This week we’re bringing you a special series of episodes from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the ESG Insider podcast is on the ground covering the UN climate change conference known as COP28.

The first few days of this global gathering brought a flurry of announcements, such as hundreds of millions of dollars for a new “loss and damage” fund to assist countries particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and many people are heralding this as an early success for COP28 negotiations. We’ve also heard skepticism from some attendees, who demand meaningful action to back up lofty climate pledges.

In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we sit down on the sidelines of COP28 with a guest with an optimistic outlook on the world’s ability to combat climate change — Henk Rogers.

Henk is the founder of the nonprofit Blue Planet Alliance. (You may also know him as the man who helped make the 1980s puzzle video game Tetris into a household name.)

Blue Planet Alliance has a goal of getting islands and countries around the world to legislatively mandate a commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2045. In the interview, Henk talks about how the organization is working to meet that goal at COP28; the importance of changing public mindsets to change energy strategies; and the role that younger generations will play in that process.

“It’s not like we don’t have the technology — we do. It’s not like we don’t have the money — we do. All we’re missing is the willpower,” Henk says. “We have to switch from hoping that it’s going to happen to determination.”

For more information on COP28 developments, see news from S&P Global Commodity Insights here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/topics/cop28-un-climate-change-conference

Read the COP28 Special Edition of the S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly for research and insights on key themes that in focus in Dubai here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/sustainability-journal/cop28-sustainability-quarterly-page

*The title of this episode was updated on Dec. 5, 2023.

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.

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Optimism, hope for progress palpable at COP28