Friends, it is with great sadness that I share that Kristen Poppleton, our Senior Director of Programs, will be leaving Climate Generation mid-December for a new professional adventure as Assistant Director of Minnesota Trout Unlimited. Kristen has played an essential role at Climate Generation over the past 14 years, growing and developing our programs and our reputation. She started here when it was the Will Steger Foundation, and has weathered many transitions, always staying grounded in integrity. Her understanding of and care for our COP program will be especially missed. And we wish her well in her new adventure, knowing that she will remain a friend of Climate Gen and available to us as we might need her. It has been an honor to work with her during the past year. I invited Kristen to share her parting thoughts:
In the summer of 2006, I spent a week at the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley, Minnesota participating in Climate Generation’s first Summer Institute for Climate Change Education (the organization was then known as Will Steger Foundation.) I was in graduate school at the University of Minnesota studying Conservation Biology, with a focus on climate change education. My friend Abby Fenton, then one of the three staff members, had invited me to join the Institute knowing my interest in climate change education.
The week was spent with 50 other teachers learning about how climate change was impacting the Arctic region, hearing from Inuit leaders, and developing activities together. The staff were planning an expedition to Baffin Island in the Arctic to see impacts of climate change first hand and to talk to Inuit communities about their experience — we, the participants, were tasked with sharing this with our students.
Back then, climate change wasn’t “happening” so much in our backyards, and when you googled climate change education there was really not much to see resource-wise or jobs-wise. When I joined the team a few years later to work on the Minnesota’s Changing Climate curriculum resource, finding people and resources for this work was one of my first challenges.
Doing climate work is a practice in partnership, innovation, patience, and radical optimism, and it requires people.
People who can help with all that stuff we typically think of as work, but also for fun, laughter, and friendship. As I ready myself for the next adventure beyond Climate Generation, my number one priority is to recognize and say thank you to all the amazing individuals and organizations I have had the privilege of working with over the years — to the PEOPLE that have made this work happen.
From the beginning the School of Environmental Studies (SES) in Apple Valley, Minnesota was a big partner in our work. The team there supported our Summer Institute the first time, as well as two more times over the years. Their students have been our interns, gone on climate-focused expeditions, provided us with valuable grounding in how to do an intentional and learning-focused trip to the international climate negotiations (COP), and now still support us with badging individuals for COP.
I don’t know when I discovered the Climate Literacy Network (CLEAN), but it was pretty early on. My calendar has had the standing Tuesday network meeting on it for almost 14 years. While I haven’t been able to attend as much recently, this network helped build the foundation of our work at Climate Generation today. Through conversations, shared presentations at AGU, NAAEE, NSTA; tweet chats; time spent as a Board co-chair; this group of folks has been leading the charge on climate change education across the country and has introduced me to so many of the partners we continue to work with today. I am especially grateful for the long time mentorship and deep friendship of Frank Niepold at NOAA’s Climate Office and Jen Kretser at the Wild Center.
The US ACE Coalition was a spin off from CLEAN, and it was through this coalition we started to really understand how our work at Climate Generation is grounded in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and is critical for accelerating climate action. So many great minds contributed to the Framework behind the Coalition and I learned so much from all of you!
I continue to be so excited about the Climate Literacy Certificate offered through Hamline University, a product of many years of dreaming with staff there. Our partnership with the Center for Global Environmental Education, and our staff teaching a Theories and Models of Climate Change Education course, and Global Climate Policy and Solutions during COP are a few of the rewarding moments of this partnership.
I also, of course, found much joy and inspiration through working with colleagues at Climate Generation. I had the pleasure of being a part of some amazing teams over the years focused on local to international projects. Our Climate Minnesota: Local Stories, Community Solutions convening series took our team, along with climatologist Mark Seeley and Terry Webster from the Department of Commerce, across the state to 12 local communities. Stewarding the development of our book, Eyewitness, sharing it through a webinar series, and delivering it to every legislator in the state (during a global pandemic) was a full team affair!
Pulling off our Summer Institute for Climate Change Education every year takes a village, and that village has grown exponentially thanks to the leadership of some amazing education staff and a network of organizations that started locally with SES, Osprey Wilds, the Science Museum, Ft. Snelling State Park, the Institute on the Environment, and St. John’s University, and grew to partners across North America including NOAA’s Climate Office, the Wild Center, EcoRise, and Ten Strands.
I can’t imagine where Climate Generation would be without the passion, excitement, anger, persistence, and joy brought to this organization by high school youth over the years. It is young people that have been our moral compass, our edge-pusher, and our constant reminder that apathy is not a choice; that we must continue to do better than our best work. I have learned so much from them and I also have been privileged to co-work on legislation and coalitions and projects that give me hope. One of my greatest joys is leaving our organization knowing that we have a former high school YEA! member on our youth program staff today.
Our ongoing organizational journey from equity to antiracism has been one of the most important, life-changing professional experiences I have had. I have been so humbled by the individuals I have had the chance to learn from, wrestle and cry with, have profound “a-has” with, and share collective humanity with. These learnings, this journey of seeing the world, is ongoing and it is a gift I bring with me.
Finally, experiential learning can be a profound spark for action, and in 2015 when my colleague and I brought a group of 10 teachers to COP21 in Paris to launch our annual Window Into COP program, I was “sparked.” Over the years, the delegates we have been able to support to attend the UN climate negotiations have been some of our most passionate and sustained partners — citing the experience as an activation point for their personal climate action. Every year in planning COP, I am so fortified by the people we meet and work with to plan an educational and impactful program and experience at COP. I am so grateful to be able to end my time with Climate Generation supporting this program and our largest and most diverse delegation ever!
Over the years, I think I may have taken on almost every role in the organization, at least for a short period, but I spent the majority of my time in programming. I was a part of stewarding its growth from a team of one to a team of ten program experts in youth, education, and community. I believe that an organization matures due to the support, passion, smarts, mistakes, and investment of many people. It’s working with colleagues at Climate Generation, and partners around the world, that has provided me with the sustained focus, inspiration, knowledge, and support to do this work.
I look forward to watching Climate Generation continue to be a force in the climate movement — knowing that people are at the heart of this work!
It would mean a lot to hear from you if you have any memories of working together over the years! Consider adding a photo or written memory to this padlet with the password kpmemory.
Susan Phillips
Executive Director
Kristen Poppleton
Senior Director of Programs
The post Holding the Both/And of Goodbyes appeared first on Climate Generation.
Countries are still debating whether to mine the seafloor for minerals, but exploratory efforts have already begun.
As demand for critical minerals surges around the world, countries are debating whether to mine the untapped deep-sea reserves of cobalt, copper and manganese, miles below the surface. But a growing body of research shows that these activities could have profound consequences for ocean ecosystems, and the industries and communities that rely on them.
Climate Change
IEA: Slow transition away from fossil fuels would cost over a million energy sector jobs
A slower shift to clean energy could leave the world with 1.3 million fewer energy sector jobs by 2035 compared with a scenario in which governments fully implement their green policies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found.
In its annual World Energy Employment report, the Paris-based watchdog said on Friday that the Current Policies Scenario (CPS), which it reintroduced under pressure from the Trump administration, has “more muted” employment growth than the Stated Policies Scenario.
The CPS sees oil and gas demand continuing to rise until at least 2050 – a scenario that the IEA described as “cautious” and “anchored in enacted laws and measures” and was widely criticised by clean energy experts.
A fast energy transition would spur investment in construction, creating more jobs across the sector. New roles for electricians, building insulators, solar panel and energy-efficient lightbulb installers, and transition mineral miners would more than offset job losses in coal mines, power plants and oil and gas fields, the report found.
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Plans to turn Europe’s biggest coal mine into a leisure lake prove divisive
Transition experts say repurposing Poland’s Bełchatów mine and power plant for renewables not recreation could bring more jobs, revenue and electricity -
Scottish oil-town plan for green jobs sparks climate campers’ anger over local park
The oil and gas industry aims to bring clean jobs to Aberdeen, but it involves paving over part of a much-loved park, igniting a debate on just transition
Anabella Rosemberg, Just Transition lead at Climate Action Network International, lamented that the clean energy sector is “being undermined at a time when employment creation is of utmost priority”.
“Climate ambition and decent job creation must go hand in hand – but as the recent conversations at COP30 showed, there is a need for both the right targets and just transition strategies to make it happen,” she added.
A more ambitious Net Zero Emissions scenario, aligned with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C, would see roughly ten million more energy jobs created than under the CPS, report author Daniel Wetzel told Climate Home News at a press conference.
Bottleneck warnings
The IEA warned that governments must act to train workers for these roles or risk facing shortages of electricians, welders, and grid specialists – a gap that could slow the energy transition and drive up wages and energy costs.
IEA head Fatih Birol highlighted a particular shortage of qualified workers in the nuclear industry, warning that the problem could worsen as the sector’s workforce continues to age. “I hear nuclear is making a comeback, but the interest in the nuclear sector for the jobs is rather weak,” he said.
Laura Cozzi, IEA’s Director of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks, warned of a shortage of skilled workers in electricity grids. “That is one of the key ingredients why we are not seeing grids ramp up as [they] should,” she said. Over 60 governments pledged at COP29 to improve and expand their grids to enable clean electricity to flow to where it is needed.
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Migrant workers building Saudi Arabia’s green future face exploitation, report finds
Heat stroke, long hours and punishment for taking breaks – low-paid foreign workers compare jobs on Saudi renewable energy projects to a prison sentence -
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Bert De Wel, Global Coordinator for Climate Policy at the International Trade Union Confederation, celebrated that the energy transition is creating jobs but added that they should be good jobs with decent pay, conditions and union rights. Decent work would attract skilled workers, he added.
The report found that wages in the oil and gas industry have generally risen faster over the past year than in the solar – and especially the wind – sectors. It noted that the oil and gas industry has a “historical tendency to offer highly competitive wages to attract and retain top talent”.
At the COP30 climate summit, governments agreed to set up the Belém Action Mechanism to try and make the energy transition fairer to groups such as workers in the energy industry. It will give trade unions a formal role in shaping just transition policies, for what the ITUC says is the first time.
ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle called it a “decisive win for the union movement and working people across the world, in all sectors but especially those in transition industries.”
The post IEA: Slow transition away from fossil fuels would cost over a million energy sector jobs appeared first on Climate Home News.
IEA: Slow transition away from fossil fuels would cost over a million energy sector jobs
Climate Change
DeBriefed 5 December: Deadly Asia floods; Adaptation finance target examined; Global south IPCC scientists speak out
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Deadly floods in Asia
MOUNTING DEVASTATION: The Associated Press reported that the death toll from catastrophic floods in south-east Asia had reached 1,500, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand most affected and hundreds still missing. The newswire said “thousands” more face “severe” food and clean-water shortages. Heavy rains and thunderstorms are expected this weekend, it added, with “saturated soil and swollen rivers leaving communities on edge”. Earlier in the week, Bloomberg said the floods had caused “at least $20bn in losses”.
CLIMATE CHANGE LINKS: A number of outlets have investigated the links between the floods and human-caused climate change. Agence France-Presse explained that climate change was “producing more intense rain events because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and warmer oceans can turbocharge storms”. Meanwhile, environmental groups told the Associated Press the situation had been exacerbated by “decades of deforestation”, which had “stripped away natural defenses that once absorbed rainfall and stabilised soil”.
‘NEW NORMAL’: The Associated Press quoted Malaysian researcher Dr Jemilah Mahmood saying: “South-east Asia should brace for a likely continuation and potential worsening of extreme weather in 2026 and for many years.” Al Jazeera reported that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies had called for “stronger legal and policy frameworks to protect people in disasters”. The organisation’s Asia-Pacific director said the floods were a “stark reminder that climate-driven disasters are becoming the new normal”, the outlet said.
Around the world
- REVOKED: The UK and Netherlands withdrew $2.2bn of financial backing from a controversial liquified natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique, Reuters reported. The Guardian noted that TotalEnergies’ “giant” project stood accused of “fuelling the climate crisis and deadly terror attacks”.
- REVERSED: US president Donald Trump announced plans to “significantly weaken” Biden-era fuel efficiency requirements for cars, the New York Times said.
- RESTRICTED: EU leaders agreed to ban the import of Russian gas from autumn 2027, the Financial Times reported. Meanwhile, Reuters said it is “likely” the European Commission will delay announcing a plan on auto sector climate targets next week, following pressure to “weaken” a 2035 cut-off for combustion engines.
- RETRACTED: An influential Nature study that looked at the economic consequences of climate change has been withdrawn after “criticism from peers”, according to Bloomberg. [The research came second in Carbon Brief’s ranking of the climate papers most covered by the media in 2024.]
- REBUKED: The federal government of Canada faced a backlash over an oil pipeline deal struck last week with the province of Alberta. CBC News noted that First Nations chiefs voted “unanimously” to demand the withdrawal of the deal and Canada’s National Observer quoted author Naomi Klein as saying that the prime minister was “completely trashing Canada’s climate commitments”.
- RESCHEDULED: The Indonesian government has cancelled plans to close a coal plant seven years early, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, Bloomberg separately reported that India is mulling an “unprecedented increase” in coal-power capacity that could see plants built “until at least 2047”.
$518 billion a year
The projected coastal flood damages for the Asia-Pacific region by 2100 if current policies continue, according to a Scientific Reports study covered this week by Carbon Brief.
Latest climate research
- More than 100 “climate-sensitive rivers” worldwide are experiencing “large and severe changes in streamflow volume and timing” | Environmental Research Letters
- Africa’s forests have switched from a carbon sink into a source | Scientific Reports
- Increasing urbanisation can “substantially intensify warming”, contributing up to 0.44C of additional temperature rise per year through 2060 | Communications Earth & Environment
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
A new target for developed nations to triple adaptation finance by 2035, agreed at the COP30 climate summit, would not cover more than a third of developing countries’ estimated needs, Carbon Brief analysis showed. The chart above compares a straight line to meeting the adaptation finance target (blue), alongside an estimate of countries’ adaptation needs (grey), which was calculated using figures from the latest UN Environmental Programme adaptation gap report, based on countries’ UN climate plans (called “nationally determined contributions” or NDCs) and national adaptation plans (NAPs).
Spotlight
Inclusivity at the IPCC
This week, Carbon Brief speaks to an IPCC lead author researching ways to improve the experience of global south scientists taking part in producing the UN climate body’s assessments.
Hundreds of climate scientists from around the world met in Paris this week to start work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) newest set of climate reports.
The IPCC is the UN body responsible for producing the world’s most authoritative climate science reports. Hundreds of scientists from across the globe contribute to each “assessment cycle”, which sees researchers aim to condense all published climate science over several years into three “working group” reports.
The reports inform the decisions of governments – including at UN climate talks – as well as the public understanding of climate change.
The experts gathering in Paris are the most diverse group ever convened by the IPCC.
Earlier this year, Carbon Brief analysis found that – for the first time in an IPCC cycle – citizens of the global south make up 50% of authors of the three working group reports. The IPCC has celebrated this milestone, with IPCC chair Prof Jim Skea touting the seventh assessment report’s (AR7’s) “increased diversity” in August.
But some IPCC scientists have cautioned that the growing involvement of global south scientists does not translate into an inclusive process.
“What happens behind closed doors in these meeting rooms doesn’t necessarily mirror what the diversity numbers say,” Dr Shobha Maharaj, a Trinidadian climate scientist who is a coordinating lead author for working group two (WG2) of AR7, told Carbon Brief.
Global south perspective
Motivated by conversations with colleagues and her own “uncomfortable” experience working on the small-islands chapter of the sixth assessment cycle (AR6) WG2 report, Maharaj – an adjunct professor at the University of Fiji – reached out to dozens of fellow contributors to understand their experience.
The exercise, she said, revealed a “dominance of thinking and opinions from global north scientists, whereas the global south scientists – the scientists who were people of colour – were generally suppressed”.
The perspectives of scientists who took part in the survey and future recommendations for the IPCC are set out in a peer-reviewed essay – co-authored by 20 researchers – slated for publication in the journal PLOS Climate. (Maharaj also presented the findings to the IPCC in September.)
The draft version of the essay notes that global south scientists working on WG2 in AR6 said they confronted a number of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) issues, including “skewed” author selection, “unequal” power dynamics and a “lack of respect and trust”. The researchers also pointed to logistical constraints faced by global south authors, such as visa issues and limited access to journals.
The anonymous quotations from more than 30 scientists included in the essay, Maharaj said, are “clear data points” that she believes can advance a discussion about how to make academia more inclusive.
“The literature is full of the problems that people of colour or global south authors have in academia, but what you don’t find very often is quotations – especially from climate scientists,” she said. “We tend to be quite a conservative bunch.”
Road to ‘improvement’
Among the recommendations set out in the essay are for DEI training, the appointment of a “diversity and inclusion ombudsman” and for updated codes of conduct.
Marharaj said that these “tactical measures” need to occur alongside “transformative approaches” that help “address value systems, dismantle power structures [and] change the rules of participation”.
With drafting of the AR7 reports now underway, Maharaj said she is “hopeful” the new cycle can be an improvement on the last, pointing to a number of “welcome” steps from the IPCC.
This includes holding the first-ever expert meeting on DEI this autumn, new mechanisms where authors can flag concerns and the recruitment of a “science and capacity officer” to support WG2 authors.
The hope, Maharaj explained, is to enhance – not undermine – climate science.
“The idea here was to move forward and to improve the IPCC, rather than attack it,” she said. “Because we all love the science – and we really value what the IPCC brings to the world.”
Watch, read, listen
BROKEN PROMISES: Climate Home News spoke to communities in Nigeria let down by the government’s failure to clean up oil spills by foreign companies.
‘WHEN A ROAD GOES WRONG’: Inside Climate News looked at how a new road from Brazil’s western Amazon to Peru has become a “conduit for rampant deforestation and illegal gold mining”.
SHADOWY COURTS: In the Guardian, George Monbiot lamented the rise of investor-state dispute settlements, which he described as “undemocratic offshore tribunals” that are already having a “chilling effect” on countries’ climate ambitions.
Coming up
- 1-12 December: UN Environment Assembly 7, Nairobi, Kenya
- 7 December: Hong Kong legislative elections
- 11 December: Falkland Islands legislative assembly elections
Pick of the jobs
- Greenpeace International, engagement manager – climate and energy | Salary: Unknown. Location: Various
- The Energy, newsletter editor | Salary: Unknown. Location: Australia (remote)
- University of Groningen, PhD position in motivating people to contribute to societal transitions | Salary: €3,059-€3,881 per month. Location: Groningen, the Netherlands
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
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The post DeBriefed 5 December: Deadly Asia floods; Adaptation finance target examined; Global south IPCC scientists speak out appeared first on Carbon Brief.
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