How climate change requires diverse expertise

Climate Change Systems Map 🌍 Understanding climate change requires more than tracking emissions or measuring temperature increases. It demands a systemic view of how human activities interact with environmental processes and result in far-reaching consequences. The dynamics of climate change unfold through a complex chain of causality, connecting sources, feedback loops, and impacts across multiple domains. At the foundation are human-driven activities such as fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, industrial processes, transportation, and agricultural expansion. These actions lead to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. As their presence in the atmosphere grows, the greenhouse effect intensifies, disrupting the balance of the Earth's climate system. These disruptions affect a range of core climate characteristics. Temperature increases, changes in precipitation patterns, ocean salinity shifts, cloud formation processes, and carbon cycle imbalances all interact in ways that amplify risk and uncertainty. Ocean systems play a critical role in these dynamics. Variations in water temperature and salinity can destabilize ocean currents, potentially altering large-scale patterns such as the Gulf Stream. These shifts can trigger abrupt changes in regional climates, leading to ripple effects that extend beyond environmental boundaries and into societal systems. As climate parameters shift, they generate compounding impacts across ecological and human systems. Sea level rise, extreme weather events, habitat degradation, and biodiversity loss affect both the natural world and the infrastructure and services societies depend on. Social consequences escalate as well. Food insecurity, displacement, public health threats, and economic instability emerge in response to both direct and indirect stressors. Vulnerable populations experience the greatest burdens, particularly in developing regions where institutional capacity to absorb shocks is limited. These cascading effects highlight the need for strategies grounded in systems thinking. Addressing emissions alone is insufficient if interlinked risks and feedback loops are overlooked. Effective climate action requires recognizing how changes in one sector influence outcomes in others, and how adaptation and mitigation efforts must be coordinated accordingly. Climate change is not a singular environmental issue. It is a systems challenge with implications for energy, agriculture, infrastructure, health, migration, and finance. Solutions must reflect this complexity, drawing from cross-disciplinary knowledge and long-term planning that aligns environmental integrity with societal stability. Image Source: BCG #sustainability #sustainable #esg #business

It’s time to rethink our priorities. Ming Fricke, our new PhD candidate in #EcosystemServices, just introduced me to IPBES’s work. We’ve been using the wrong indicator. Focusing only on CO₂ helps mitigate climate change but increases pressure on other planetary boundaries - shifting the problem instead of solving it. The Biodiversity and Climate Change report (https://lnkd.in/diKZuz5Q) includes a diagram showing how climate and biodiversity actions interact. It maps the positive (blue) and negative (orange) effects of climate mitigation on biodiversity (top) and vice versa (bottom). As solutions expand, their impacts—positive or negative—may change. Avoiding the loss of natural ecosystems, reducing pressures, restoring degraded ecosystems, and mainstreaming biodiversity by design and within every project are thus not only biodiversity actions but also climate actions. This re-emphasizes the important role of holistic, interdisciplinary design that blurs the boundaries between architecture, landscape and urban planning. The key challenge is clear: cutting emissions or restoring ecosystems alone won’t be enough. Real progress requires tackling both—because they sustain life on Earth. Their last Nexus assessment also described the interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health: https://lnkd.in/dkezFxiH

Climate Week is here, and there's one key takeaway for me: inclusion in climate action. The disability community is often overlooked in discussions about climate change, but the reality is staggering: ➳ People with disabilities are 4 to 5 times more likely to die during natural disasters (World Bank). This needs to change. At Green Disability, we’re pushing to raise awareness and foster collaboration to create more inclusive climate policies—because true sustainability isn’t just about the environment, it’s about equity. Here’s my advice to those in the climate space: 🌱 Inclusion is non-negotiable: We need to listen to marginalized voices, especially those most affected by climate change. 🌱 Action through collaboration: Work with diverse stakeholders—especially disability rights organizations—to create solutions that work for everyone. 🌱 Policy matters: Advocate for strategies that prioritize accessibility and empower all communities to thrive in the face of climate challenges. Together, we can. 🌍 #GreenerTogether #ClimateAction #DisabilityRights #Intersectionality #GreenDisability LinkedIn Social Impact LinkedIn's Economic Graph ID: The image shows a profile of Puneet Singh Singhal with a verified checkmark: GREEN Disability: "Accessibility and sustainability are two sides of the same coin—without Disability Justice, Climate Justice remains incomplete."

I recently had the opportunity to discuss with Marcia Toledo Sotillo, director of #adaptation and #resilience at the UN High-Level Climate Champions, about our experience in democratizing climate risk assessment. The Race to Resilience campaign, led by the High-Level Climate Champions, has set an ambitious goal: enhance the resilience of 4 billion people by 2030 by mobilizing action from the so-called "non-state actors" - local communities, NGOs, companies... Assessing and understanding climate risks is the first step of this transformation. Thanks to five decades of intensive research in climate science and earth system modeling, information about future climate and its impacts is available at unprecedented precision and depth. However, accessing and interpreting this data can be almost impossible for non-state actors, as it requires very specific technical and scientific expertise. Since 2019, Callendar has been bridging this gap by developing tools that transform scientific data into ready-to-use, localized information. Our solutions cater to a wide range of stakeholders, from billion-dollar industrial projects to individuals. In 2024, we delivered climate risk assessments - such as submersion, heatwave or wildfire - to over 230,000 people in France. While a far cry of the 4 billion target, it represents a scalable model that can be replicated globally. I strongly believe that delivering high-quality, actionable climate impact assessments to half of humanity within 5 years is technically feasible. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for adaptation. Climate impacts vary greatly from one place to another and solutions must be tailored to local contexts. To be truly effective, our approach requires both global endorsement and local collaboration, ensuring that communities have access to tools and support tailored to their specific needs.

In addition to the displacement and land theft, Indigenous peoples and their knowledges have largely been left out of building climate policy and, by extension, how we think about and assess climate and disaster risks. This lack of inclusion not only decreases community access to climate resilience, it also inhibits holistic and comprehensive risk assessments themselves, by prioritizing western knowledge and values . To build genuine climate resilience, we need risk narratives that consider the broader context, relationships, and connections between our social and natural worlds. I’m grateful to have collaborated with the Yellowhead Institute and Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett Huson) Aluu'taa on this special report, which highlights the urgent need to include Indigenous knowledge in climate risk assessments for a more comprehensive understanding of risk, towards building holistic resilience to climate change. Full report available here: https://lnkd.in/gW2cqBKH #indigenousknowledge #climaterisk #climateresilience

🌍 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹—𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝘼𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤'𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚. 𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙖𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙜𝙚. 𝙄𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙—𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙚, 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙚𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙮. Sustainability is more than a trend—it’s a mission rooted in expertise, systems thinking, and compassion. In a world facing urgent environmental challenges, we need leaders who can connect science with society and drive real change through collaboration and care. Too often, I’ve seen sustainability roles—across corporations, multilateral bodies, and governments—allocated based on visibility, political proximity, or even particular types , rather than on the capability to drive real, transformative change. When we prioritize optics over substance, we lose precious time—and trust. This is not about being negative. It’s about being pragmatic and calling for professionalism in a space that matters more than ever. Sustainability is complex, interdisciplinary, and deep science. It demands leaders who can bridge science, systems, society—and people. ✅ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 & 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀: 🔬 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 – Climate science, ESG , circular economy, carbon management, environmental policy & compliance 💬 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 – Translating climate science for non-experts, stakeholder engagement, and impactful storytelling ⚖️ 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 – Interdisciplinary insight, root cause analysis, and scenario planning 🤝 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 – Working across sectors, listening to communities, and building trust 🚀 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗺 – Balancing ambition with realism, staying committed through complexity 🌍 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Honoring local context, aligning global goals with local community realities 🧭 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗚𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 The best climate professionals lead with vision, integrity, and service—raising the bar, earning trust, and advancing solutions that last. 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀—𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽𝗼𝗻.  #ClimateAction #SustainabilityLeadership #ESG #SystemsThinking #PurposeDriven #RealChange

Solutions of some of the fundamental challenges in healthcare, food, water, and climate change will require synergistic exploration and exploitation of AI and genetic engineering (Multiomics, CRISPR). Designing solutions will also require knowledge in other domains: – Multi-modal Sensing and Imaging, Hardware Platforms, Control Systems, Robotics, Infrastructure Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, Biosciences, Chemistry, and Physics. There is a need for inter-disciplinary research & academic programmes to generate requisite manpower for meeting the emerging challenges.

The Need for Systems Thinking in Combating Air Pollution and Climate Change To effectively address local air pollution and combat climate change, we require not only specialists in relevant fields but also demand systems thinkers. Currently, it is observed that our efforts are primarily led by specialists who possess deep knowledge in their respective domains, but there is a notable shortage of individuals who can comprehensively grasp the intricate web of interconnected factors at play. Whether it's addressing issues related to air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions, these problems originate from various sources, and their dynamics are influenced by a complex interplay of socioeconomic, demographic, and economic factors. To achieve genuine success in our efforts, it is imperative that we gain a thorough understanding of these interconnected variables that directly or indirectly impact both the sources of pollution and potential solutions. Without taking these factors into consideration, our ability to implement effective policies will be compromised. Ajay Nagpure

New report from Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment (ASRA) warns governments and businesses they need a radical new approach to tackle escalating #climate and geopolitical #risks, writes James Murray. https://lnkd.in/eAaMjGMK Political and business leaders are 'ill-equipped' to deal with the escalating and inter-connected risks that are defining a new era of '#polycrisis'. That is the stark warning contained in a report from the Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment (ASRA), released today ahead of the UN General Assembly, New York Climate Week, and the upcoming UN Summit of the Future. The report, "Facing Global Risks with Honest Hope", details how interconnected risks, such as climate inaction, #biodiversity loss, global conflicts, and the unchecked proliferation of #AI and #disinformation, are driving global instability and undermining development efforts worldwide. It also warns how first order #risks threaten to have cascading effects, such as the way extreme heat not only directly impacts human health but also damages food systems, which in turn fuels the risk of #food insecurity, #migration, and #conflict. ASRA, which brought together over 50 risk experts to contribute to the report, argues governments, businesses, and investors urgently need to shift from an isolated to a #systemic approach to risk management. "It's become painfully apparent that climate change, biodiversity loss and other planetary scale challenges are interacting with each-other and with societal, economic and technological stressors, to create complex, multidimensional risks and crises," said Ajay Gambhir, director of systemic risk assessment at ASRA. "In this polycrisis world, transdisciplinary expertise and risk management strategies are going to be essential." The report acknowledges some positive progress has been made in improving risk management processes in recent years. But the authors argue the dominant approach to the discipline "remains fragmented and siloed - lacking cross-sector coordination, integrated governance, and focusing solely on single harms". It recommends that governments reform their approach to risk management, starting with the appointment of Systemic Risk Officers at the national and sub-national levels. It also calls for the appointment of a Global Systemic Risk Officer at the UN level to coordinate member states and other non-state actors. "As world leaders gather for UNGA and Climate Week NYC, it is essential to critically examine what works and what doesn't in our current approaches to risk management and to explore new, multidimensional strategies," said Ruth Richardson, executive director at ASRA.