Zeb Ahmed is Head of Strategy, TEDxGlasgow
IT’S almost 12 months since COP26, when the world’s leaders pledged to limit global warming to 1.5C. But what climate action has been taken since then?
The United Nations issued a warning on a report published by the World Meteorological Organisation that the “impacts of climate change will be devastating”.
This, in a backdrop to geopolitical events, a cost of living and global energy crisis and a UK Government that is shifting to the drilling of gas and oil in the North Sea and in fracking, to enable a transition to green energy.
The energy sector is a key contributor to climate change, accounting for more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. This means that energy must be at the heart of any climate solution.
With a focus on climate action, TEDxGlasgow, is part of the not-for-profit global TEDx talks with a mission to "spread ideas worth doing. In our 10th year, we celebrate an £11.5m social and economic impact in Glasgow, engaging learners in 17.1m in talk views, 10,350 in ideas, while training 1410 volunteers – making a big impact in Scotland and the UK.
With the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’s statement that 2021 was a "make or break"’ year, it was our mission to interview global leaders at COP26. We asked what they are going to deliver on, in the next 12 months rather than by 2030.
Sharan Burrow, CEO ITUC & Vice-Chair of The B Team said it’s time for climatee-friendly jobs with a just transition and to fight for people in communities in a race against time to protect the planet.
Elim Sritaba, Chief Sustainability Officer of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) highlighted how APP are innovating in economic and environmental protection and why collaboration is essential.
Jesper Brodin CEO of IKEA said a focus on renewable energy investments to circular solutions and engaging customers is part of the solution.
Inspired by COP26, we implemented our TEDxGlasgow "Make or Break" Climate Action Initiative (CAI) that fosters collaboration and an exciting joint venture was born. This October will see Asia Pulp and Paper and Glasgow Caledonian University collaborate on the university’s first Climate Justice Programme Advisory Group, for the Masters in Climate Justice and the development of career opportunities.
Our new theme The Future We Choose will explore this and continue to foster collaborations to accelerate climate action. It will spotlight actions worth doing in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for an inclusive, climate-resilient transformational plan across health, wellbeing, energy, food, industry and society, that meet the needs of the most vulnerable.
As we approach COP27, what have global thought leaders achieved since COP26? The Future We Choose is our response to climate change and a call to action to government, leaders of public and private organisations, to work with us on shared ideas for securing our future. We are determined to effect more change that is both significant and authentic and we can only achieve that by working together.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel