Our first ever Climate Action Initiative (CAI), which ran from June 2021-May 2022, brought together a diverse group of 18 local, regional, and global TEDxGlasgow partners to accelerate climate change in unison. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called 2021 “a make-or-break year” for climate change. A year when Glasgow hosted the most pivotal ‘make-or-break’ event for humankind and our planet, COP26.

Our Climate Action Initiative partners are organisations that perhaps otherwise may never have talked, shared knowledge or worked together.

Facilitated by the TEDxGlasgow team, the CAI platform offered a collaborative space for people to connect from businesses covering private and public organisations, global brands and local partnerships from diverse sectors, including communications, transport, food and drink, power generation, consultancy, local and national government.

Significantly, the Climate Action Initiative and TEDxGlasgow enabled Glasgow Caledonian University’s (GCU) Climate Justice Programme Advisory Group, which feeds into GCU’s Masters in Climate Justice. This groundbreaking Group will dovetail academia and business, driving the direction of graduate careers and employment opportunities and increasing focus on the vital social and humanitarian aspects of climate change.

As we get ready to launch our 2022 theme and the next Climate Action Initiative, we caught up with Dr Karin Helwig, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader, Msc Climate Justice at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) on the humanitarian issues and outcomes of 2021 and how GCU and TEDxGlasgow partners plan to enable the next generation to act on climate change and climate justice for people from all communities.

Commenting on the Climate Action Initiative facilitated by TEDxGlasgow, Dr Karin Helwig said:

“During my first session, I was impressed by the pace and size of the businesses involved. These meetings resulted in people talking to each other and having the conversations they needed to have in order to drive things forward and to share good practice.
“As the programme leader, it’s been a great way to get people to join our programme advisory group. We hope that it’s a way into business careers in climate justice and sustainability for our graduates.”

Continuing on outcomes and opportunities for the Climate Justice Advisory Group, Karin said:

“We need to understand the research questions that are coming from businesses and the partners that are working on the ground, in some of the areas most affected by the climate and biodiversity crises, and what the response should be. Climate justice has various groups involved. It’s got an activism side, it’s got an academic side, it’s also got a global policy side and what we’re now seeing is a business side. That is a very interesting and contentious perspective to explore.

I am optimistic as there is a lot more attention being paid to the social and social justice sides than there used to be. The main positive for me is the fact that the social agenda is rising to the top much more than it had been previously. For example, forest conservation is important, and it is also necessary to look at indigenous communities there and try to learn from them, using indigenous methods that have proven to be very sustainable and can be adopted elsewhere. So it is about starting at the grassroots level and considering what needs to happen.”

“From my perspective, the outcomes from the Climate Action Initiative in partnership with TEDxGlasgow that I would like to focus on are the research questions coming from the businesses that are working towards ‘net zero’ and addressing the climate crisis. It’s always good to get real questions because that means that if we can answer them through research then we can instigate real change.”

As we take stock and look towards COP27, the Climate Action Initiative and TEDxGlasgow has enabled APP to collaborate in GCU’s Climate Justice Programme Advisory Group that feeds into GCU’s Masters in Climate Justice.

This is just the beginning. In unison, we have discovered a serious drive to make the changes needed to push the vital social and humanitarian aspects of climate change forwards. The choice is yours…

Further info about the MSc Climate Justice, which can be studied in full-time, part-time or distance learning mode, here.

Find out more on becoming a TEDxGlasgow partner here.

Our Climate Action Initiative Experience: Glasgow Caledonian University