decade) & Ecosystems Restoration 10.07 one distinctive feature of the Water Action Decade has been the scant public participation - mostly a technical process. Until the Dushanbe conference opened the door. 13.00 From the Arctic to the Kalahari to the Mekong, traditional knowledge holders bring a wealth of insight on water governance. Hearing their stories helps build a bridge between the rights based and the knowledge based approach. 17.05 Why is water so political? One reason is that the state is the main arbiter of the management of water, yet thé living experience of water happens at the ground level. 18.50 high altitude countries with glacial systems have emerged as influential actors in mulltilateral negotiations on water. 20.21 Why the Dushanbe declaration is an extraordinary document, a mini Paris agreement 22.17 what to know about the latest IPBES assessments approved in Bonn? The values assessment gets to the heart of « what matters ». While many want to quantify the value of nature, others say if you put a price on it it means you intend to extract it & turn it into cash value. What the assessment does is look at what is the value of nature from different perspectives. 26.05 Should we talk about decolonization as a context for understanding north/south & east/west stressors in multilateral negotiations? The developing world sees itself as having collective interest about global justice & equity. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thezeroist.substack.com (https://thezeroist.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings