Crisis Recovery Sustainability Digital Governance Digital Equity Events Podcasts About

Eurasia Group’s Gerald Butts: US climate change debate has moved from finger-pointing to solutions

November 05, 2021

Five years ago, for the US president to say it's time to move away from fossil fuels sounded like an episode of The West Wing. Not anymore, says Eurasia Group Vice Chairman Gerald Butts. In his view, the climate debate in the West has (finally) moved from who's responsible, to what we're going to do about it — "much more productive ground." Butts admits the enormous inertia in the US political system that'll fight change on climate, but ultimately believes that "when you take the very long view, the direction of travel of has set in."

From Your Site Articles

gerry butts eurasia group microsoft global stage climate change unep un climate conference climate change debate climate action climate solutions cop26

More from Global Stage

COVID upended the job market & focused employers on skills

COVID had few silver linings. But perhaps one of them is that it upended the labor market in ways that, for once, favored workers over employers. The switch to virtual meant that recruiters were forced to urgently find people with the right digital skills instead of waiting for those that had gone to the "right" schools. "The talent market became a little dry," Jonathan Rochelle, VP of Product Management, Learning Content & Instructor Experience at Linkedin, says during a Global Stage livestream discussion.

UN Environment Chief: “The truth is we are failing”

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations' Environment Programme, issued a dire warning about climate change in a new interview with GZERO Media. In 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the world as standing “at the edge of an abyss,” and that next steps on climate were urgent and critical. “I think if you ask people on Pacific islands whose lands have been lost, they've already fallen off,” Andersen told GZERO. “Or even if you ask people in California whose houses got burnt in a wildfire, they have fallen off.”

Future-proofing the internet from radicalization & extremist content

How do we respond to crises and keep people safe when the internet is abused by terrorists and violent extremists? How do we think about prevention? How do we future-proof Christchurch Call to Action (a political summit initiated by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern) as the internet changes into a more immersive environment? Paul Ash, PM Ardern’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital, discussed with GZERO Media in an interview at the United Nations.

Finland “investing in security and stability” with NATO push

Kai Sauer, Finland’s Undersecretary of State for Foreign Security Policy, told GZERO Media that as Finland awaits NATO membership his nation is already contributing to the alliance. “We are a security provider. We are investing in stability and security in our region,” Sauer said. “We are bringing a lot of capabilities to the alliance. So, it's in everybody's interest, also in Turkey's interest, that Finland and Sweden will become members.”

Why is Russia on the UN Security Council?

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has launched a discussion about how the UN Security Council works, and how it is dysfunctional - especially when Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, is the invading country, said Melissa Fleming, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. In an interview with GZERO Media on the sidelines of the 77^th General Assembly, Fleming reflected on the return to in-person diplomacy after years of disruption caused by pandemic. "There is this real feeling that the UN is the only place for global cooperation,” she said. “We cannot solve the world's intractable problems of climate change, of war, of refugees without multilateralism, and multilateralism is the UN. It is nations working together to solve problems.”

Digital Equity

Want Africa to grow? Get people and businesses online: Africa expert

How can we bridge the "digital Grand Canyon"?

We'll never fix America's internet without measuring access properly, says FCC chair

More on Digital Equity