EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
The Summit underscored the urgency—and economic benefits—of stronger climate action. Politicians and thought leaders discuss how the Summit rallied the world in tackling the crisis towards COP26.
About The Road to Glasgow:
The Road to Glasgow is a docuseries explaining the major events leading to COP26, the United Nations Climate Conference and the world's largest climate event. This series will focus on climate and biodiversity events planned throughout 2021.
EarthX
Love Our Planet.
The Official Network of Earth Day.
About Us:
At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.
EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
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The Summit underscored the urgency—and economic benefits—of stronger climate action. Politicians and thought leaders discuss how the Summit rallied the world in tackling the crisis towards COP26.
About The Road to Glasgow:
The Road to Glasgow is a docuseries explaining the major events leading to COP26, the United Nations Climate Conference and the world's largest climate event. This series will focus on climate and biodiversity events planned throughout 2021.
EarthX
Love Our Planet.
The Official Network of Earth Day.
About Us:
At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.
EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
Follow Us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthxmedia/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxmedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EarthXMedia/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@earthxmedia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EarthXMedia
How to watch:
United States:
- Spectrum
- AT&T U-verse (1267)
- DIRECTV (267)
- Philo
- FuboTV
- Plex
- Fire TV
#EarthDay #Environment #Sustainability #Ecofriendly #Conservation #EarthX
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TVTranscript
00:00The storms are worsening, the fires are growing, and the temperatures are rising.
00:08On Earth Day 2021, the US told the world that they're back and ready to be a leader in the
00:14global effort to clean our climate and protect our nature.
00:18But the rest of the world has questions.
00:21Is it for real?
00:22For the US to be a leader, there are areas where they'll have to play catch up, and there
00:27are other areas where the US is poised to make a dramatic impact and influence the world.
00:33But what are those areas?
00:35Let's find out on the Road to Glasgow.
00:57The global climate is changing.
01:12As more carbon is emitted into the atmosphere, temperatures rise, ice caps melt, storms increase
01:19and wildfires burn.
01:21But this isn't something that has just happened this year or last.
01:25It's something the world came together to look at almost 50 years ago in the early 70s.
01:30Out of that new realisation of the damage being done, countries like the US began to
01:35clean up.
01:36A little.
01:37Several key legislation acts were passed, and there were some improvements, but not
01:42nearly enough.
01:44And the world leaders got together in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit to finally get serious
01:50about protecting our climate.
01:54During that summit, the United Nations called a Conference of the Parties, a COP, in 1995.
02:00And every year the COP meets in a different country.
02:04The famous Kyoto Protocol came out of COP 3 in 1997.
02:08But eventually that protocol failed, especially when the US pulled out.
02:14The reason was the protocol had selected developed countries paying the price for reducing emissions,
02:21but other countries with big carbon problems did not have to change.
02:25Every year the countries gathered to talk about the impending crisis, and every year
02:31little or nothing was actually done.
02:34Then came the Paris Agreement in 2015 at COP 21.
02:39Finally the world came together with clear goals and a general idea on how to implement.
02:44You see, the threat to climate has been seen as the rise in global temperatures.
02:50The goal, keep the temperature from rising 2.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels
02:56and further limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
03:00The first big milestone, report card if you will, was to be five years after at COP 26,
03:07which was going to be held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2020.
03:11Well that didn't happen with the global pandemic.
03:14So COP 26 was moved to November of 2021, and we are looking at the conferences and
03:20summits leading up to this extremely important COP to see if real change is happening
03:27and is going to continue to happen.
03:29In our last episode we visited with renowned conservationist Harvey Locke and his Global
03:34Goals for Climate and Nature virtual conference about how the world has been focused intently
03:40on carbon emissions while mostly ignoring the damage done to nature, that climate and
03:45nature are linked together and the answer to our world's problems will be found in
03:50a comprehensive approach.
03:52Since that conference, well, on Earth Day 2021, the newly sworn in US President Joe
03:58Biden held a virtual conference with world leaders called the Leaders Summit on Climate.
04:05One of Biden's leaders in this effort is Gina McCarthy, former head of the EPA under
04:11Obama and the new created position of National Climate Advisor to the President.
04:17It's great to be here.
04:19Happy Earth Day.
04:21On day one, President Biden fulfilled his promise to rejoin the Paris Agreement.
04:27And as part of re-entering the Paris Agreement, the President launched a whole of government
04:31process that was organized through his climate task force to establish the 2030 emissions
04:38target, which is known as the Nationally Determined Contribution or NDC.
04:44And it's a formal submission to the United Nations under the United Nations Framework
04:50Convention on Climate Change.
04:52The National Determined Contribution or NDC is a term that is in the Paris Agreement.
04:57It is the commitment of a country to outline and communicate their post 2020 climate goals.
05:03It's the action that we are looking for from each country.
05:07Gina McCarthy and the Biden administration used the summit to announce the US's NDC.
05:13Our NDC basically says that the United States will reduce our net economy wide greenhouse
05:20gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
05:28And this target builds on US leadership at all levels of government and programs to date
05:34and positions American workers in industry to help us tackle the climate crisis.
05:41What's clear to me as I look for real action that will make a difference in the climate
05:45in the near future is that this new US administration is taking head on the opposition stand that
05:52carbon reduction will be a huge hit to the country's economy.
05:55The Biden team has repeatedly linked carbon reduction with job creation.
06:00That's why when people talk about climate, I think jobs.
06:05Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity
06:12ready to be fired up.
06:15That's why I've proposed a huge investment in American infrastructure and American innovation
06:20to tap the economic opportunity that climate change presents our workers and our communities,
06:26especially those too often that have left out and left behind.
06:30Is it for real?
06:31Can a country dramatically reduce carbon while at the same time increasing jobs?
06:36I wanted to find out more.
06:38So I sat down with US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat, Rhode Island.
06:43The whole economy grows when you have cleaner, less expensive, more reliable energy, plus
06:51you have all the jobs building that cleaner, more reliable, less expensive energy, plus
06:59you have the lift of the things that aren't ruined.
07:02So if you're a fisherman in Rhode Island, we have a very significant fishing community.
07:07Really hard to find any lobster these days because the ocean warmed and the lobsters
07:12moved north.
07:13And you get species moving around, so you find people who can't do their livelihood
07:19any longer.
07:20If you can stop climate change, there's less of that harm.
07:23So between the economic lift to the economy generally and all the transition jobs and
07:30the stuff that you protect from people not losing their jobs from climate disasters,
07:35it I think portends a time of really significant economic growth.
07:40While here in Washington DC, I met with several climate activists and specialists to get their
07:46take on Biden's Leaders' Summit on Climate.
07:49Is the US's position on reducing carbon enough or is there more that needs to be done?
07:55The first most important outcome was just the return of the United States to the international
08:00negotiating table, to the international discussion around climate solutions.
08:05What do you think was missing?
08:07Well, what we're still missing is a pathway globally and within our country to meeting
08:13our targets in the short term and then also meeting those long-term targets towards reaching
08:18net zero emissions by mid-century.
08:20And so it was an important first step to have the United States rejoin the international
08:25conversations, but now we as a country need to adopt policies to send ourselves on a pathway
08:32to meet our new targets and to set a pathway to start heading towards net zero emissions
08:37by mid-century.
08:38I think the Leaders' Summit on Climate went well.
08:41I think you got increasing ambition from the United States and from other countries around
08:46the world.
08:47I think that what was missing was ambition is great, but you need action to back up that
08:52ambition.
08:53And so a lot of goals, I don't see yet how we're going to meet those goals and that's
09:00what I'm looking for moving forward.
09:02There's a great analogy that climate is like a bathtub, right?
09:07We've got a trillion tons of greenhouse gases in the bathtub today and we're adding 50 billion
09:14more tons every year.
09:16So we can't just focus on reducing the faucet flow, right?
09:21We have to open the drain.
09:23No, I don't think it's enough to focus on reducing emissions.
09:26We have to figure out how to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
09:31And luckily, I think there are technologies that we can point to that do so and they're
09:36increasingly becoming more financeable, more scalable, more viable as a way to get carbon
09:45out of the atmosphere.
09:47The specialists agreed it was a fine first step, but that action was needed, specifically
09:53an emphasis on reduction, a new message on restoration.
09:58Will legislation be enough to bring about real change in the US climate effort?
10:03Or will it face the inevitable pendulum swing as political winds blow back and forth in
10:08this country?
10:09Let's find out when we come back on the Road to Glasgow.
10:19On April 22nd, 2021, United States President Joe Biden held a leaders summit on climate.
10:27While Biden has tasked Gina McCarthy with domestic climate issues and strategies, it
10:32fell to John Kerry to carry the message to the rest of the world, who understandably
10:38have many questions and even doubts about the United States efforts on serious climate
10:44action.
10:45We need to bring all the countries of the world to the table and we all need to raise
10:50ambition.
10:51That's the central theme of this meeting today.
10:55We must all raise ambition.
10:57Well, the rest of the world understands that this new US administration is taking quick
11:03steps.
11:04But one of the first questions Kerry was asked was how the US could maintain consistent action
11:10through various and differing political changes in the country.
11:15Can real change occur if the Democrats and Republicans can't come together?
11:20Can the United States enact real change simply through executive orders and not legislation?
11:27A lot of the plan is executable through order.
11:30But that's the power of having the private sector here.
11:33That is the real reason why I'm saying to you that no politician in the future is going
11:37to undo this because all over the world, trillions of dollars, trillions of yen, trillions
11:42of euros are going to be heading into this new marketplace.
11:48And the future belongs to the countries, as you heard today from any number of leaders,
11:53that are the ones who develop hydrogen, green hydrogen fuel or storage or battery storage
12:00or direct carbon capture from the atmosphere.
12:04For the United States, is real change in climate action going to be led by businesses
12:09or will it require a legislative approach?
12:12John Kerry talked about the key to a climate strategy weathering the political winds was
12:17for commerce to step up.
12:19But is that realistic?
12:21I searched Washington DC for experts to get their thoughts on whether lasting change can
12:26occur in industry alone or if it will also require legislative action.
12:31I think the private sector has a very important role to play in American politics.
12:37Certainly, the private sector is a source of a lot of solutions, but the private sector
12:42also needs Congress.
12:44They need the political environment to help them help us.
12:48And so I'm really looking for, again, action.
12:51I'm looking for Congress to act to help give the private sector what they need, the signals
12:57they need so they can both honor their shareholders, their responsibility to earn money, while
13:03also responding to the global need to address climate.
13:07I think it's great that companies like Shopify and Stripe and Microsoft have made bold commitments
13:13to getting to zero, getting past zero and really promoting carbon removal as part of
13:17the equation.
13:19I don't believe, given the scale of what we're talking about, it is ever fair to suggest
13:25that the private sector can do it alone.
13:28We are talking about a breathtaking change in how we live, how we make things, how we
13:34heat our homes, how we build.
13:37Absolutely everything about our lives has to change in 30 years.
13:42Luckily, COVID has shown us what's possible when it comes to really mobilized action.
13:49Last year, we had this global pandemic.
13:53The world had never created an effective vaccine in less than four years.
13:59And we did it in less than a year, right?
14:01Not just one company created a vaccine, but several companies around the world did.
14:08What I think it's shown is when you align the interests and you get the government moving
14:14and you get innovators moving, a lot can transform in a short amount of time.
14:20But no, it can't just lie on the private sector.
14:23It's going to take action, not only from the private sector, but particularly government.
14:29So I would respectfully disagree that that's enough.
14:33And if we're going to have a policy pathway to meet our climate goals, we're going to
14:38need bipartisanship around this issue.
14:40Speaking of bipartisanship, you recently co-authored an opinion piece in The Washington
14:45Post with James Baker.
14:47What was that like working with an icon of the Republican Party?
14:50Anyone anywhere would be hard-pressed to find a smarter, more strategic political thinker
14:57than former Secretary of State James Baker.
15:00And the case that Secretary Baker and I made in our recent piece in The Washington Post
15:05is we have this opportunity to outmaneuver our biggest economic rivals, including countries
15:11like China and Russia, and it exists in the climate policy space.
15:17And U.S. leadership has the ability to position the United States in an incredibly strong
15:23strategic position internationally, and it also has the ability with a market-based system
15:29with a price on carbon and applying that same fee on imports from China and elsewhere
15:35to drive our economic benefits here in the United States.
15:39That's the kind of strategic thinking that James Baker is calling for.
15:43He's asking our lawmakers, he's telling our lawmakers, if you want to win, if we're really
15:47serious about winning in the 21st century from an economic standpoint, there's no better
15:53place to lead than on climate.
15:55It seems like to me it's going to require both industry and legislation in order to
16:01be able to see real change, and not just executive orders by the sitting U.S. president.
16:07It's going to take bipartisanship.
16:09It's not enough for this president to decree to his nation and to the world what the U.S.
16:14is going to do.
16:16It's going to take the people of the country to follow through.
16:20That's what I'm taking away from the Leaders in Climate Summit.
16:23When we come back, let's find out what was noticeably missing from the summit.
16:34As we are on the road to Glasgow, the important thing about these conferences and summits
16:39leading up to COP26 are often the things left out, the things not said.
16:44I put this question to some of the people and specialists I've met here in Washington,
16:49D.C.
16:50Here's what they had to say.
16:51The U.S. needs to adopt policies to send ourselves on a trajectory towards meeting our new targets,
16:58to send ourselves on a trajectory towards meeting net zero emissions by mid-century.
17:04And the single best way to do that is to establish an economy-wide price on carbon.
17:11Pricing carbon is nearly universally understood among the international community as the most
17:16effective way to lower emissions.
17:20You've seen lots of statements for a carbon price explicitly, even, interestingly, the
17:25American Petroleum Institute, very circumscribed, but they called for a carbon price.
17:32And I think that these increasing calls from the private sector are a way of putting pressure
17:38on Congress to act.
17:41In this instance, that is what the science and what the economics says is the single
17:46best step that we can take.
17:49So here you really do see private sector aligning with what the science and economics says.
17:53They are raising their voice in a way that is helpful to Congress.
17:57I would like to see them directly speak to Congress and say, not only are we issuing
18:02this statement, but we mean it.
18:05Carbon pricing is changing the landscape.
18:08Many countries already have a carbon pricing program in place.
18:12And here's the interesting thing.
18:14Some believe the U.S. would actually be at a huge advantage over most of the rest of
18:18the world if they implemented carbon pricing.
18:21Greg Bertelsen explains.
18:24Here's the real benefit to the United States in the short term, along with becoming a leader
18:29on climate action, is we're going to create a competitive advantage for our U.S. companies
18:36because we have already made the investments to ensure that our economy is more efficient,
18:43meaning we can make the same or similar products as our competitors in China and elsewhere
18:48while emitting less carbon.
18:50Now that is a wonderful environmental story for our country, but we should be leveraging
18:56that to our economic advantage to benefit our companies, our manufacturers, our workers.
19:02And if we priced carbon and assess that fee at the border, the same price based on the
19:07emissions that are coming from China and elsewhere, we're going to instantly give a competitive
19:11advantage to our manufacturers and our workers.
19:14We did a study recently which showed the U.S. steel industry as just one example.
19:20If we were to price carbon because the U.S. steel industry is of the most carbon efficient
19:25in the world, meaning we can make a ton of steel while emitting less carbon than almost
19:29anywhere in the rest of the world, if we were to price carbon and then assess that same
19:34fee at the border, our manufacturers would win across the board in every region of our
19:39country.
19:40We would max out capacity, which means more jobs.
19:42We would increase profit.
19:44We would increase revenue.
19:45We would win.
19:46But we've got to be strategic.
19:49For the U.S. to be taken seriously about climate action on the global stage, a carbon price
19:55needs to be enacted.
19:56And as we talked about earlier, it will take legislation, not just executive orders.
20:02But what legislation is the U.S. pursuing?
20:04I had a wee chat with Senator Whitehouse to find out if the U.S. can pass legislation
20:09and what it would look like.
20:11It puts a price on carbon emissions.
20:14It starts at a little over $50 per ton of emitted carbon.
20:20And then it accelerates above that.
20:24It is modeled at this point just on its own to reduce our carbon emissions 50 percent.
20:33So if you take a measure like that and you put it in along with the electric vehicle
20:37measure that the Biden administration wants, along with the clean electricity standard
20:42that they want, along with a suite of other investments that will help move this forward,
20:47you can get a very, very strong result in terms of carbon reductions.
20:53Time is running short and the conference of the parties is fast approaching in Glasgow
20:59in November.
21:00I want to know what is realistic to expect to come out of the conferences leading up
21:05And more importantly, what to expect to come out of COP26.
21:10What I hope comes out of the coming COP is, yes, I want to see ambition, but I want to
21:17see ambition backed by action.
21:19I want to see not just goals and statements of what can happen, but I want to see a plan
21:26for how are we going to get our respective governing bodies here in the United States,
21:32Congress, parliaments in other countries, whatever it is, what are they going to do to act?
21:37Here in the United States, anything that a president can do without Congress, the next
21:42president can undo without Congress.
21:45And so durability really becomes a concern for executive action.
21:51Our last best hope is only a few months ahead.
21:54The road to Glasgow is a road to not just carbon reduction, but climate restoration.
22:00Will it be a summer of talk or an autumn of action?
22:04Our next stop in the road to Glasgow will be the south of France for the IUCN World
22:09Conservation Congress in September of 2021.
22:13Please come along with me as we find out what works, what doesn't, and what might happen
22:18on the road to Glasgow.