Climate Change

Framing ethical perspectives

Climate change refers to human-induced global warming, mostly due to greenhouse gas emissions, and large-scale impacts on weather patterns. As floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events become more common and certain regions turn inhospitable to humans, society is changing as well. Carnegie Council’s events, experts, and Impact Initiatives, such as the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G) and the Model International Mobility Convention (MIMC), analyze these changes from a socio-political perspective and search for ethical solutions to, possibly, the most pressing challenges that humanity has ever faced.

Featured Climate Changes Resources

Climate governance, climate-altering technologies, and more

MAR 28, 2024 Video

Unlocking Cooperation: The Global South and Global North

In the inaugural panel of the "Unlocking Cooperation" series, Ramu Damodaran leads a discussion on forging a path forward for Global South/North collaboration.

JAN 8, 2024 Podcast

C2GTalk: Why does the world now need to consider solar radiation modification? with Kim Stanley Robinson

Many objections to solar radiation modification have been overtaken by events, says "The Ministry of the Future" author Kim Stanley Robinson in this "C2GTalk."

Explore Our Climate Change Resources

OCT 1, 2019 Podcast

C2G Update: Nature-based Solutions, the UN, & the IPCC Reports, with Janos Pasztor

Janos Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), gives an update on his team's work after a busy week in New ...

SEP 26, 2019 Podcast

Climate Change Law, Island Nations, & the UN, with Maxine Burkett

University of Hawaii's Professor Maxine Burkett discusses climate change from a legal perspective in this timely conversation. What are some strategies that island nations like ...

Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan in California. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mypubliclands/29730317151">Bureau of Land Management/Tom Brewster Photography</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(CC)</a>

SEP 23, 2019 Podcast

Solar Dominance + Citizen Action: Solving Climate Change By 2030, with Eban Goodstein

Can new developments in solar technology put the United States on track to produce 50 percent of its energy with renewables by 2030? What global citizen actions ...

Ethiopia, during a drought in 2016. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/unicefethiopia/24714637829">UNICEF Ethiopia</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(CC)</a>

SEP 20, 2019 Article

A Case for Giving Climate Migrants Protected Legal Status

With climate change already affecting vast regions of the planet, Bard College's Brian Mateo makes the case for expanding legal protections for refugees to include ...

Khurais Oil Processing Facility in Saudi Arabia, February 2017. CREDIT: <a href=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khurais_Oil_Processing_Facility,_Saudi_Arabia_by_Planet_Labs.jpg>Planet Labs, Inc. (CC)</a>.

SEP 18, 2019 Article

Candidates, Calculus, and the Iran Crisis

In choosing whether and how to respond to the attack on Saudi Arabian oil refineries, what is the calculus for determining action? Should the United ...

SEP 9, 2019 Podcast

The Climate Reality Project & Environmental Activism, with Brian Mateo

Ahead of the Climate Strike rallies on September 20, Bard College's Brian Mateo discusses the Climate Reality Project, founded by Vice President Al Gore, and how ...

Families partake in a climate emergency protest in Melbourne, Australia. CREDIT: <A href=https://www.flickr.com/photos/takver/3622617318/>Takver (CC)</a>.

SEP 4, 2019 Article

What is the Status Quo for the Climate?

At various points in history, changes in climate contributed to the movement of people and the collapse of empires. How will the current changes in ...

AUG 27, 2019 Podcast

The Chennai Water Crisis, Governance, & Media Narratives, with Kavitha Rajagopalan

Chennai, one of India's largest cities, is facing an ongoing water crisis due to drought and mismanagement. Senior Fellow Kavitha Rajagopalan explains how it got ...

Senator Elizabeth Warren in Las Vegas, April, 2019. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Warren_(47699370372).jpg">Gage Skidmore (CC)</a>

JUL 31, 2019 Article

Democratic Candidates and Foreign Policy

Which foreign policy narratives have emerged from the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates? Will it be restorationist, democratic community, America First, retrenchment/redefinition, reindustrialization/regeneration, or climate ...

JUN 3, 2019 Article

Emerging Narratives for U.S. Foreign Policy

As we continue to move into the 21st century, the "post-Cold War" designation loses relevance. Yet a new construct and narrative has not emerged to ...