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

United Nations Environment Programme headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya. CREDIT: Maria Ivanova.

OCT 22, 2020 Podcast

The United Nations at 75: Looking Back to Look Forward, Episode 2, with Maria Ivanova

University of Massachusetts Boston's Dr. Maria Ivanova speaks about the UN's efforts on climate change, focusing on the role of the United Nations Environment Programme (...

OCT 5, 2020 Podcast

Protests in Perspective: Lessons from the Past, with Michael Canham & Adom Getachew

In this "Protests in Perspective" webinar, moderated by Williams University's Professor Neil Roberts, South African government official Michael Canham, and University of Chicago's Professor Adom ...

Satellite view of California, September 9, 2020. Source: <a href=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GOES17_geocolor_Western_US_2020-09-09_1100AM.jpg>U.S. National Weather Service/Wikimedia (Public Domain)</a>.

SEP 11, 2020 Article

Ecological Dimension of Foreign Policy

One of the emerging narratives about United States foreign policy is the use of climate change as a central organizing principle. How can ecological and ...

Senator Kamala Harris in Las Vegas, April 2019. CREDIT: <a href=https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/46823600565>Gage Skidmore</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(CC)</a>.

AUG 14, 2020 Article

Senator Kamala Harris & Foreign Policy Narratives

Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate represents a series of shifts in terms of identity and experience. But her foreign ...

Soldiers returning from Europe. Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, June 28, 2020, CREDIT: <a href=https://www.defense.gov/observe/photo-gallery/igphoto/2002338683/>U.S. Department of Defense</a>.

AUG 5, 2020 Article

Human Security is National Security: After the Event

U.S. Naval War College's Professor Derek S. Reveron took part in a Carnegie Council webinar on human security and national security, moderated by Senior ...

JUL 27, 2020 Podcast

Human Security is National Security in a Time of Pandemic, with Derek Reveron

Professor Derek Reveron, chair of the U.S. Naval War College's National Security Affairs Department, discusses how subnational and transnational forces--namely, the COVID-19 pandemic--intersect with ...

JUN 10, 2020 Podcast

Climate Change, Migration, & Humanity's Niche, with Tim Kohler & Marten Scheffer

A report found that over the next 50 years, 1 to 3 billion people could be living outside the climate niche that has "served humanity well over the ...

MAY 29, 2020 Podcast

Vox Populi: What Americans Think About Foreign Policy, with Dina Smeltz & Mark Hannah

What do Americans think about the role the United States should be playing in the world? How do they conceive of the different trade-offs between ...

MAY 1, 2020 Podcast

Prospects for Global Coordination in an Age of Pandemics & Emerging Climate Technologies, with Cynthia Scharf

Much like efforts to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, combatting climate change requires cooperation on a global scale. And yet the history of ...

Taiwan, February 2020. CREDIT: <a href=“https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:蔡總統視導33化學兵群_02.jpg“>Military News Agency Zhou Lihang (CC)</a>.

MAR 17, 2020 Article

Does COVID-19 Change International Relations?

Does a global pandemic change the nature of international affairs? Is it likely to foster international cooperation, or will it promote disintegrative tendencies within the ...