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The road to COP26 has taken Shonagh around the world to hear how scientists, activists, & leaders are engaging in the climate movement. Will the fanfare and excitement result in real, lasting change?
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.
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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 road to COP26 has taken Shonagh around the world to hear how scientists, activists, & leaders are engaging in the climate movement. Will the fanfare and excitement result in real, lasting change?
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
00:00India says net zero carbon isn't the answer, and then committed to achieving it in nearly
00:0650 years. China didn't show up.
00:09China not showing up? Come on.
00:12Well, China's presence is a slap in the face to the entire movement.
00:17Climate justice now!
00:22The young people took to the streets to protest. It's been a flurry of activity in the weeks
00:27leading up to COP26.
00:29It is the biggest gathering of world leaders in this country since the foundation of the
00:35UN.
00:36They write headlines that are not consistent with the science that's in the report.
00:40We need action and we need it right now.
00:42But we need to hit the ground running.
00:46This council of the parties over climate change is a critical one, as it marks the fifth year
00:51since the Paris Agreement at COP21.
00:54And according to that agreement, this year is a measuring stick, a report card on how
00:59the nations of the world are doing to keep emissions down.
01:02Is this how our story is due to end? A tale of the smartest species doomed by that auto
01:11human characteristic of failing to see the bigger picture in pursuit of short term goals.
01:18We don't need to scare our kids into tears, which is literally what they're doing.
01:23The clock on the doomsday device that I talked about is still ticking. But we've got to
01:29get the bomb disposal team on site.
01:32A few weeks before the start of COP26, document leaks revealed that countries like Saudi Arabia,
01:38Japan and Australia have been moving behind closed doors to play down the need to move
01:44so rapidly away from fossil fuels for energy.
01:47While some COP26 sponsors like Microsoft, NatWest and GSK have been raising complaints
01:53of poor planning, even though they had an extra year to prepare.
01:58In the meantime, about 120 world leaders braved the global pandemic to attend, including
02:05host Boris Johnson of the UK and US President Joe Biden.
02:09Notably on the decline to attend list is Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia.
02:16The UN has downplayed these absences, but can real progress be made at this event?
02:22Will it be chaos or a coming together? Will it be hostility or harmony?
02:28COP26 has come to Scotland and I've come home on this very special episode of the Road to Glasgow.
02:58Hi, I'm Shona Smith and very glad to be back home in Scotland.
03:11Welcome to Glasgow, home of the 26th Council of the Parties, or COP, that the United Nations
03:17holds for the climate.
03:19The road to Glasgow has been a particularly long one. The pandemic caused a year-long
03:24delay of this event.
03:26And yet with the extra year, there have been complaints by major players at COP that the
03:30preparations are last minute and a bit chaotic.
03:34COVID has been a major factor in travel plans, logistics and protocols at the event itself.
03:40But in spite of the controversies, complaints and COVID, Alok Sharma and United Kingdom
03:46Prime Minister Boris Johnson were very optimistic.
03:50I am cautiously optimistic in the sense that on the way to the G20 in Rome, I said to some
03:58of you on the plane that if this was a football match, then the current score would be 5-1
04:04down in the match between humanity and climate change.
04:10And I think what you could say today after two days of talks with around 120 world leaders
04:18is that we've pulled back a goal, or perhaps even two.
04:23I believe that we can resolve the outstanding issues. We can move the negotiations forward.
04:30And we can launch a decade of ever-increasing ambition and action.
04:36And together, we can seize the enormous opportunities for green growth, for good green jobs, for
04:42cheaper, cleaner power.
04:44But we need to hit the ground running to develop the solutions that we need.
04:50And that work, my friends, starts today.
04:54But clearly the hit of the opening ceremonies and the talk that had everyone buzzing here
04:59at the COP was David Attenborough's dramatic speech.
05:03It comes down to this.
05:05The people alive now, or the generation to come, will look at this conference and consider
05:13one thing.
05:15Did that number stop rising and start to drop as a result of commitments made here?
05:22There's every reason to believe that the answer can be yes.
05:27If working apart, we are a force powerful enough to destabilise our planet, surely working
05:36together, we are powerful enough to save it.
05:41In my lifetime, I've witnessed a terrible decline.
05:46In yours, you could and should witness a wonderful recovery.
05:52That desperate hope, ladies and gentlemen, delicates, excellency, is why the world is
05:59looking to you and why you are here.
06:05Personally, I've been totally aware of the political disputes about climate change.
06:10The Conservatives arguing that climate change isn't as big a deal as the Liberals are making
06:15it out to be.
06:16And the Liberals sounding the alarm that change has to happen and happen now or there will
06:22be dire effects, some of which we're seeing already.
06:26But what has surprised me is the disputes among all the people coming to Glasgow, arguing
06:31and infighting about how best to attack this global problem.
06:36So I want to know, can we, the world, come together here in Glasgow to reach a consensus
06:42in action and take that action to the four corners of the world and effect change?
06:48Let's find out.
06:56COP26, the 26th coming together of the nations to discuss, negotiate and plan strategies
07:03to protect the Earth's climate.
07:05What's significant about this United Nations meeting?
07:08We have to go back to the beginning.
07:10In the 1970s, environmental scientists started raising questions about the rise in carbon
07:16emissions and how that was creating greenhouse gases.
07:20The world came together in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit to talk about it.
07:25So what went right in that 1992 moment was that the world community came together and
07:31said we have an issue with climate change.
07:34That's Dan Esty, law professor at Yale University in the United States.
07:38He was there at the beginning and was on the US negotiating team.
07:42Unfortunately, in terms of what went wrong, people did not follow through.
07:47And that really sets up the stage for our conversation in Glasgow, where one of the
07:51things that's most notable is that people are now clear that talk is not enough.
07:56To quote Greta, who's in the streets, no more blah, blah, blah.
08:00We've got to change from just talking about things to actual follow through.
08:06Jerome Ringo started his career in Louisiana in the petrochemical industry.
08:10He saw the effects of pollution and heavy emissions firsthand and became a vocal proponent
08:16for the environment.
08:18He was there as a speaker at Kyoto, Japan for COP3, which resulted in the first global
08:24treaty for climate action.
08:26I asked him what went right and what went wrong.
08:29A lot of things went right because it was the beginning of where we are today.
08:34What went wrong?
08:35The US took forever to ratify Kyoto.
08:40And it was embarrassing.
08:41What was the reason for such delay from the US?
08:43It was politicized.
08:46You had one side of the aisle saying let's do it, the other side saying no.
08:50To sign Kyoto, we were going to have to put in place regulations that would basically
08:57regulate industry and would really put pressure on the auto industry, the petrochemical industries
09:04and mandate them to take the necessary steps that would reduce CO2s to the atmosphere.
09:10A reason I've heard that the US never ratified Kyoto was because they felt that they were
09:15being unfairly targeted and that other industrialized nations didn't have to follow the same rules?
09:20Yes.
09:21China, of course, wanted to always maintain the status of a developing nation.
09:26I mean, come on, when you're bringing on one coal-fired power plant every week, you're
09:30not a developing nation.
09:32You're totally industrialized.
09:34And the US wanted China to play by the same rules that were required by the US.
09:39So that was a legitimate argument.
09:42What we've learned to date is that it's going to involve the totality of the world, a total
09:50participation of the world at every level.
09:53There are going to have to be requirements of everyone in every corner of the earth to
09:58take real action to help reduce CO2.
10:01I suppose, to put on your professor hat for a minute, how would you grade the different
10:06COPs throughout the years?
10:08So I think we've got a couple that stand out and then a lot that were quite mediocre, sort
10:15of C on a scale of A, B, C, D, F and at least one F. But the next place where you might
10:22really think the world was making a difference and moving towards success in a big way was
10:27Paris in 2015, that COP21.
10:31But frankly, just before that, there had been a big push around a theme of seal the deal.
10:37And that was in 2009 in Copenhagen.
10:39But that turned out to be, I would say, a D or maybe an F on the scale of A to F, because
10:45things didn't come together.
10:47The parties didn't agree.
10:48China was foot-dragging.
10:49India was also foot-dragging.
10:51The U.S. was disorganized.
10:53And there wasn't a framework to really mobilize action.
10:56But I think Paris brought people together and, frankly, changed one very important thing,
11:01changing a mistake that had been made in the original agreement and repeated in the Kyoto
11:05Protocol, and that was to allow the world to be divided into two groups, a so-called
11:12Annex I set of countries that agreed to take real action and a non-Annex I list of countries
11:18who were effectively invited to sit on the sidelines.
11:21Which brings us to COP26.
11:23It's a time of reckoning for the Paris Agreements made in 2015.
11:26You see, simply put, the Paris Agreement has the goal to limit the temperature rise to
11:322 degrees Celsius, or even better, 1.5 by 2050, compared to pre-industrial levels, while
11:39at the same time reaching a carbon output of net zero.
11:43Each country that signed into the treaty was to put forward their own goal and plan to
11:47reach that goal, called an NDC, or Nationally Determined Contribution.
11:53And by the Paris Agreement, every country is to revisit their goals and make them more
11:57ambitious.
11:58Well, Glasgow is the fifth year.
12:02And how have the countries of the treaty done so far?
12:05We're having hurricanes and typhoons and droughts, the Arctic is melting, California is on fire.
12:12Unbelievable.
12:13These are now problems.
12:14We can't wait until tomorrow.
12:16We don't have the luxury of time.
12:19We must act now.
12:22Is China a no-show?
12:23Is India really committed?
12:25Let's find out when we return on the road to Glasgow.
12:37With all the participation at the Council of the Parties in Glasgow, there have been
12:41a couple of notable absences.
12:44Notable leaders not in attendance are Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China.
12:49The UK's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wasn't overly concerned about this.
12:54Yes, it's true that President Xi isn't here, but on the other hand, the Chinese team is
13:01very high level.
13:02You know, he didn't want, I talked to him, he didn't want to come because of the pandemic
13:07and you've got to respect that, the same was the case for Vladimir Putin.
13:13But that doesn't mean the Chinese are not engaging.
13:16But the United States President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama had a different
13:22opinion.
13:23But the fact that China, trying to assert, understandably, a new role in the world as
13:30a world leader, not showing up, come on, the single most important thing that's gotten
13:37the attention of the world is climate, everywhere, from Iceland to Australia to, you know, I
13:47mean, it just is a gigantic issue and they've walked away.
13:51How do you do that, is a claim to be able to have any leadership mantle.
13:57Same with Putin and Russia.
13:59I have to confess, it was particularly discouraging to see the leaders of two of the world's largest
14:04emitters, China and Russia, decline to even attend the proceedings and their national
14:11plans so far reflect what appears to be a dangerous lack of urgency, a willingness to
14:16maintain the status quo on the part of those governments and that's a shame.
14:22All this is significant because the greatest carbon emitter in the world right now is China
14:28and it's not by a small amount.
14:30In the lead to be the biggest emitter of carbon, a race you don't want to win, China has taken
14:35the first position, increasing their output by 400% since the Rio Earth Summit of 1992.
14:43Right now, China emits over 30% of the world's CO2, 30%.
14:48In distant second is the United States at 13.5%, then India, then Russia.
14:54Can real climate action towards 1.5 degrees Celsius really happen without the biggest emitter?
15:00One of the early announcements to come out of COP26 was India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,
15:06announcing his country's net zero target, 2070.
15:10While many leaders lauded India's commitment, many here at the conference were shocked and
15:16saddened by committing so far down the road.
15:19Prime Minister Modi comes with a commitment for net zero emissions for India in 2070.
15:27So on the one hand, we should celebrate the fact that India has joined the parade,
15:31albeit at the back.
15:34But what we really need now is for India to step up its game as well.
15:42As I walk around the grounds here at COP, there's a lot of talk about finance and the
15:47economics of climate action.
15:49This seems to be a hot-button topic for the negotiators.
15:53We're going to need to see local governments making climate finance, climate adaptation,
15:59one of the main things they do.
16:01That's David Jackson, Director of Local Finance for the UNCDF.
16:05When you look at the mandates for what needs to be done to adapt to climate, it's always
16:10been a local thing.
16:12Edinburgh looks different from Timbuktu, which looks different from somewhere on the Arctic
16:16Because each city is built according to its climate.
16:19There's going to have to be another round of that, like 2.0.
16:22So local governments around the world are going to have to reinvest in infrastructure
16:26to refurbish existing infrastructure.
16:29Likewise, the clothing industry is going to have to reinvest in new non-fossil fuel clothes.
16:35Probably most of the people in this room, they're wearing some form of polyester.
16:39Polyester is a fossil fuel, comes from fossil fuels.
16:42We're going to have to find new ways of clothing ourselves.
16:46So it's a seismic change.
16:49And the models are there now.
16:51It's just about getting the finance to follow those models.
16:54It's called climate finance.
16:57And climate finance, this is the government money.
17:00Climate finance needs to do specific things that help, what's called mitigation, or preventing
17:07more carbon getting in the atmosphere, or adaptation, which means responding to what's
17:11already happening to the climate.
17:14That's Harvey Locke, a recognized conservationist who has been championing Earth's nature for decades.
17:20If we think of the sort of idea of follow the money, show me the money, that kind of thing.
17:25So what are we seeing in that space, for example, in integration?
17:28So we have the UK, which has dedicated one-third of its climate finance, 30% actually, or three
17:35billion pounds, I think it is, to the idea of doing climate with biodiversity outcomes.
17:44France has devoted fully 30% of its funding, which is very high as well, to the same thing.
17:52And then two days ago, Canada said 20% of our funding, which has been doubled recently
17:59for the climate, will be devoted to this interface between climate, meeting climate
18:05goals, but connected to biodiversity.
18:08And that's a billion dollars Canadian, which is real money.
18:11What about the 100 billion that was promised?
18:14So I think we know that there's a lot of money needed to relay the energy foundation of modern society.
18:20And the 100 billion dollars that was committed back now, some years ago, was actually a commitment
18:27to mobilize capital.
18:29And that's important.
18:30Because it didn't mean that governments were going to give, that industrialized country
18:33governments were going to give money to the developing world.
18:36But it did mean that they were going to give some money and mobilize capital through private
18:41banks and private financing sources.
18:44And there has been a calculation of how far we've gone.
18:47The best numbers suggest that we're quite short of the 100 billion.
18:52Maybe it's 50 billion, some are saying 80 billion, some are saying it's actually 30.
18:56But I think we know that whatever that sort of calculation is against the 100 billion
19:00that was to be mobilized, we're still short.
19:03And frankly, I would argue that 100 billion is not enough to fully fund this transition.
19:08That's 100 billion per year, by the way.
19:10We're going to need more.
19:11And I think that also has started to come into focus here in Glasgow.
19:15And people are saying, you know, we've got to get all that money going, public sources
19:19of finance, the multilateral development banks, private capital from banks and from
19:25individuals.
19:26And all of that is, again, part of what this point of leverage that I think is making change
19:31really come together here.
19:32Now, will it be delivered in the end?
19:34It's not sure.
19:35We still have to see over the coming weeks and months.
19:38But there are some signals that are quite promising.
19:41We go from following the money to following the science when Road to Glasgow continues.
19:49And because of the pandemic, as you know, we postponed COP26 by a year.
19:57But during that year, climate change did not take time off.
20:02And the IPCC report in August was a wake up call for all of us.
20:08It made clear that the lights are flashing red on the climate dashboard.
20:14That report, agreed by 195 governments, makes clear that human activity is unequivocally
20:22the cause of global warming.
20:25There are a lot of differing opinions on the state of the Earth's climate.
20:30Back in the late 80s, the United Nations set up a large group of scientists to study the
20:35issues and come to a consensus.
20:37And this is the IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
20:42The reports by the IPCC play a key role in shaping policy and plans at the COPs.
20:49So scientists have known that the climate is changing for quite a long time, starting
20:52back in the 1950s when David Keeling started measuring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
20:59And it was in the 60s and even the 70s that people started letting the US government know
21:04that we're seeing changes due to the fossil fuel burning, due to land use change.
21:09And the United Nations took hold of this and decided to set up the IPCC, recognising that
21:15this is a challenge that the world needs to work on and try and solve together.
21:19I hear the rallying cries, science not silence, and listen to the science.
21:25But is it that simple?
21:26Just trust the science.
21:28Can't anyone pick and choose the data that supports their position while throwing away
21:32or ignoring other data?
21:34I asked Professor Jamie Toney at the University of Glasgow to get her thoughts.
21:40People can cherry pick data and try and use the data to tell the story that they want.
21:44You have to be really careful when you're looking at data.
21:47That's one of the reasons why the IPCC reports are so important, because you have hundreds
21:51of scientists coming together to actually review the information and the data that's
21:55in those reports and make sure that the data is not cherry picked and it is telling the
22:01correct story.
22:03Success is possible because we have the science.
22:07The data is unequivocal.
22:10Climate change is widespread, rapid, intensifying and already impacting every region on earth,
22:18on land and in the ocean.
22:21But one number stands out above all others.
22:25We must limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century.
22:32The goals have been set.
22:33No more temperature rise than 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
22:38But how do we achieve that?
22:40What is the plan?
22:41And do we have the technology needed to achieve that plan?
22:45I really want to know where the rubber meets the road.
22:49More and more countries are starting to build long distance gridlines, DC gridlines to connect
22:56across large geographies.
22:58If you build the right kind of grid infrastructure, you don't lose much power when you push the
23:01electricity across large distances.
23:04And so that is one of the, again, the solution is there.
23:07The challenge there is building it and countries are starting to build it and then some geopolitical
23:11tensions as well, you know, collecting, connecting all of that solar power potential in North
23:16Africa to Europe, which has a large power need, is needed, but there's some challenges
23:21there that governments are needing to work through.
23:24In terms of the consumption and in terms of the way we live, I think we have to align
23:32with that 1.5 degree future and ensuring that we adapt in terms of, you know, what kind
23:38of buildings we build, what materials we use.
23:41Now there's the hard way in saying all of these things we can't do anymore, or we can
23:46find new technologies, we can find, you know, less intense, you know, ways of living, ways
23:54of consuming, etc.
23:55So it has to do with behaviour change, it has to do with the mindset, but it also has
23:59to do with, you know, how much, you know, every step along the way actually consumes.
24:05With all the calls and protests to end fossil fuels and totally eliminate carbon-based energy,
24:11I wonder if we even have the capability to do that right now.
24:15I searched for some experts on energy to shed light on whether we have the technology.
24:20Short answer is yes.
24:21We produced a roadmap back in May, which was called the Net Zero Emissions Scenario, where
24:27we showed how, with a range of different technologies, the whole world could actually phase out use
24:32of carbon-intensive resources and generate net zero.
24:36So yes, it is possible.
24:37We are ready and we are getting readier as we develop the technologies on the way.
24:43Utti Ervasti is the Vice President of Renewable Hydrogen at Neste in Finland.
24:49They have a technology that could very well be an answer.
24:53What I'm responsible for is this renewable hydrogen.
24:58Hydrogen is a chemical that is used in many industrial processes.
25:02Hydrogen can also be an energy carrier or an energy storage.
25:08Traditionally, you make hydrogen out of natural gas, and in that process, there is a lot of
25:14CO2 that is getting released.
25:17With the new technologies, we can make hydrogen by splitting the water with renewable electricity,
25:23and then we can get oxygen and hydrogen.
25:27In that process, there is no emissions.
25:30So through introducing this green hydrogen into our industrial processes, into our energy
25:37system, we can cut emissions significantly.
25:41The developing world is struggling.
25:43On the one hand, they're trying to provide basic electricity supply.
25:47They're trying to roll out electricity to parts of the countries which don't even have
25:50it yet.
25:51In Africa and Asia, there are still millions of people who don't have electricity.
25:55And they're trying to do it as cheaply as possible, which often means just using fossil
25:59fuels.
26:00Tom Howes works with developing countries to implement energy best practices.
26:05So these are all struggle points for developing economies.
26:10Through introducing measures like energy efficiency, trying to switch to local renewable sources
26:15when they can.
26:16So in Africa, for instance, making use of the sunlight that they've got to use to generate
26:20solar power.
26:21In Asia and in Africa, there's hydro resources, which we can harvest to get hydro electricity.
26:27So developed countries finance us to work with these developing countries to look at
26:32the policies they're introducing, help them work out how they can actually reform their
26:38energy sector and make it more efficient and less fossil fuel dependent.
26:44When I first started this road to Glasgow, I learned about how the issues of nature and
26:48climate have been kept separate, but are now being brought together as a holistic approach
26:53to the environmental crisis.
26:56What we're beginning to have clarity on, and I say we meaning a community of people,
27:01climate community, the nature community, is that you can't solve the climate problem without
27:07looking after nature.
27:09And you can't protect or look after nature without stopping the climate from running
27:13away on us.
27:14I think we've been focusing for 25 COPs, mainly on climate.
27:20And I think in the last year, we've really come to the point of understanding, and that
27:26knowledge was around for a while, but I want to say there was now broad awareness that
27:31we will not win on climate if we don't keep nature intact.
27:36Patrick Frick, who works for the Global Commons Alliance.
27:40I asked Patrick to tell me more about the Global Commons.
27:44Without those Global Commons intact, losing the rainforest, losing the Arctic ice sheet
27:49by seeing it melting in a way, and the other Global Commons, there's just no way we can
27:56keep large parts of this planet habitable.
27:59So I hope we walk away with realizing that it's time to come together as one people,
28:07take care of this beautiful planet and its commons, and take the actions together to
28:14make that happen.
28:16I will say that this COP has been unprecedented for the nature agenda.
28:20That's Shaila Raghav, the Vice President of Climate Change for Conservation International.
28:26In the past, we really were just struggling to get nature even mentioned, and even get
28:32nature recognized as part of the climate conversation.
28:35But here, actually, last week, we saw a full day dedicated to very high-level announcements
28:39and commitments on nature.
28:40We saw more than a billion dollars committed to indigenous people and local communities
28:45to support them in stewarding their land.
28:49We saw a massive financial commitment to redirect and shift financial flows from what is destroying
28:57and destructing nature to regenerative practices, and $8.67 trillion in assets.
29:04That was announced, and billions of dollars of aid from national government.
29:08So I came away from last week very encouraged and inspired by this recognition of the more
29:15systemic nature of addressing the climate crisis through sectoral approaches that include nature.
29:22But the really exciting front here is this intersection between carbon-neutral and nature-positive.
29:28And that's what we need.
29:30We need this idea of nature-positive to dock easily with this idea of being carbon-neutral
29:35or net-zero that you hear everywhere.
29:38And you'll see it on pavilions, and you'll see it in the people's speeches everywhere.
29:41Nature-positive, carbon-neutral.
29:42Well, that's this coming together.
29:45And it's just really fun to see it's actually happening.
29:48I'm so glad you're so positive.
29:51In a conference full of angst and worry, Harvey's excitement and optimism was contagious.
29:58The father of capitalism, Adam Smith, wrote his Wealth of Nations right here at the University
30:03of Glasgow.
30:05Can capitalism and environmentalism move in the same direction?
30:09We'll find out when we return to The Road to Glasgow.
30:16Glasgow, Scotland.
30:18Centre of the Scottish Enlightenment, leading to the Industrial Revolution.
30:22Is that what got the world to the brink of destruction?
30:25Or will Glasgow be known as the place the world came together with a workable climate plan?
30:31Can industry and government have a common goal and a consistent mission?
30:37In the 18th century, this was the location for the Scottish Enlightenment.
30:41At a time that England had two universities, Scotland had five.
30:45It was from this period that the Industrial Revolution was incubated.
30:49Adam Smith, known as the father of capitalism, was a professor at the University of Glasgow.
30:55While many point to his manifesto Wealth of Nations, he preceded that magnum opus with
31:00a book on morality.
31:02I think this is a crucial distinction as the world gathers back here, the birthplace of
31:07economics, to develop plans to reduce carbon emissions to pre-industrial levels.
31:13To have capitalism without morals is simply selfish greed.
31:17It can't be profit above all, but I believe must include an outward focus.
31:23And that's why industry must lead the way to a greener, more sustainable future.
31:28Now I'd say another big conclusion coming out of this whole discussion over the course
31:33of several weeks is how quickly that governmental commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions
31:38has cascaded to the business community.
31:41And this is a very important point, because the real decisions that affect the carbon
31:46footprint of a society are not just made by presidents and prime ministers.
31:50They're made, frankly, by mayors and governors and sub-national leaders, but also by corporate
31:54leaders.
31:55So the fact that you've got all of that group gathered really offers, I think, some promise
32:01that this is the moment the world is shifting towards real action.
32:05We believe that a sustainable business is a good business, especially in the long term.
32:10So as an example, Zurich has been asking for a price on carbon because it would just enable
32:15us to have a more level playing field.
32:18For us, it is clear that the private sector, or businesses in general, has to have a role
32:24to play in this, and it is a good business case in the long run.
32:48Over and over, I ran into captains of industry who aren't just paying lip service for better
33:06marketing, but who really want to make a difference.
33:09No one embodies this more than Stephen Koh, from All Right.
33:29How did you then get involved in climate issues?
33:32Curiosity.
33:33I've been with the business five years.
33:35We're a government-led concession.
33:37We had some environmental indices that we needed to report on, and then we started to
33:41hear a lot of talk about sustainability, carbon neutral, zero carbon.
33:47The first woman to lead a major transportation company, Diane Crowther, is a real inspiration,
33:53not only to women like me, but for industry looking to invest in a greener future.
33:59So we got curious and started to say, what's that mean for High Speed One?
34:03So we commissioned a socioeconomic impact study because we didn't really understand our green
34:07credentials, and we were quite blown away that we're actually a very, very green form
34:13of transportation, and make a significant contribution to the communities that we serve.
34:19But we also wanted to do more, so we started to say, what are our targets going to be?
34:24So we've now set ourselves a target to be carbon neutral by 2030, and we're doing that
34:29with the whole of our value chain, our train operators, our suppliers, our retailers, but
34:35also our end customer as well.
34:37So it's a good place to be at the moment, it's quite exciting.
34:40You're seeing a shift in clean technologies from being basically unprofitable about 10
34:46years ago, to just in the last decade, becoming profitable and competitive.
34:51That's Rod Richardson.
34:52As I see more and more people vilifying capitalism, Rod thinks capitalism holds some solutions
34:58to the climate problem.
35:00If you look at the socialist, really the guys that have gone full bore into socialism,
35:05like Cuba, Venezuela, the Soviet Union in the past, all of those are massive economic
35:13failures.
35:14You know, China only avoided that by turning to capitalism.
35:17If you want to deploy new technologies at speed and scale, the only way to build an
35:27economy like that is using the principles that gave us the industrial revolution.
35:32As we learned in Washington DC, the key to real and lasting climate action will be because
35:38government and industry come together.
35:41The biggest advances I've seen on this road to Glasgow have been when business and corporations
35:46lean in and embrace a greener future.
35:49Here in Glasgow, I caught up with real estate mogul and EarthX founder, Trammell Crowe.
35:55How important do you think the private sector and businesses are to climate action?
36:00The very most important of all are the people, the ordinary people doing their bit.
36:09But individual action, one by one, drop by drop, is the most difficult thing of all.
36:17It's hard for me or anybody to think, if I put this there, how much does it really matter?
36:22So in business, it's scale.
36:25So my Texas viewpoint, business is the leader.
36:32We have to take the initiative, or government will never do it without leadership from business.
36:40Left versus right, liberal versus conservative, can the climate problem be solved with only
36:46half the people?
36:47Let's find out what the other side is saying when we return to the road to Glasgow.
36:53On this road to Glasgow, we've heard from mostly people sounding the alarm about the climate.
36:59But as we look at the earth from all sides, why don't the more politically conservative
37:04join in on the effort?
37:06Why do they oppose us helping save the planet?
37:09This is a big piece of the puzzle missing for me.
37:12I want to know more.
37:13I caught up with two Republican congressmen from the United States in Glasgow and got
37:18to ask them exactly that.
37:20Do you believe that there is a climate crisis?
37:23Of course.
37:24Of course, yes.
37:25Utah right now is in the state's longest drought.
37:28Most of the summer, we have beautiful mountains and the residents couldn't see the mountains
37:32because of the smoke coming from Oregon and California and the forest fires.
37:36Our ski season is supposed to start in a few weeks and every year we have less snow.
37:41So the word crisis is unique to everybody's definition, but certainly this is something
37:46that demands our attention and demands our best efforts.
37:51From Utah, Congressman John Curtis at times sounded just like any of the other climate
37:56activists I've talked to on this road.
37:59Maybe they're not the enemy, not the bad guys.
38:02Is it possible we all want the same thing?
38:05What would you say to those who think that Republicans don't care about the environment?
38:10Well, I understand from a branding perspective we've done a terrible job, but the reality
38:15of it is we care deeply.
38:16And I can show you strong evidence of that.
38:19And if you go back in time, you go to Roosevelt and National Parks, you go to Richard Nixon
38:24and EPA, George W. Bush spoke about it frequently.
38:28And more recently, Republicans joined Democrats in the Energy Act of 2020 and passed one of
38:32the most substantial pieces of climate legislation on a very bipartisan basis.
38:37And I'll tell you, in my state, you're not going to find anybody that doesn't care deeply
38:40about leaving this earth better than we found it and being good stewards over the earth.
38:45As Republicans, we acknowledge it's man-made and there's a cost to it.
38:50And the question is, what does that cost?
38:52So if you listen to the general narrative at a place like COP26, the cost is enormous.
38:57There's no price too high that we could pay to mitigate that cost.
39:00Now, the next question is, is that true?
39:02And is that what the UN climate report says?
39:04Is that what the IPCC says?
39:07And the answer is emphatically no.
39:08Nobody's actually read it when they show up to this thing.
39:11That is the firebrand, up-and-coming star of the Republican Party, Congressman Dan Crenshaw
39:16of Texas, a former Navy SEAL.
39:19He doesn't waste words.
39:20And so what does the IPCC actually say?
39:24It lays out in pretty clear terms what the costs are.
39:28And it actually uses, in these cost estimates, the worst case warming scenario, which everybody,
39:33every scientist agrees is completely unrealistic.
39:35It's like four degrees Celsius warming scenario, which is only realistic if we do nothing,
39:40right?
39:41And if we increase our coal use and oil use, which is not happening and has no potential
39:47to happen.
39:48So there's a cost.
39:49It's just nothing what the alarmists say it is.
39:51And they come back and they'll say something like, okay, but you're from Houston, or Houston's
39:55going to be underwater, or Miami's going to be underwater.
39:58And my question back to them is, one, that's probably not true.
40:02Again, you're using alarmist modeling to come up with that, but I think there will be sea
40:06level rise.
40:07And again, there's a course of a cost associated with that.
40:10The question is, if we stopped emitting all carbon dioxide at this moment, would it change
40:17that?
40:18And they don't want to answer that question, because now you have to have a more reasonable
40:22conversation about what kind of costs you're imposing on humanity, and then asking what
40:26benefit you get from it.
40:27And they're pretending like you're getting this big benefit, when in reality, if you
40:32listen to the science, and also common sense, that's just not the case.
40:36I think it's fair to say that both parties have extremists.
40:39On the left, you have these people who are gloom and doom, calamity, the Earth's going
40:44to blow up in a couple of years.
40:46That doesn't help either.
40:47On the right, of course, we have those who deny it, and I consider both of those extremists.
40:52The other thing I think is important to remember is the way the climate is talked about just
40:56turns off Republicans.
40:58And so instead of coming back and saying, well, let us tell you our answers, they tend
41:02to disengage.
41:04And I get that that's perceived as not caring, but it's just not true.
41:08I don't talk to Republicans that really don't care about this Earth.
41:12The debate has moved on from this sort of, whether you're a climate denier versus a climate
41:18alarmist.
41:19It's moved on from that.
41:20Again, as you can tell, I still quibble with the details, only because the alarmism leads
41:24us down a dangerous path.
41:26So I do have to quibble with their notions that the world's ending in 12 years or that
41:30the world is on fire or that every storm we see is because of climate change.
41:33I do have to push back against those details because that does matter when we talk about
41:38more rational solutions.
41:40It appears that language may be creating a huge problem.
41:45Our specific choice of words can carry so much connotation and power and emotion that
41:51it creates such intense division.
41:53I think the answer lies in finding creative ways to speak about these things and communicate
41:59so that we are inclusive and not creating walls between each other.
42:04It's not that we don't want to be good stewards.
42:06It's just that we feel this Green New Deal, this extremism, and that tends to turn off
42:12Republicans.
42:13Yeah, there's too many negative connotations attached.
42:15Just with the word, right.
42:16Perhaps if we found better language.
42:17Listen, we do.
42:18I mean, I'm from a very Republican district, perhaps one of the most Republican in the
42:22country.
42:23If I stand up in a town hall meeting and I say, let's talk climate, the room divides
42:26in two, right?
42:28But if I stand up and say, who thinks we should leave this earth better than we found it?
42:34Everybody's on board, right?
42:36Certainly, the language of radicalism, extremism, and alarmism isn't productive because it's
42:43isolating and fear-inducing, which is counterproductive to collaborative action.
42:50We all have a common goal to protect our children and our futures and to preserve the
42:56beauty of our communities, countries, and the planet we all share.
43:01I think we actually all do have common goals in this crisis, but the problem is that our
43:06fear lies in different places.
43:09If only we could tap into that and understand each other on a deeper and more human level
43:14and have more empathy for the other side, then perhaps we could achieve true collaboration
43:19instead of division, hate, and mistrust.
43:23You know, for me, it feels a wee bit like a Dickens novel.
43:26It's the best of times, it's the worst of times, age of wisdom, the age of foolishness.
43:31COP President Alok Sharma and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson were cautiously
43:36optimistic, but there were serious obstacles to the COP, from the world's biggest emitter
43:42not coming to goals being set that were far from the ambition that is direly needed.
43:48Some steps forward were taken, specifically in fighting deforestation and protecting nature,
43:54to reducing dangerous methane gases.
43:57The question I have, and I hear it often from others as I walk the grounds here at the conference,
44:03will the countries follow through on their own plans?
44:06For without follow through, this is all just empty, fruitless talk.
44:11And for my generation, and the ones that are to follow, we simply cannot settle for that.
44:17Finally, it's going to take most, if not all of us, to protect our planet.
44:22And I've found that maybe most of us want that.
44:25That sometimes language can divide.
44:27Hopefully we can break down the divisiveness and come together.
44:31We owe it to our children, and to our planet.
44:34Our road to Glasgow has taken us all over the world, meeting people who are working
44:40towards making a difference.
44:42I know I have learned so much from them.
44:45But what now?
44:46The road to Glasgow is not at an end.
44:49The road continues, up hills, around corners, through heavy traffic and through scenic vistas.
44:55Come with me as we travel on this road towards a greener, more sustainable tomorrow.
45:46TORONTO 2015 PAN AM, PARAPAN AM GAMES
45:50TORONTO 2015 PAN AM, PARAPAN AM GAMES