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The Economics of Climate Risk: Gary Yohe on Abating, Adapting, and Surviving

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Manage episode 509429743 series 2805813
Content provided by Tom Raftery. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tom Raftery or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

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In this week’s episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Gary Yohe, one of the world’s leading climate economists, long-time IPCC author, and a member of the Nobel Peace Prize, winning IPCC team of 2007. Gary has spent over four decades shaping how we understand climate change, not just as an environmental issue, but as a fundamental risk management challenge.

We explore his powerful framework: abate, adapt, or suffer. These are, he argues, the only three choices humanity has left, and crucially, some level of suffering is now unavoidable. Mitigation slows the pace of warming, adaptation reduces impacts, but neither can eliminate all risks. The insurance crisis unfolding in California and beyond shows what happens when climate risks become uninsurable, raising the threat of financial instability on a global scale.

Gary also reminds us that climate decisions must be iterative. Policies cannot be fixed for 100 years; they must evolve as science, technology, and risk tolerance change. He illustrates this with striking examples, from New York’s evacuation planning after Hurricane Sandy to San Francisco’s flexible approach to sea-level rise.

Yet, despite the scale of the challenge, Gary insists on hope, not blind optimism, but the conviction, as Václav Havel wrote, that action makes sense regardless of outcome. It’s this perspective that has kept him, and many others, working relentlessly on solutions for over 40 years.

If you want to understand why climate change is ultimately a risk management problem, why insurance, finance, and resilience are inseparable, and why hope is a strategy we can’t do without, this episode is essential listening.

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing subscribers:

  • Ben Gross
  • Jerry Sweeney
  • Andreas Werner
  • Stephen Carroll
  • Roger Arnold

And remember you too can Subscribe to the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one, as well as give you access to the entire back catalog of Climate Confident episodes.
Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.
Credits
Music credits - Intro by Joseph McDade, and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

  continue reading

32 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 509429743 series 2805813
Content provided by Tom Raftery. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tom Raftery or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Send me a message

In this week’s episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Gary Yohe, one of the world’s leading climate economists, long-time IPCC author, and a member of the Nobel Peace Prize, winning IPCC team of 2007. Gary has spent over four decades shaping how we understand climate change, not just as an environmental issue, but as a fundamental risk management challenge.

We explore his powerful framework: abate, adapt, or suffer. These are, he argues, the only three choices humanity has left, and crucially, some level of suffering is now unavoidable. Mitigation slows the pace of warming, adaptation reduces impacts, but neither can eliminate all risks. The insurance crisis unfolding in California and beyond shows what happens when climate risks become uninsurable, raising the threat of financial instability on a global scale.

Gary also reminds us that climate decisions must be iterative. Policies cannot be fixed for 100 years; they must evolve as science, technology, and risk tolerance change. He illustrates this with striking examples, from New York’s evacuation planning after Hurricane Sandy to San Francisco’s flexible approach to sea-level rise.

Yet, despite the scale of the challenge, Gary insists on hope, not blind optimism, but the conviction, as Václav Havel wrote, that action makes sense regardless of outcome. It’s this perspective that has kept him, and many others, working relentlessly on solutions for over 40 years.

If you want to understand why climate change is ultimately a risk management problem, why insurance, finance, and resilience are inseparable, and why hope is a strategy we can’t do without, this episode is essential listening.

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing subscribers:

  • Ben Gross
  • Jerry Sweeney
  • Andreas Werner
  • Stephen Carroll
  • Roger Arnold

And remember you too can Subscribe to the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one, as well as give you access to the entire back catalog of Climate Confident episodes.
Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.
Credits
Music credits - Intro by Joseph McDade, and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

  continue reading

32 episodes

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