Heroic Lives of Climate Defenders

Climate advocacy is a dangerous business. According to Global Witness, every week, somewhere in the world, between three and four environmental activists are killed. And even when they don’t suffer bodily harm, they are routinely arrested and jailed for speaking out. They are also sued in civil cases, bogging them down for years or even bankrupting them and their families.

Each personal story in this episode is unique, but the physical threats and legal weapons fossil fuel companies and governments wield against them are eerily similar. And yet, the voices of climate defenders will not be silenced.

Albert Brownell

Founding President, Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef)

Laura Furones

Senior Advisor, Land and Environmental Defenders Campaign, Global Witness

Nicole Figueiredo de Oliveira

Executive Director, Arayara

Sarah Benn

Medical Doctor and Climate Activist

Leah Stokes: 2024 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication
December 9, 2024 | 6:00 p.m.
Climate One is delighted to present the 2024 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication to political scientist Leah Stokes.

Stokes is an expert in climate and energy policy. As both an academic and a mobilizer, she focuses on implementing policies that drive widespread decarbonization. Her rare ability to communicate complex information to both academic audiences and the general public has established her as one of the most influential voices in climate action and clean energy policy. Recognized on the 2022 TIME100 Next and Business Insider's Climate Action 30 lists, she also co-hosts the podcast “A Matter of Degrees.”

Join Climate One for this special in-person conversation with Leah Stokes, policy expert, climate communicator, and the Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at UC Santa Barbara.

After COP29: The Energy Transition Challenge
December 4, 2024 | 6:00 p.m.
A special event from our colleagues at the Commonwealth Club
The energy transition is a monumental task, still in its early stages, with only about 10% of the necessary low-emissions technologies deployed to meet 2050 targets, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.

As the world strives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, while meeting growing global energy demand, significant challenges lie ahead. Join us as we explore the complexities of transforming the global energy infrastructure, a system optimized over centuries but now needing a rapid decarbonization in just decades to minimize global warming and head off the most severe impacts.

As the dust settles on this year’s COP29, industry leaders will share insights on the progress being made and the critical steps needed to scale low-emission technologies while ensuring energy access and equity worldwide. Don’t miss this forward-looking discussion on the physical and technical hurdles that must be overcome to achieve a sustainable energy future.

By the time you read this newsletter, the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29) will have concluded. Reports from Baku indicate that it is increasingly likely that delegates will depart without having reached an agreement on how to finance the world’s clean energy transition.

Nations are at odds over all aspects of the transition plan, from whether to prioritize funding for women and girls to what it means for petrostates to “transition away” from fossil fuels. But by far the biggest stumbling block is exactly how much money should be pledged toward climate finance. Less developed nations are adamant that the world’s wealthiest nations, who are responsible for 80% of global emissions, should be responsible for the bulk of the funding. Kenyan envoy Ali Mohamed, a leader of the developing nations bloc, has called for $1 trillion to be committed to initiatives like renewable energy and disaster resilience, and the European Union’s climate commissioner admitted the current proposal is "unworkable and unacceptable.”  

Frustration levels have reached such a point that some in the environmental community have questioned whether there is still value in attending COPs each year, and this sense of despair is likely to intensify when Donald Trump takes control over the U.S. delegation next year. As it becomes clear that fossil fuel producers have long guided the conversations at COPs from the shadows, the tension surrounding COP30 — the first COP held outside a petrostate since 2022 — in Brazil is only growing stronger.

PLUS:

Landing a supercomputing development for Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence program was supposed to be a major victory for Memphis. But after xAI’s electrical needs exceeded the generation capacity of Memphis Light, Gas and Water and further grid connections were paused pending federal approval to draw power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, xAI brought in multiple mobile methane gas power plants to run the facility. 

Methane gas peaker plants are one of the most carbon-intensive electrical generation sources in the world, and Memphis already suffered from low air quality. Many local residents, including Memphis-area State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, are fed up with Musk and xAI and want the methane gas plants removed. Pearson sat down with Greg Dalton for a live conversation about the fight for climate justice, and you can listen in wherever you find your podcasts.

Source: Our World in Data/Energy Institute

Climate One is hiring!

We’re seeking a Development Manager to drive our fundraising efforts. Your work will be essential to powering our efforts to bring people independent nonprofit climate media, and your impact will be felt immediately. The role is hybrid based out of San Francisco, and the full job description is available on our website.