Europe Listens

Climate change is an immediate existential threat to the coral islands that make up the Maldives, one of the lowest-lying countries in the world. Recent predictions estimate that, by 2050, rising sea levels could render 80 per cent of the country uninhabitable. By 2100 – in just 77 years time – the entire country could be submerged. None of this is news to the Maldives. 

To kick off this series of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Shauna Aminath, the Maldives’ minister of environment, climate change, and technology. What are the most pressing priorities for the Maldives in the fight against climate change? Is international climate diplomacy delivering for those nations on the climate frontline? And what to expect from COP28 later this year? 

This podcast was recorded on 3 May 2023.   

Further reading: 

Climate risk country profile: Maldives by the Asian Development Bank 

Adaptation gap report 2022 by the UN Environment Programme 

Decarbonisation nations: How EU climate diplomacy can save the world by Susi Dennison and Mats Engström

Europe Listens: Navigating climate diplomacy with Shauna Aminath

Action on climate financing is long overdue. Inadequate mitigation and adaptation have already led to substantial loss and damage in the most vulnerable countries. But the scale of investment required to mitigate global warming is beyond the capacity of rich governments, far less developing countries. To square this circle, Barbados’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, last year made a bold proposal: the Bridgetown Initiative. 

In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Avinash Persaud, special envoy on climate finance to Mia Mottley. How can the Bridgetown Initiative prevent nations on the climate frontline getting trapped in endless cycles of disaster and debt? What role can private-sector capital play in combatting climate change? And how can transformative ideas succeed in international climate diplomacy? 

This podcast was recorded on 4 April 2023.   

Further reading: 

Breaking the deadlock on climate: The Bridgetown Initiative by Avinash Persaud 

Speech at the opening of the COP27 World Leaders Summit by Mia Mottley 

The 2022 Bridgetown Initiative 

We’ll always have Paris: How to adapt multilateral climate cooperation to new realities by Anthony Dworkin and Mats Engström

Europe Listens: Overhauling climate finance with Avinash Persaud

Beyond the UN formats, countries around the world are forging hundreds of bilateral and multilateral agreements to advance the clean energy transition. India has emerged as a prominent player in these initiatives, with prime minister Narendra Modi describing his country’s potential in green energy as no less than a “goldmine”. Since 2016, India and the EU have set up new schemes to deepen their green technology partnership, and they could go even further. 

In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Dhanasree Jayaram, assistant professor of geopolitics and international relations and co-coordinator of the Centre for Climate Studies at Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Karnataka, India. How do India and the EU benefit from cooperating on green technology, and what issues and potential obstacles should they need be mindful of? What role do grassroots initiatives and India’s private sector play in advancing its green transition? And what is the relation between democracy and climate action? 

This podcast was recorded on 22 March 2023.   

Further reading: 

Building green hydrogen value chains in the Indo-Pacific: Prospects for EU-Japan-India cooperation by Ramu C. M. and Dhanasree Jayaram 

India’s 2023 National Green Hydrogen Mission 

The EU “Green Deal”: An opportunity to strengthen EU-India relationship by Souvik Bhattacharjya 

Circuit breakers: Securing Europe’s green energy supply chains by Agatha Kratz, Janka Oertel and Charlie Vest

Europe Listens: Advancing green tech partnerships with Dhanasree Jayaram

Digital technologies are set to transform African economies. Yet, only 40 per cent of Africans accessed the internet in 2022 – well below the proportion in the world’s other regions. Technological as well as socio-economic factors drive this digital divide, and US-Chinese competition risks making it worse.

To kick off the second season of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Jane Munga, a fellow in the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former digital policy advisor to the government of Kenya. What are the most pressing priorities for African countries to overcome the global digital divide? How does Europe’s digital diplomacy compare to US and Chinese tech giants’ approaches? And what is Africa’s vision for “digital sovereignty”?

This podcast was recorded on 8 August 2023.

Other episodes of this season:
Episode 2: Combatting online disinformation with Flora Rebello Arduini 

Episode 3: Governing outer space with Ruvimbo Samanga

Further reading:

How the United States can effectively implement its new Digital Transformation with Africa initiative by Jane Munga

How Will U.S.-China Tech Decoupling Affect Africa’s Mobile Phone Market? By Jane Munga and Kyla Denwood

Measuring digital development: Facts and figures 2022 by the International Telecommunication Union

The geopolitics of technology: How the EU can become a global player by Julian Ringhof and José Ignacio Torreblanca

Europe Listens: Overcoming the global digital divide with Jane Munga

On 8 January 2023, following a contentious national election, protestors attacked government buildings in Brazil’s capital. The riots were preceded by years of online disinformation, targeting lawmakers and the country’s electoral process. Striking parallels with the storming of the US Capitol two years prior underline the role that transnational networks play in pushing disinformation globally, and that of big tech standing idly by (at best).

In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Flora Rebello Arduini, campaign director, disinformation researcher, and big-tech watcher at Ekō, a global non-profit organisation advancing corporate accountability. How does online disinformation affect Brazilian politics? What role do social media giants play in spreading fake news? And how can companies, legislators, and civil society in Brazil and Europe stem the tide of AI-powered disinformation in the future?

This podcast was recorded on 16 June 2023.

Other episodes of this season:

Episode 1: Overcoming the global digital divide with Jane Munga 

Episode 3: Governing outer space with Ruvimbo Samanga

Further reading:

Stop the steal 2.0. How Meta is subverting Brazilian democracy by SumOfUs (now Ekō)

Everyone saw Brazil violence coming. Except social media giants by Mark Scott

Gendered disinformation: 6 reasons why liberal democracies need to respond to this threat by Ellen Judson

Democratic defence: How Italy can lead the fight against Russian disinformation by Gabriele Carrer, Teresa Coratella and Silvia Samorè

Europe Listens: Combatting online disinformation with Flora Rebello Arduini

The global space economy is worth a whopping $469 billion, and growing fast. Commercial interests are proliferating; more and more countries are launching satellites into space. Some African leaders aspire for their continent to become a knowledge, technology, and manufacturing hub for this new space age and to leverage space technologies to advance economic development. They are looking for global partners to join them in this quest.

In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Ruvimbo Samanga, a space law and policy advisor at Access Partnership, a global tech advisory firm. How can Africans and Europeans benefit from cooperating on space access and technologies, and what pitfalls should they look out for? What is “space junk” and how might a clean-up effort work in practice? And how can the EU’s space law best promote responsible behaviour on Earth and in outer space?

This podcast was recorded on 7 July 2023.

Other episodes of this season:

Episode 1: Overcoming the global digital divide with Jane Munga 

Episode 2: Combatting online disinformation with Flora Rebello Arduini

Further reading:

Why Africa needs to be in space by Val Munsami

Space innovation in Zimbabwe and beyond: Interview with Ruvimbo Samanga

African space strategy for social, political and economic integration by the African Union

Multilateral space: A European space oddity by Rafael Loss and Silvia Samorè

Europe Listens: Governing outer space with Ruvimbo Samanga

Short interviews and comments by our experts and others on breaking news and key topics from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) - the first pan-European think-tank. Launched in October 2007, our objective is to conduct research and promote informed debate across Europe on the development of coherent and effective European values-based foreign policy.

Listen also to Mark Leonard's The World in 30 Minutes, our weekly series in which we explore the big issues in foreign policy: https://soundcloud.com/ecfr

Europe Listens: Governing outer space with Ruvimbo Samanga

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