Unfashionable climate interventions that work & fashionable ones that don’t | Johannes Ackva (2023)

_Originally released April 2023._ If you want to work to tackle climate change, you should try to reduce expected carbon emissions by as much as possible, right? Strangely, no. Today’s guest, Johannes Ackva — the climate research lead at Founders Pledge, where he advises major philanthropists on their giving — thinks the best strategy is actually pretty different, and one few are adopting.

Chapters:
• Rob’s intro (00:00:00)
• The interview begins (00:01:56)
• Recent grants (00:06:17)
• Most important background facts (00:10:57)
• Striking things about how humanity has responded to climate change (00:17:53)
• Risk management (00:26:22)
• How things could go really wrong (00:32:47)
• Why hedging isn't more incorporated into climate philanthropy (00:40:49)
• Most promising broad strategies (00:45:13)
• Direct impact (00:48:50)
• Science, innovation, and R&D (00:55:29)
• Advocacy and policy (01:01:00)
• Geography (01:07:06)
• Grassroots activism and electrification (01:19:19)
• Nuclear power plant designs and reactors (01:23:56)
• Geothermal energy (01:29:57)
• Nuclear fusion (01:34:59)
• Decarbonising concrete, shipping, and agriculture (01:37:01)
• Air pollution, geoengineering, and regulations (01:43:33)
• Founders Pledge grants (01:46:44)
• The most challenging things about Johannes’ role (01:51:54)
• Careers advice (01:54:40)
• How big a risk climate change is compared to other major problems (02:00:10)
• Solvability and tractability (02:12:02)
• Rob’s outro (02:15:50)

----

_The 80,000 Hours Podcast_ features unusually in-depth conversations about the world’s most pressing problems and what you can do to solve them.