Harvard Center for International Development

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Alvin Tian, A Post-Masters Research Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. Alvin founded BlockCarbon, a blockchain-based project aimed at facilitating and accelerating China's efforts to achieve carbon net-zero. Alvin has been a Mason Fellow at Harvard and a Sloan Fellow at MIT, where he has also earned an MPA degree and an MBA degree. His fields of study at Harvard and MIT include climate change, international relations, impact investing, venture capital, renewable energy, and blockchain. Alvin is joined by CID Student Ambassador Charles Hua to discuss the pathway to carbon-zero

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Kevin Li, a Master's in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, he worked with Deloitte Climate & Sustainability, advising Chinese companies on decarbonization and ESG; he also worked with the United Nations in China coordinating UN operational activities for development in the country. Kevin is joined by CID Student Ambassador Charles Hua to discuss U.S.-China relations and global climate policy.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Kritika Kharbanda, a Master’s in Design Studies graduate(‘23)at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, specializing in Energy and Environments. During her time at Harvard, she was also the Chang Social Innovation Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Kritika also co-founder of Cardinal LCA, a digital platform that helps architects reduce greenhouse emissions from their buildings throughout all stages of design. Kritika is joined by CID Student Ambassador Charles Hua to discuss the needs, process, and roadblocks for decarbonizing the building sector, especially for developing countries. Learn more about Kritika on her LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kritika-kharbanda-kritika/

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Reema Nanavaty, Director, SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) in India. SEWA is the single largest Central Trade union registered on 12th April, 1972 with a membership of over 2.5 million (2023) poor, self-employed women workers from the informal economy across 18 states in India. Reema is joined by CID Student Ambassador and Graduate School of Design alum Manasa Acharya to discuss the implications of climate change on the informal workforce of women in India. SEWA has been working for over 5 decades to improve the livelihoods of poor self-employed women workers from the informal economy, through various initiatives using technology, technical training, microfinance, market linkages, natural resource management etc. Learn more: https://www.sewa.org/about-us/

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. CID's Road to GEM23 series precedes and helps launch CID’s Global Empowerment Meeting 2023 (GEM23), Growing in a Green World on May 10th and 11th. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Rui Su, a consultant at the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Social Sustainability and Inclusion (SSI) GP. She conducts data analytics on social resilience and inclusion by combining machine learning methods, geospatial analysis, and interactive visualization. CID Student Ambassador and Harvard Graduate Student at the Graduate School of Design, Manasa Acharya, interviewed Rui Su to learn more about her work with City Resilience Program (CRP) and using data to inform communities about climate change and resilience across the world.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. CID's Road to GEM23 series precedes and helps launch CID’s Global Empowerment Meeting 2023 (GEM23), Growing in a Green World on May 10th and 11th. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Gavin Schmidt, Climatologist and Director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies who will describe the biggest challenges with modeling and predicting climate change effects across the world. CID Student Ambassador and Harvard Graduate Student Yan Liang interviewed Gavin Schmidt to learn more about his insights on the complex mechanisms that drive climate change and identifying and mitigating effects of climate change on society in the coming years.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. CID's Road to GEM23 series precedes and helps launch CID’s Global Empowerment Meeting 2023 (GEM23), Growing in a Green World on May 10th and 11th. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Joshua Schoop, Principal Director for Technology & Innovation and Director for Day One Project at Federation of American Scientists, and Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, Vice Chair for implementation of the UN Climate Convention; Director of the School for Biocultural Leadership at Geoversity. CID Student Ambassador and Harvard Graduate School of Education Master's Candidate, Aining Liang, interviewed Joshua and Juan Carlos to learn more about their insights related to climate change adaptation, especially for developing economies.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Road to GEM23 Climate & Development podcast. CID's Road to GEM23 series precedes and helps launch CID’s Global Empowerment Meeting 2023 (GEM23), Growing in a Green World on May 10th and 11th. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature learnings from leading researchers and practitioners working to combat climate change. In this episode, we are joined by Joseph Aldy, Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His research focuses on climate change policy, energy policy, and regulatory policy. In 2009-2010, Aldy served as the Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment, reporting through both the National Economic Council and the Office of Energy and Climate Change at the White House. Professor Aldy is joined by Charles Hua, a CID Student Ambassador and Senior at Harvard College. Charles and Professor Aldy discussed the use of Solar Geoengineering, or solar radiation management, to manage climate risks and outlined how this strategy could be a part of the climate mitigation and adaptation toolkit for emerging economies.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s “Road to GEM23” Climate & Development podcast. CID's "Road to GEM23" series precedes and helps launch CID’s Global Empowerment Meeting (or GEM), Growing in a Green World on May 10th and 11th. At CID, we work across a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene, and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. On our Road to GEM23, we strive to elevate and learn from voices from the countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis and will feature important learnings from the leaders who will be active participants at GEM23. This week, we are joined by Joseph Asunka, CEO of Afrobarometer, a pan-African survey research organization. Afrobarometer has been collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data on the views and experiences of ordinary Africans with regard to governance, democracy, the economy, and society since 1999. CID Student Ambassador Emile Giovannie Zounon, A Master of Education Candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, sat down with Joseph to discuss African citizen perceptions towards climate change and governance on the continent. Read more about GEM23 here: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/gem Read more

This podcast was originally recorded on November 18, 2022, for the CID Speaker Series featuring Aleem Walji, Senior Advisor - Strategy, Innovation and Partnerships at the Institute for Capacity Development, International Monetary Fund. Aleem continued the conversation with CID Student Ambassador, Aining Liang, after an appearance at the CID Speaker Series event. Exponential technologies will not improve the lives of the poor by default. Design choices will determine who benefits from digital disruption and who is left behind. Two decades ago, many predicted that a digital divide would marginalize already underserved populations. While there are examples of digital exclusion, technologies like the mobile phone, mobile money and new delivery models have led to significant innovation and inclusion in financial services, health, education and agriculture. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning and distributed ledgers, however, are not ‘inclusive by design’. Hardware is not distributed equally and most poor populations do not have reliable access to broadband, computing power or electricity. Delivery model innovation and how tech-enabled enterprises partner with the local, state and federal governments will determine whether these technologies will benefit the poor, result in greater inclusivity and drive greater equity.