How do we navigate tough dilemmas?

When faced with an urgent existential challenge like climate change, how do we focus on solutions without getting caught in zero-sum thinking and diluted compromises? Join futures practitioner Bill Sharpe to workshop your pressing challenges. Learn a powerful model that explores how to navigate tensions when people deeply disagree and identify pathways for progress despite differences.

Facilitators: Bill Sharpe and Rosa Sommer, futures practitioners.

How do we overcome the barriers to achieving a managed decline of fossil fuels?

Why do fossil fuel exploration and production continue to expand, and what’s holding back an accelerated transition to clean energy? What are the missing incentives, areas of new global governance and international cooperation that are necessary to ensure equity in the managed decline of fossil fuels?

Conversation starters: Tzeporah Berman, Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty; Tessa Khan, Uplift

What role do existing global energy companies have in the low carbon transition?

What role should global energy companies (whose products today are predominantly oil and gas) play in the low-carbon transition? Do they evolve into multi-energy operators, or will they disappear, and be replaced by a new generation of energy providers? Where do different companies stand given their geography, ownership and positioning? An opportunity to discuss with people in the sector who are working towards decarbonization and explore the possibilities and barriers.

Conversation starters: Bjørn Otto Sverdrup and Julien Perez, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative; Rishi Dorai, bp

Transparency as an accelerator for change

New developments in transparency – from satellite monitoring of emissions, to new metrics and reporting standards, to the role of citizens demanding accountability – all offer impactful tools for progress. What are the emerging tools for change in the energy sector, and how do we use them?

Conversation starters: Nicolette Bartlett and Pedro Faria, CDP

Development, justice and the special case of Africa

In many parts of the world - especially Africa - the idea of a clean energy transition is a misnomer. The top priority is bringing energy to hundreds of millions of people who currently have little or no access. What must happen to fast-track clean energy investment and clean tech through sustainable value chains – particularly for industries where alternatives to fossil fuels are not yet commercially viable? What is Africa’s case for a fair use of the remaining carbon budget?

Conversation starters: Charles Wanguhu, African Climate Foundation; Rebekah Shirley, WRI Afrika

Europe’s energy crisis: How to navigate Winter, with an eye to the future

The war in Ukraine and its geopolitical ripples have thrown into sharp focus the weakness of European energy strategies and their economic, social, environmental and political consequences. How do we maintain momentum over the long term while governments simultaneously confront the near-term challenge of keeping people safe, and families are wondering how to get to the end of the week?

Conversation starters: Jill Duggan and Helen Spence-Jackson, Environmental Defense Fund Europe

8 principles for effective climate change communications

What have we learned about how to speak about climate change in ways that bring new people of different persuasions into the energy transition discussion? How do we avoid getting stuck in echo chambers and put into practice the rich insights we already have about the Dos and Don’ts of climate communication?

Conversation starters: Emma Stewart, Netflix; Brandon Schauer, RARE

Discussion: China’s energy strategy and the need for common ground

A deep dive discussion with Hongqiao Liu, Chinese climate policy advisor, and Peggy Liu, Chair of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, hosted by TED Countdown lead curator Bruno Giussani. The conversation - with your active participation - will explore governmental policies, the heavy investment in solar and the parallel changing role of coal in China’s decarbonisation, and its globally significant impacts.

Conversation starters: Hongqiao Liu, Chinese climate policy advisor; Peggy Liu, Chair of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy; Bruno Giussani, TED Countdown lead curator

Global equity in the transition to a low-carbon economy

Global inequality remains a fundamental issue in the energy transition. What can we learn from other acute crises (for instance COVID-19) about how to accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy? How can finance and tech transfer accelerate climate solutions, economic growth and energy security in all corners of the globe?

Conversation starter: Hisham Mundol, Environmental Defense Fund India

Renewables, geopolitics and the blind spots of the transition

What are the blind spots in the green energy transition, and how do we navigate them fairly and wisely? As we scale the mining of minerals and resources needed for decarbonizing the economy, how will geopolitics play out and how do we avoid destabilizing fragile states and damaging precious ecosystems?

Conversation starter: Olivia Lazard, Carnegie Europe