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What’s on your 2025 climate vision board? To get you started, we asked some of our favourite climate peeps what’s on theirs. From protecting indigenous rights, to furthering the global adoption of renewable energy, and strengthening democracy, take a beat to think about what different parts of the movement are doing and what climate progress looks like.
Featuring:
Anand Gopal
Daze Aghaji
Galina Angarova
Jonathan Foley
Maya Mailer
Neil Vora
Kumi Naidoo
Kalpana Arias
Created by TEDxLondon
Executive produced by Josie Colter
Produced by Ben Beheshty
Curated by Deesha Chandra
Hosted by Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst
Communications by Tara Cooper and Issey Gladston
Transcript
Introduction to Climate Quickies
[00:00:00] Maryam Pasha: Welcome to Climate Quickies, bite sized nuggets of climate goodness from our TEDxLondon experts in under five minutes.
[00:00:09] Ben Hurst: In this week’s Climate Curious, we’re kicking off the new year by asking our fave climate experts, what’s on your climate vision board this year? And what will climate progress look like in [00:00:20] 2025?
[00:00:21] From indigenous leaders to scientists, activists and doctors, let’s head on over to get a dose of their aims, goals and hopes for this year. Stay curious.
Anand Gopal: Hopeful Climate Action in 2025
[00:00:35] Anand Gopal: Hello, I’m Anand Gopal, Executive Director at Energy Innovation, [00:00:40] an energy and climate policy research firm based in the U. S. So, this may surprise some of you, but I’m hopeful about climate action in 2025.
[00:00:51] Let me tell you why. At two trillion dollars, clean energy investment was double the investment in fossil fuels in [00:01:00] 2024. Clean energy is now just energy. And that’s because solar, wind, and electric vehicles are becoming cheaper and better than fossil fuel technologies in many different ways. The world added 666 gigawatts of renewable energy last year, with China alone [00:01:20] accounting for two thirds of those additions.
[00:01:23] One in five cars sold last year were electric, reaching a total of 17 million units, with China accounting for three quarters of those. So, if you get my drift, clean energy and transportation are now big business, and the greatest deployment of these technologies is [00:01:40] happening where we need it the most, in the world’s largest emitter, China.
[00:01:45] Another large emitting region, the EU, is poised this year to adopt a 90 percent emissions reduction target for 2040 relative to 1990 levels, and they plan to boost domestic industry and manufacturing in the process. [00:02:00] And India has reiterated its commitment to install 500 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.
[00:02:07] So, I’ll be looking to see if these dramatic growth rates in renewables and electric vehicles continue in 2025. And if they do, the U. S. may realize that it too needs to get on board or risk losing out on the [00:02:20] industries of the future. So take heart, my friends. 2024 ended on a tough note for all of us who care about climate, but there’s still a lot to look forward to in 2025.
Dehzad Ghaji: Imagining a Better System
[00:02:36] Daze Aghaji: Hello, I’m Dehzad Ghaji and I’m an environmental [00:02:40] activist. 2025 is a pretty interesting year for me because when I started my activism, this was the year that we got everything. This was the year that we would hit net zero, and in actuality, we are so far from that. Potentially even further from that than we were then.
[00:02:55] So yeah, but for me this year, strangely enough, still feels extremely hopeful. I feel like this is the [00:03:00] year of where we imagine big. We take everyone on a journey of what could imagining a better system look like. And let them know that through doing the work, we can actually create things beyond our imaginations.
[00:03:14] Climate progress. To me, I, I see democracy and climate as one of these things that are [00:03:20] like inch interlinked, you know, because it’s like, it’s that system that’s allowed for all of these things to happen. So, weirdly enough, the best thing we can do for climate in the next year I think is working on democracy and making sure that our democracy can hold what’s to come, um, and can create the [00:03:40] legislation that helps protect our futures.
[00:03:42] So, yeah, for me, I think there’s something about. How do we get people to really be active as citizens. How do we get people to love democracy? Do you want to protect democracy? And then in turn know how to use democracy in order to [00:04:00] safeguard our future against a climate crisis?
Galina Angaraba: Indigenous Rights and Climate Action
[00:04:08] Galina Angarova: Hello, I’m Galina Angaraba from the Abzak clan of the Hewitt nation of Buryat peoples in Siberia, and I serve as the executive director of the surge coalition. Indigenous peoples are among the [00:04:20] most vulnerable to climate change as rising seas. Droughts and extreme weather severely threaten our lands, livelihoods and cultural heritage in 2025, protecting indigenous people’s rights must be at the core of all climate policies and solutions.
[00:04:36] We must also advocate for greater direct [00:04:40] access to climate finance. Shockingly, less than 1 percent of climate finance currently reaches indigenous peoples, even though we store 25 percent of the world’s terrestrial surface. For me, climate progress in 2025 means respecting the critical role of indigenous peoples in climate action, [00:05:00] ensuring we have decision making power over climate strategies, and committing to a just transition.
[00:05:06] That prioritizes real climate solutions, phases out fossil fuels and protects our territories from the new wave of extractivism tied to transition minerals.[00:05:20]
John Foley: Rebooting Climate Leadership
[00:05:23] Jonathan Foley: Hi, I’m John Foley and I’m the executive director of Project Drawdown. For 2025, I’m thinking about rebooting climate leadership around the world. Why? Well, I just don’t think we can afford to leave the fate of the world to the UN and elected politicians anymore. It’s just not working. And special interests are running the [00:05:40] table.
[00:05:40] It’s like that old definition of insanity, doing something wrong again and again, expecting a different result. Maybe we need a more expansive vision of climate leadership now, one that embraces leaders from grassroots communities, cities and states and provinces, but also from business, philanthropy, and investing.
[00:05:57] People who can basically move capital and [00:06:00] move people far better than elected politicians have done so far. And also to shift the future of technology, behavior, culture, and science. To a better place. In other words, we need a bigger view of the climate chess board, looking at all the players and all the moves we can make.
[00:06:16] And if we rethink our approach to climate leadership in 2025, I think it could be the year [00:06:20] we start to accelerate meaningful action again, catch up for some of the lost time we have and start building the future we want. And the world future generations deserve.
Maya Mailer: Connecting Children’s Health and Climate
[00:06:35] Maya Mailer: Hi everyone, my name’s Maya Mailer. I’m the co founder [00:06:40] of the UK group Mothers Rise Up. And I’m the co director of the global network Our Kids Climate. Yeah, obviously this is a huge year with countries having to submit their national climate plans. And then we’ve got the COP in the Amazon in Belem. For us, we’re going to be doing a lot of work around air [00:07:00] pollution and making that connection between children’s health and climate and toxic air, and there’s a big conference happening, World Health Organization conference in Columbia in March.
[00:07:10] So that would be, that would be a big moment for us leading up to Belem, the COP in Brazil, and continuing to support really diverse [00:07:20] grassroots activism around the world. I think, for me, progress would look like bringing more people in, and really reaching out beyond quite narrow We like to use that term climate bubbles and bringing more people from different backgrounds from [00:07:40] class, race backgrounds into climate activism and connecting with people where they are and not where we want them to be.
[00:07:46] And finding a way to communicate the message in a really compelling way and I think that’s a really a superpower of the parent climate movement is that we are able to communicate on issues that people really care about their kids [00:08:00] and their kids futures.
Neil Vora: Investing in Nature for Well-being
[00:08:07] Neil Vora: My name is Neil Vora. I’m a doctor who also serves as an advisor on health for Conservation International. It’s only January of 2025 and things are already feeling pretty scary. [00:08:20] I spent some of my most formative years in Southern California, and it’s awful to see images of fires ravaging places that I hold so dearly.
[00:08:28] It’s a reminder that no one is immune from the climate crisis. That’s why this year, I’m going to keep working to protect nature for people. Every time we invest in nature, [00:08:40] we are investing in our own well being. For me, progress in 2025 looks like a collective re enchantment across society with nature.
[00:08:50] And here’s the good news. We all have power as individuals to make a difference. Action is the best antidote to despair. So find [00:09:00] whatever it is that you can do for nature and do it. And the joy, wonder, and awe that come with that will motivate you and others around you to keep making the world a better place.
Kumi Naidoo: Optimism and Action for 2025
[00:09:17] Kumi Naidoo: Greetings friends and colleagues. I am [00:09:20] Kumi Naidoo, the President of the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty Initiative, the Global Ambassador of Africans Rising for Justice, Peace, and Dignity, and one of the founders of the Rikirik Foundation for the Promotion of Artivism. As I look towards 2025, I do so with sobriety and [00:09:40] optimism.
[00:09:41] The road ahead is undoubtedly challenging, but we are equipped with powerful tools. Our collective knowledge. Our diverse perspectives and our unwavering commitment to creating a more just and sustainable world. We can make [00:10:00] love our revolution. In 2024, we face unprecedented heat waves, wildfires, and storms.
[00:10:08] Yet, amidst the alarm, there are glimmers of hope. We now have a bloc of 16 countries. Seeking to negotiate a fossil fuel non proliferation treaty [00:10:20] in 2025. In the moment of history that we find ourselves in. Pessimism is a luxury we simply cannot afford, and the pessimism that justifiably emerges from our analysis, our lived experiences, and our observations, [00:10:40] can, must, and should be responded to by the optimism of our thought, creativity, courage.
[00:10:48] Actions and our sense of humanity.
Kalpana Arias: Ground-up Solutions for Urban Growing
[00:10:56] Kalpana Arias: Hi, I’m Kalpana. I’m a technologist, a guerrilla gardener, and [00:11:00] activist campaigning for the right to grow. On my 2025 Climate Action Board is the launch of Glitch in the Spring, which is a cyber gardening tool that offers a hands on way of making gardening accessible to help future proof cities and scale urban growing.
[00:11:17] Climate progress in 2025 [00:11:20] looks like facing the scale of the challenge with ground up solutions and mobilising people power in cities. Technology will only take us so far, but it’s people who will push us to the finish line.
Conclusion and Credits
[00:11:31] Ben Hurst: Thanks for listening to This Quickie.
[00:11:33] Maryam Pasha: This episode was created by our superstar podcast team at TEDxLondon.
[00:11:38] Until next time.
[00:11:39] Ben Hurst: Stay [00:11:40] curious.
