elizabeth cousens

Philanthropy's moment to act

GZERO World Clips

Philanthropy's moment to act

It's almost the first anniversary of Russia's war in Ukraine. On March 11, it'll be three years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. And 2022 was the sixth warmest year on record since 1880. We are still dealing with the fallout from all three events. But not equally. Since 2020, the richest 1% of people has accumulated nearly two-thirds of all the new wealth created in the world. On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer speaks to UN Foundation President and CEO Elizabeth Cousens, who thinks it's the perfect time for institutions backed by the 1 percent to step up even more.

How to save our future from the crises we create

GZERO World Clips

How to save our future from the crises we create

Who has the most at stake in making the world a better place? Young people. After all, the decisions we make today affect their future more than any other age group. “Not just the young people who make up half of the world's population today, but the 11 billion people who are yet to be born by the end of this century," asks UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens, "what are we leaving to them?

Food emergency: what to do when people are hungry now

GZERO World Clips

Food emergency: what to do when people are hungry now

On global issues, the international community must walk and chew gum at the same time. It needs to learn to deal with simultaneous crises that play off each other, says UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens. That's why we dropped the ball on hunger. Now the needs are huge and growing. We haven't seen a lot of images of starvation yet, but they are coming, Cousens tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

Inequality isn't inevitable - if global communities cooperate

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Inequality isn't inevitable - if global communities cooperate

Almost three years after COVID, we're still grappling with the geopolitical convulsions that the pandemic unleashed or worsened. They're all wiping out decades of progress on fighting global inequality. What can we do about it? On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer speaks to UN Foundation President and CEO Elizabeth Cousens, who thinks it's the perfect time for institutions backed by the 1 percent to step up even more.

A box of food being delivered in shipments from a plane| GZERO World with Ian Bremmer - the podcast

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast

Podcast: Salvaging the world we leave our kids with innovative philanthropy

Listen: Global inequality has reached a level we haven’t seen in our lifetimes and recent geopolitical convulsions have only made things worse. The rich have gotten richer while extreme poverty has exploded. UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens thinks it's the perfect time for institutions backed by the 1% to step up. She speaks with Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast about the key role that innovative philanthropy could play to address problems exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, economic fallout from the COVID pandemic, and a warming planet.

The perils of depending on food imports: UN Foundation chief

Crisis Recovery

The perils of depending on food imports: UN Foundation chief

We all know there's a global food crisis due to the impact of shortages of Russian and Ukrainian grain, fertilizers, and fuel. But UN Foundation chief Elizabeth Cousens thinks high prices are hurting some countries even more. While addressing famine is the top priority, Cousens says in a Global Stage livestream conversation that the long-term plan should be "laying the foundation for a much more resilient, equitable food system."

Who can solve the world's "emergency of global proportions"?

Crisis Recovery

Who can solve the world's "emergency of global proportions"?

Thousands of the world's most influential people are in New York this week to attend the 77th UN General Assembly at a time of multiple related crises. UN Secretary-General António Guterres wants to focus on rescuing the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs — the UN's blueprint for making the world a better place. Progress on the SDGs got derailed by the pandemic, to the point that they likely won't be achieved by the 2030 deadline. To get a sense of the scale of the problems and explore possible solutions, we brought in several experts to weigh in for a Global Stage livestream conversation "Rescuing a World in Crisis," hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft.