SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 7
Download to read offline
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT EVERYWHERE
This map is more than an outline of a new narrative for the future. It’s a tool
for matching external forces to design new coalitions, identify areas for
experimentation, and capitalize on new opportunities to accelerate
climate action.
Whether in multilateral negotiations, top-down mandates, or community organizing,
three modes of interaction can be leveraged to motivate partners:
•	 We can COMPEL others to do what they wouldn’t voluntarily do. For example, governments
might design regulations and pricing schemes that motivate a shift in production towards
more climate-friendly models of appliances and vehicles, mandating manufacturers to comply
and making ecologically sustainable models more attractive to consumers.
•	 We can EMPOWER others to use existing resources to communicate with their constituents
and craft their own compelling narratives. For example, scientific institutions could work
multilaterally with artists, designers, and social activists to make climate data accessible
by mobile phones in highly context-relevant ways to empower interested citizens and civic
organizations to engage their communities in climate action.
•	 We can ATTRACT others who care, pulling them in closer and creating a sense of urgency
and meaning. For example, a new wave of globally connected youth activists might unleash
fresh messaging campaigns that draw in confused or uninterested parents, siblings, and
teachers, eventually impacting national decision makers within a wide range of internal
political systems.
EXTERNALFORCES
keydriversshapingthelandscape
forclimateaction
Thesearemajordevelopmentsimpactingthelargerexternalenvironment
inwhichclimateactionwilltakeplace.
extrememegacities
Vastcitieswillhouseuptotwo-thirdsoftheworld’spopulationby2030,andmostofthemwill
belocatedwithin100kilometersofcoastalzones.Theseurbancenterswillconcentratethe
effectsofclimatedisruptionsuchasstormsurges,puttingtrillionsofdollarsatrisk,andwill
spuranewwaveofclimategentrificationasthewealthyrelocatetosafeareas.Thiswillalso
makemunicipalgovernmentsthefrontlineforclimateefforts,drivingsubnationalandmultipolar
climateactiontonewlevels.
climatesuffering
Citydwellersaroundtheglobewillsuffercardiovascularandrespiratoryhealthconditions
causedbydirtyemissionsfromvehicles,factories,andpowerplants.Deforestation,toomuch
ortoolittlerain,andrisingtemperatureswillpushinsectsandanimalsintounwantedcontact
withhumans,spreadingdisease.Theelderlywillbeespeciallyvulnerable.Challengedby
personalhealthconsequences,citizenswillpressforchange.
solastalgia
Asthesevereweathereffectsofclimatechangesignificantlydamageiconicculturalsitessuch
asAustralia’sGreatBarrierReef,aswellascoastalhabitatsandendangeredanimalspecies,
theselossesarelikelytotriggerwidespread“solastalgia”—nostalgiaorwistfulnessforterrains
lost.Justlikenostalgia,whichscientistshavefoundtocreateasenseofcontinuitywiththe
pastandgreatersocialconnectedness,solastalgiaislikelytofosterasenseofcontinuitywith
earlierterrainsandencouragesocialconnectednessamongthoseeagertoacttogetherto
preventtheirdestruction.
abundantdatafordecisionmaking
Newsensingtechnologysuchassatelliteimaging,dronemapping,andoceansensorswill
provideaviewofourplanetatextraordinaryresolution.Theabilitytotrackconsumption,
production,andweatherpatternsatnewscaleswillmakepreviouslyinvisibleimpactsof
climatechangevisible.Embeddingdigitalintelligenceinourphysicalenvironment—fromself-
drivingcarstophonesthattrackairquality—willallowreal-timeanalysisfordecisionmaking.
newauthorities,newpowerdynamics
Howweinfluenceatscaleandwhohastheabilitytodosowillshiftasnewmediaplatforms
enableindividualstoprojecttheirvoicestomillionsandgeopoliticalchangesgiverisetonew
economicpowercenters.Oldpower,heldbyafewandjealouslyguarded,closed,inaccessible,
andleader-driven,willgivewaytonewpower,whichismadebymany,open,participatory,and
peer-driven,inthewordsofactivistauthorsJeremyHeimansandHenryTimms.Thenewpower
dynamicswillopenupnewopportunitiesforclimateactionatalllevels—local,global,civic,and
institutional.
technologiesofdecentralization
Thenextdecadewillseethesteadyriseoftools—suchasblockchain,gridedge,and
crowdsourcing—thatcutoutunnecessarymiddlemenandempowernetworkedges.
Blockchainwillbeusednotsimplyasdigitalcurrencybutfor“smart”peer-to-peerandpeer-
to-marketcontracts,andwillfuelnewexperimentsinsecureidentity,distributedownership,
andfinancialtransactions.Thesetoolswillpushustorethinkscale,enablinginvestmentand
insuranceformorelocal,lessmainstreamclimateprojects.
ORGANIZINGWITHOUTORGANIZATIONS
fromformalstructurestonetworkednodes
Networked,distributed,openorganizational
formsareovertakingandreplacingthe
oneswe’vereliedonforthelastseveral
centuries,creatingnewwaystogetthings
done.Theneworganizationswillbemore
porous,distributed,andactivatedthanlegacy
institutions,whilealsobeinglessstableand
unpredictable.Characterizedbyreputation-
basedsystems,software-managedprocesses,
andnetworksofcontributorsratherthan
formalstaffs,theseemergingtwenty-first-
centuryorganizationswillofferincentives
beyondmonetarycompensation.Participants
willbedrivenbyopportunitiestobuild
reputationsandhaveawe-inspiringimpact.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Redesigninginstitutionalstructuresto
incentivizeconnectionwithopen,emergent
networks;prototypingnation-level
crowdfundingandcrowdsourcingsites
forclimateadaptation
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Institutionalbridgebuilders,community
managers,platformcooperatives,
blockchainnodes	
CLIMATEASGROWTHSPACE
fromburdentoprofitableinvestment
By2030theprofitabilityoftechnologiesand
businessesthatbenefittheclimatewillbe
proven,shiftingourviewsoninvestments
forclimatechange.Soontheywillbeseen
asareasofinnovationandprofit.New
marketsinclimatedataandinsurable
naturalinfrastructure—andevenclimate-
sectorcryptocurrencies—willemerge.With
assetsatrisk,largecompanieswillinvest
moreinadaptation,services,andtheirown
renewableenergyinfrastructure.Jobseekers,
development,andworkforceprograms
willseetheclimatechangesectorasajob
creator.Nationsandcorporationswillneedto
rebalanceeconomicandsocialprioritiesby
promotingclimate-friendlyinvestmentpolicies
andencouraginggreaterwealthequality.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Incubatingclimateservicesstart-upsinleast-
developedcountries;fundingentrepreneurs
tode-riskgreenproducts,drivinglarger
corporateinvestment;developingnew
businessschoolprogramstobalancesocial
goalssuchasecosystempreservationwith
economicprofits
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Entrepreneurshippolicymakers,workforce
planners,start-ups,eliteinvestorsatscale
(especiallyinsurancecompanies,pension
funds,sovereignwealthfunds,endowments,
andfoundations),climateentrepreneurs
ALGORITHMICACTION
frompeoplepowertocomputercollaborators
Smartsystemsandobjectswillundertake
climateactiononourbehalf.Overthenext
decade,regulatorsandprogrammerswill
bakeclimateactionintoourprocessesand
machines—imaginesocialcreditsystemsthat
automaticallyregisterandsanctionpolluters,
andobjectsthatorganizetheirownpower
consumption.Artificiallyintelligentpersonal
assistantslikeSiriandAlexacouldmake
climate-friendlyindividualconsumptionthe
default,whileindustrialautomationdoesthe
sameattheinstitutionallevel.Smartcontracts,
basedonblockchains,willallowgroupsofany
sizetocreateautomatedexchanges,whether
landtitlesorexcesselectrons.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Automatingclimateregulationcompliance;
outsourcingclimateregulationcompliance;
enablingpeer-to-marketenergytransactions
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Compliancesystemdesigners,process
automationprogrammers,smartgrid
managers
WATCHFULEYES
frominstitutionalauthoritytocrowdoversight
By2030,collaborativeclimatedatagathering,
citizenmonitoringofplacesandinstitutions,
andsharedknowledgebaseswillallow
greaterindependentoversightandverification
ofwhat’shappeningtoourplanet.Mass
observationfromdiverseperspectiveswillbe
acriticalmethodforpushingbackagainst
falseinformationfromofficialsources(both
governmentalandcorporate)andcorruption.
Hidingbadactionsfrompublicscrutinywill
becomemuchharder.Thenewtransparency
willbringnewvoicesandauthoritiesinto
climateconversations,enablingactionona
widerscale.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Buildingsystemsforcross-borderdata
analysis;fundingopensourceclimatedata
collectiontoolsandteachingcitizenshowto
usethem
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Anti-corruptionactivists,journalists,
manufacturersofuser-friendlyclimatedata
collectionhardware
IMMERSIVENEWS
fromdistantfactstointimateimpact
Newstorytellingtoolswillconvertcomplex,
jargon-ladengraphsintoemotional
experiences,increasingourpsychological
graspoftherealityofclimatechange.Awide
varietyofnewtechniques—includingvirtual
andaugmentedrealitysimulations,snappy
Internetmemes,andfeedbackloopsabout
climateimpactsofdailyactivities—willdraw
inpeoplewhodon’tcareaboutclimate
changeandmobilizepeoplewhoareready
toact.Accurateclimatedatarepositories—
accessibleinmultiplesensory-richformats
andcomprehensibletobothprosand
amateurs—willbecriticalbuildingblocks.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Bringingrealimpactstolifeviavisceral
experiences;optimizingclimatedata
platformsforsensemakingandstory
building;designingclimateactionmemesand
infographics
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Mediacreationtooldevelopers,science
journalists,entertainmentcreatives
MEDIAFORGOOD
fromcomputationalpropaganda
topositivepersuasion
Toolsforinjectingideasintothemedia
willbecomemoreaccessibleandmore
powerful,wieldednotonlybydisruptive
nationalactorsbutalsobycorporations,
NGOs,governments,andindividuals.The
technologyunderlyingtheweaponized
botsandcomputationalpropaganda
thatactivatedanti-democraticbehavior
worldwideinthelate2010scanalsobe
harnessedtoopenlyinfluenceenvironmental
beliefs,connectmicro-communities,and
organizepro-climatesocialbehaviorinthe
2020s.Transparencywillbecritical:knowing
thatinformationcamefromabotwon’t
necessarilyundermineitseffectiveness.It
mayevenmakeitmoretrustworthy,ifone
knowsthesourceofthebot.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Signaltrackingandsignalboostinginreal
time;designinganddeployingbotnetworks
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Botnetworks,socialmedia
platformdesigners
These modes of interaction aren’t new. What’s novel is that a broader set of actors
will be able to use the modes to influence one another, across borders and at
different scales. Sometimes the persuasion will be based on good old-fashioned
politics and financial incentives. But we also desperately need unpredictable—
even unimaginable—new coalitions and tactics.
As you look to 2030, ask yourself how you can use ideas from the map to
shake up your current stakeholder coalitions and build a new narrative that
will drive change:
•	 How might you empower a different
set of voices that could alter power
dynamics among traditional stakeholders?
•	 How might you drastically
increase the number and quality
of interactions among your current
stakeholders to drive faster, larger,
or more efficient impact?
•	 How might you transform
your organization’s own
story to connect with a
mass audience?
ACTIVATEDYOUTH
fromsiloedscenestomememovements
Whilenoteveryyoungpersonwillbe
onlineby2030,increasedconnectivitywill
provideaccesstonext-generation,cutting-
edgeviralcommunicationtechniques
bornofyouthInternetandmobilephone
culture.Youngpeopleinplacessubjectto
themostdevastatingimpactsofclimate
changewillbearwitnessonglobalsocial
mediaplatformsandinon-the-ground
movements,activatingpeersindeveloping
anddevelopedeconomiesalike.Asinthe
past,youth-ledsocialmovementswillbean
emotionalnucleusofchangewiththepower
totransformnationalpolitics.Thistime,they
willfightforthehealthoftheplanet.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Harnessingonlineresponseforstreet
action;teachingyouthhowtounderstand
governmentstructuresandreach
governmentofficials
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Girls,students,youth-supportinggroups
WOMENASCLIMATEACTIONLEADERS
fromtraditionalgenderrolesto
empoweredrepresentation
Womenaredisproportionatelyimpacted
byclimatechange—anoutsizednumber
ofclimatemigrantsarewomen,asjust
oneexample—andtheyarealsocritical
totakingactiononclimatechange.Inthe
nextdecade,ashigh-levelpolicymakers,
theywillberesponsibleforincreased
internationalcooperation.Inruraland
developingcommunities,theywillleverage
socialandfamilialrolestochangepublic
sentimentonclimateaction.Communities
andframeworksthattapintotheorganizing
abilityandknowledgecapitalofwomen
willsucceedbetteratclimateactionefforts
thanthosethatcontinuethestatusquoof
underrepresentation.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Seekingoutandempoweringwomen
inclimateactionleadershippositions;
supportingwomenaslocalandground-
levelinfluencers
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Femalepoliticians,femalecommunity
organizers,women-ledorganizations
ACCELERATINGCLIMATEACTION
zonesofopportunity
Zonesofopportunityoutlinenewpossibilityspacesforreframingthe
narrativearoundclimatechangeandacceleratingclimateaction.
FRICTION POINTS
obstacles hampering
climate change action
We need to write a new narrative of climate change action.
A narrative that compels, empowers, and attracts people across
industries and geographies to think of climate change not as an
intractable problem, but as a space for innovative solutions.
This map helps to navigate this space by examining all the influential
elements of the next decade of climate action, including the
Friction Points that interfere with climate action responses.
LEGACY ENERGY
Fossil fuel–based patterns of consumption and approaches to economic growth are
deeply embedded in national political and regulatory systems. Decarbonization won’t
happen without a fight.
SHORT-TERMISM
The natural human tendency to focus on the here and now gets amplified by
climate-related fear, passivity, and apathy, that drown out long-term thinking.
RISE IN DISPOSABLE INCOMES
Economic growth brings with it rising demands for all types of consumer goods,
putting increasing strain on resources and expanding outputs of CO2.
ATTENTION SCARCITY
As we become increasingly overwhelmed by rapid, flashy media
cycles and addictive entertainment, it becomes more and
more difficult for climate dangers to break through the noise.
FACT RESISTANCE
Science, journalism, and other fact-gathering institutions
are challenged by rampant misinformation, that turns
policy debates into polarized shouting matches.
PROTECTIONISM
Economic and political nationalism reduce the
public appetite for financing cross-border
solutions to planet-scale problems.
EXTREME WEATHER.
RISING SEAS.
FOOD SCARCITY.
The science and symptoms are clear: climate disruptions are all around
us. Over the past several decades, citizens and governments have
mobilized to contain the menace of a changing climate. We’ve forged
new global partnerships and agreements. Scientific advancements have
helped us model climate change scenarios with greater accuracy and
design better solutions for preventing the worst of them from happening.
We’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars in monitoring, prevention,
and mitigation technologies. We’ve developed new laws and cutting-edge
financial instruments to coordinate action at scale.
And yet, much more needs to be done. We have the knowledge and resources to prevent
global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial times, but science
and technology alone won’t get us there. We must accelerate momentum toward a
new narrative that galvanizes and inspires. One that moves us all—individuals and
governments, manufacturers and investors—to hasten our march toward decarbonization.
Now we have a chance to do just that. No one can know for certain what the future holds
for climate change, but we can attempt to identify a broad set of actors—emerging and
those yet to emerge—from the public, private, international, national, and civic sectors to
reimagine our response to climate change. In this new narrative, what we call “The Future
of Climate Action,” climate influences every aspect of our daily lives and pushes us to
care for the earth, ourselves, and generations to come. It delivers us from fear, uncertainty,
and doubt, because it centers instead on opportunity, meaning, and possibility.
Through this narrative, and this map, we can blaze a new path. It opens the door to a
future we can build and mold by focusing on the external forces that shape our capacity
to act. It describes the emerging opportunity zones, or levers, for accelerating progress.
It poses provocative questions to stimulate ideas for altering power dynamics rather than
focusing on current prevention, mitigation, and adaptation efforts, and it predicts the
frictions we may encounter as we work to advance climate action.
“The Future of Climate Action” describes the hopeful signals of change of today and
presents positive scenarios of tomorrow to inform action and ignite genuine change.
Today we begin writing
that story. Today we take
that leap toward an
urgently needed future.
www.iftf.org
www.climateinvestmentfunds.org
Special thanks for contributions from our partners at Impossible Labs.
© 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands
and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.
SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
A NEW STORY TO SPARK
THE FUTURE OF
CLIMATE
ACTION
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT EVERYWHERE
This map is more than an outline of a new narrative for the future. It’s a tool
for matching external forces to design new coalitions, identify areas for
experimentation, and capitalize on new opportunities to accelerate
climate action.
Whether in multilateral negotiations, top-down mandates, or community organizing,
three modes of interaction can be leveraged to motivate partners:
•	 We can COMPEL others to do what they wouldn’t voluntarily do. For example, governments
might design regulations and pricing schemes that motivate a shift in production towards
more climate-friendly models of appliances and vehicles, mandating manufacturers to comply
and making ecologically sustainable models more attractive to consumers.
•	 We can EMPOWER others to use existing resources to communicate with their constituents
and craft their own compelling narratives. For example, scientific institutions could work
multilaterally with artists, designers, and social activists to make climate data accessible
by mobile phones in highly context-relevant ways to empower interested citizens and civic
organizations to engage their communities in climate action.
•	 We can ATTRACT others who care, pulling them in closer and creating a sense of urgency
and meaning. For example, a new wave of globally connected youth activists might unleash
fresh messaging campaigns that draw in confused or uninterested parents, siblings, and
teachers, eventually impacting national decision makers within a wide range of internal
political systems.
EXTERNALFORCES
keydriversshapingthelandscape
forclimateaction
Thesearemajordevelopmentsimpactingthelargerexternalenvironment
inwhichclimateactionwilltakeplace.
extrememegacities
Vastcitieswillhouseuptotwo-thirdsoftheworld’spopulationby2030,andmostofthemwill
belocatedwithin100kilometersofcoastalzones.Theseurbancenterswillconcentratethe
effectsofclimatedisruptionsuchasstormsurges,puttingtrillionsofdollarsatrisk,andwill
spuranewwaveofclimategentrificationasthewealthyrelocatetosafeareas.Thiswillalso
makemunicipalgovernmentsthefrontlineforclimateefforts,drivingsubnationalandmultipolar
climateactiontonewlevels.
climatesuffering
Citydwellersaroundtheglobewillsuffercardiovascularandrespiratoryhealthconditions
causedbydirtyemissionsfromvehicles,factories,andpowerplants.Deforestation,toomuch
ortoolittlerain,andrisingtemperatureswillpushinsectsandanimalsintounwantedcontact
withhumans,spreadingdisease.Theelderlywillbeespeciallyvulnerable.Challengedby
personalhealthconsequences,citizenswillpressforchange.
solastalgia
Asthesevereweathereffectsofclimatechangesignificantlydamageiconicculturalsitessuch
asAustralia’sGreatBarrierReef,aswellascoastalhabitatsandendangeredanimalspecies,
theselossesarelikelytotriggerwidespread“solastalgia”—nostalgiaorwistfulnessforterrains
lost.Justlikenostalgia,whichscientistshavefoundtocreateasenseofcontinuitywiththe
pastandgreatersocialconnectedness,solastalgiaislikelytofosterasenseofcontinuitywith
earlierterrainsandencouragesocialconnectednessamongthoseeagertoacttogetherto
preventtheirdestruction.
abundantdatafordecisionmaking
Newsensingtechnologysuchassatelliteimaging,dronemapping,andoceansensorswill
provideaviewofourplanetatextraordinaryresolution.Theabilitytotrackconsumption,
production,andweatherpatternsatnewscaleswillmakepreviouslyinvisibleimpactsof
climatechangevisible.Embeddingdigitalintelligenceinourphysicalenvironment—fromself-
drivingcarstophonesthattrackairquality—willallowreal-timeanalysisfordecisionmaking.
newauthorities,newpowerdynamics
Howweinfluenceatscaleandwhohastheabilitytodosowillshiftasnewmediaplatforms
enableindividualstoprojecttheirvoicestomillionsandgeopoliticalchangesgiverisetonew
economicpowercenters.Oldpower,heldbyafewandjealouslyguarded,closed,inaccessible,
andleader-driven,willgivewaytonewpower,whichismadebymany,open,participatory,and
peer-driven,inthewordsofactivistauthorsJeremyHeimansandHenryTimms.Thenewpower
dynamicswillopenupnewopportunitiesforclimateactionatalllevels—local,global,civic,and
institutional.
technologiesofdecentralization
Thenextdecadewillseethesteadyriseoftools—suchasblockchain,gridedge,and
crowdsourcing—thatcutoutunnecessarymiddlemenandempowernetworkedges.
Blockchainwillbeusednotsimplyasdigitalcurrencybutfor“smart”peer-to-peerandpeer-
to-marketcontracts,andwillfuelnewexperimentsinsecureidentity,distributedownership,
andfinancialtransactions.Thesetoolswillpushustorethinkscale,enablinginvestmentand
insuranceformorelocal,lessmainstreamclimateprojects.
ORGANIZINGWITHOUTORGANIZATIONS
fromformalstructurestonetworkednodes
Networked,distributed,openorganizational
formsareovertakingandreplacingthe
oneswe’vereliedonforthelastseveral
centuries,creatingnewwaystogetthings
done.Theneworganizationswillbemore
porous,distributed,andactivatedthanlegacy
institutions,whilealsobeinglessstableand
unpredictable.Characterizedbyreputation-
basedsystems,software-managedprocesses,
andnetworksofcontributorsratherthan
formalstaffs,theseemergingtwenty-first-
centuryorganizationswillofferincentives
beyondmonetarycompensation.Participants
willbedrivenbyopportunitiestobuild
reputationsandhaveawe-inspiringimpact.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Redesigninginstitutionalstructuresto
incentivizeconnectionwithopen,emergent
networks;prototypingnation-level
crowdfundingandcrowdsourcingsites
forclimateadaptation
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Institutionalbridgebuilders,community
managers,platformcooperatives,
blockchainnodes	
CLIMATEASGROWTHSPACE
fromburdentoprofitableinvestment
By2030theprofitabilityoftechnologiesand
businessesthatbenefittheclimatewillbe
proven,shiftingourviewsoninvestments
forclimatechange.Soontheywillbeseen
asareasofinnovationandprofit.New
marketsinclimatedataandinsurable
naturalinfrastructure—andevenclimate-
sectorcryptocurrencies—willemerge.With
assetsatrisk,largecompanieswillinvest
moreinadaptation,services,andtheirown
renewableenergyinfrastructure.Jobseekers,
development,andworkforceprograms
willseetheclimatechangesectorasajob
creator.Nationsandcorporationswillneedto
rebalanceeconomicandsocialprioritiesby
promotingclimate-friendlyinvestmentpolicies
andencouraginggreaterwealthequality.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Incubatingclimateservicesstart-upsinleast-
developedcountries;fundingentrepreneurs
tode-riskgreenproducts,drivinglarger
corporateinvestment;developingnew
businessschoolprogramstobalancesocial
goalssuchasecosystempreservationwith
economicprofits
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Entrepreneurshippolicymakers,workforce
planners,start-ups,eliteinvestorsatscale
(especiallyinsurancecompanies,pension
funds,sovereignwealthfunds,endowments,
andfoundations),climateentrepreneurs
ALGORITHMICACTION
frompeoplepowertocomputercollaborators
Smartsystemsandobjectswillundertake
climateactiononourbehalf.Overthenext
decade,regulatorsandprogrammerswill
bakeclimateactionintoourprocessesand
machines—imaginesocialcreditsystemsthat
automaticallyregisterandsanctionpolluters,
andobjectsthatorganizetheirownpower
consumption.Artificiallyintelligentpersonal
assistantslikeSiriandAlexacouldmake
climate-friendlyindividualconsumptionthe
default,whileindustrialautomationdoesthe
sameattheinstitutionallevel.Smartcontracts,
basedonblockchains,willallowgroupsofany
sizetocreateautomatedexchanges,whether
landtitlesorexcesselectrons.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Automatingclimateregulationcompliance;
outsourcingclimateregulationcompliance;
enablingpeer-to-marketenergytransactions
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Compliancesystemdesigners,process
automationprogrammers,smartgrid
managers
WATCHFULEYES
frominstitutionalauthoritytocrowdoversight
By2030,collaborativeclimatedatagathering,
citizenmonitoringofplacesandinstitutions,
andsharedknowledgebaseswillallow
greaterindependentoversightandverification
ofwhat’shappeningtoourplanet.Mass
observationfromdiverseperspectiveswillbe
acriticalmethodforpushingbackagainst
falseinformationfromofficialsources(both
governmentalandcorporate)andcorruption.
Hidingbadactionsfrompublicscrutinywill
becomemuchharder.Thenewtransparency
willbringnewvoicesandauthoritiesinto
climateconversations,enablingactionona
widerscale.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Buildingsystemsforcross-borderdata
analysis;fundingopensourceclimatedata
collectiontoolsandteachingcitizenshowto
usethem
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Anti-corruptionactivists,journalists,
manufacturersofuser-friendlyclimatedata
collectionhardware
IMMERSIVENEWS
fromdistantfactstointimateimpact
Newstorytellingtoolswillconvertcomplex,
jargon-ladengraphsintoemotional
experiences,increasingourpsychological
graspoftherealityofclimatechange.Awide
varietyofnewtechniques—includingvirtual
andaugmentedrealitysimulations,snappy
Internetmemes,andfeedbackloopsabout
climateimpactsofdailyactivities—willdraw
inpeoplewhodon’tcareaboutclimate
changeandmobilizepeoplewhoareready
toact.Accurateclimatedatarepositories—
accessibleinmultiplesensory-richformats
andcomprehensibletobothprosand
amateurs—willbecriticalbuildingblocks.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Bringingrealimpactstolifeviavisceral
experiences;optimizingclimatedata
platformsforsensemakingandstory
building;designingclimateactionmemesand
infographics
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Mediacreationtooldevelopers,science
journalists,entertainmentcreatives
MEDIAFORGOOD
fromcomputationalpropaganda
topositivepersuasion
Toolsforinjectingideasintothemedia
willbecomemoreaccessibleandmore
powerful,wieldednotonlybydisruptive
nationalactorsbutalsobycorporations,
NGOs,governments,andindividuals.The
technologyunderlyingtheweaponized
botsandcomputationalpropaganda
thatactivatedanti-democraticbehavior
worldwideinthelate2010scanalsobe
harnessedtoopenlyinfluenceenvironmental
beliefs,connectmicro-communities,and
organizepro-climatesocialbehaviorinthe
2020s.Transparencywillbecritical:knowing
thatinformationcamefromabotwon’t
necessarilyundermineitseffectiveness.It
mayevenmakeitmoretrustworthy,ifone
knowsthesourceofthebot.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Signaltrackingandsignalboostinginreal
time;designinganddeployingbotnetworks
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Botnetworks,socialmedia
platformdesigners
These modes of interaction aren’t new. What’s novel is that a broader set of actors
will be able to use the modes to influence one another, across borders and at
different scales. Sometimes the persuasion will be based on good old-fashioned
politics and financial incentives. But we also desperately need unpredictable—
even unimaginable—new coalitions and tactics.
As you look to 2030, ask yourself how you can use ideas from the map to
shake up your current stakeholder coalitions and build a new narrative that
will drive change:
•	 How might you empower a different
set of voices that could alter power
dynamics among traditional stakeholders?
•	 How might you drastically
increase the number and quality
of interactions among your current
stakeholders to drive faster, larger,
or more efficient impact?
•	 How might you transform
your organization’s own
story to connect with a
mass audience?
ACTIVATEDYOUTH
fromsiloedscenestomememovements
Whilenoteveryyoungpersonwillbe
onlineby2030,increasedconnectivitywill
provideaccesstonext-generation,cutting-
edgeviralcommunicationtechniques
bornofyouthInternetandmobilephone
culture.Youngpeopleinplacessubjectto
themostdevastatingimpactsofclimate
changewillbearwitnessonglobalsocial
mediaplatformsandinon-the-ground
movements,activatingpeersindeveloping
anddevelopedeconomiesalike.Asinthe
past,youth-ledsocialmovementswillbean
emotionalnucleusofchangewiththepower
totransformnationalpolitics.Thistime,they
willfightforthehealthoftheplanet.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Harnessingonlineresponseforstreet
action;teachingyouthhowtounderstand
governmentstructuresandreach
governmentofficials
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Girls,students,youth-supportinggroups
WOMENASCLIMATEACTIONLEADERS
fromtraditionalgenderrolesto
empoweredrepresentation
Womenaredisproportionatelyimpacted
byclimatechange—anoutsizednumber
ofclimatemigrantsarewomen,asjust
oneexample—andtheyarealsocritical
totakingactiononclimatechange.Inthe
nextdecade,ashigh-levelpolicymakers,
theywillberesponsibleforincreased
internationalcooperation.Inruraland
developingcommunities,theywillleverage
socialandfamilialrolestochangepublic
sentimentonclimateaction.Communities
andframeworksthattapintotheorganizing
abilityandknowledgecapitalofwomen
willsucceedbetteratclimateactionefforts
thanthosethatcontinuethestatusquoof
underrepresentation.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Seekingoutandempoweringwomen
inclimateactionleadershippositions;
supportingwomenaslocalandground-
levelinfluencers
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Femalepoliticians,femalecommunity
organizers,women-ledorganizations
ACCELERATINGCLIMATEACTION
zonesofopportunity
Zonesofopportunityoutlinenewpossibilityspacesforreframingthe
narrativearoundclimatechangeandacceleratingclimateaction.
FRICTION POINTS
obstacles hampering
climate change action
We need to write a new narrative of climate change action.
A narrative that compels, empowers, and attracts people across
industries and geographies to think of climate change not as an
intractable problem, but as a space for innovative solutions.
This map helps to navigate this space by examining all the influential
elements of the next decade of climate action, including the
Friction Points that interfere with climate action responses.
LEGACY ENERGY
Fossil fuel–based patterns of consumption and approaches to economic growth are
deeply embedded in national political and regulatory systems. Decarbonization won’t
happen without a fight.
SHORT-TERMISM
The natural human tendency to focus on the here and now gets amplified by
climate-related fear, passivity, and apathy, that drown out long-term thinking.
RISE IN DISPOSABLE INCOMES
Economic growth brings with it rising demands for all types of consumer goods,
putting increasing strain on resources and expanding outputs of CO2.
ATTENTION SCARCITY
As we become increasingly overwhelmed by rapid, flashy media
cycles and addictive entertainment, it becomes more and
more difficult for climate dangers to break through the noise.
FACT RESISTANCE
Science, journalism, and other fact-gathering institutions
are challenged by rampant misinformation, that turns
policy debates into polarized shouting matches.
PROTECTIONISM
Economic and political nationalism reduce the
public appetite for financing cross-border
solutions to planet-scale problems.
EXTREME WEATHER.
RISING SEAS.
FOOD SCARCITY.
The science and symptoms are clear: climate disruptions are all around
us. Over the past several decades, citizens and governments have
mobilized to contain the menace of a changing climate. We’ve forged
new global partnerships and agreements. Scientific advancements have
helped us model climate change scenarios with greater accuracy and
design better solutions for preventing the worst of them from happening.
We’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars in monitoring, prevention,
and mitigation technologies. We’ve developed new laws and cutting-edge
financial instruments to coordinate action at scale.
And yet, much more needs to be done. We have the knowledge and resources to prevent
global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial times, but science
and technology alone won’t get us there. We must accelerate momentum toward a
new narrative that galvanizes and inspires. One that moves us all—individuals and
governments, manufacturers and investors—to hasten our march toward decarbonization.
Now we have a chance to do just that. No one can know for certain what the future holds
for climate change, but we can attempt to identify a broad set of actors—emerging and
those yet to emerge—from the public, private, international, national, and civic sectors to
reimagine our response to climate change. In this new narrative, what we call “The Future
of Climate Action,” climate influences every aspect of our daily lives and pushes us to
care for the earth, ourselves, and generations to come. It delivers us from fear, uncertainty,
and doubt, because it centers instead on opportunity, meaning, and possibility.
Through this narrative, and this map, we can blaze a new path. It opens the door to a
future we can build and mold by focusing on the external forces that shape our capacity
to act. It describes the emerging opportunity zones, or levers, for accelerating progress.
It poses provocative questions to stimulate ideas for altering power dynamics rather than
focusing on current prevention, mitigation, and adaptation efforts, and it predicts the
frictions we may encounter as we work to advance climate action.
“The Future of Climate Action” describes the hopeful signals of change of today and
presents positive scenarios of tomorrow to inform action and ignite genuine change.
Today we begin writing
that story. Today we take
that leap toward an
urgently needed future.
www.iftf.org
www.climateinvestmentfunds.org
Special thanks for contributions from our partners at Impossible Labs.
© 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands
and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.
SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
A NEW STORY TO SPARK
THE FUTURE OF
CLIMATE
ACTION
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT EVERYWHERE
This map is more than an outline of a new narrative for the future. It’s a tool
for matching external forces to design new coalitions, identify areas for
experimentation, and capitalize on new opportunities to accelerate
climate action.
Whether in multilateral negotiations, top-down mandates, or community organizing,
three modes of interaction can be leveraged to motivate partners:
•	 We can COMPEL others to do what they wouldn’t voluntarily do. For example, governments
might design regulations and pricing schemes that motivate a shift in production towards
more climate-friendly models of appliances and vehicles, mandating manufacturers to comply
and making ecologically sustainable models more attractive to consumers.
•	 We can EMPOWER others to use existing resources to communicate with their constituents
and craft their own compelling narratives. For example, scientific institutions could work
multilaterally with artists, designers, and social activists to make climate data accessible
by mobile phones in highly context-relevant ways to empower interested citizens and civic
organizations to engage their communities in climate action.
•	 We can ATTRACT others who care, pulling them in closer and creating a sense of urgency
and meaning. For example, a new wave of globally connected youth activists might unleash
fresh messaging campaigns that draw in confused or uninterested parents, siblings, and
teachers, eventually impacting national decision makers within a wide range of internal
political systems.
EXTERNALFORCES
keydriversshapingthelandscape
forclimateaction
Thesearemajordevelopmentsimpactingthelargerexternalenvironment
inwhichclimateactionwilltakeplace.
extrememegacities
Vastcitieswillhouseuptotwo-thirdsoftheworld’spopulationby2030,andmostofthemwill
belocatedwithin100kilometersofcoastalzones.Theseurbancenterswillconcentratethe
effectsofclimatedisruptionsuchasstormsurges,puttingtrillionsofdollarsatrisk,andwill
spuranewwaveofclimategentrificationasthewealthyrelocatetosafeareas.Thiswillalso
makemunicipalgovernmentsthefrontlineforclimateefforts,drivingsubnationalandmultipolar
climateactiontonewlevels.
climatesuffering
Citydwellersaroundtheglobewillsuffercardiovascularandrespiratoryhealthconditions
causedbydirtyemissionsfromvehicles,factories,andpowerplants.Deforestation,toomuch
ortoolittlerain,andrisingtemperatureswillpushinsectsandanimalsintounwantedcontact
withhumans,spreadingdisease.Theelderlywillbeespeciallyvulnerable.Challengedby
personalhealthconsequences,citizenswillpressforchange.
solastalgia
Asthesevereweathereffectsofclimatechangesignificantlydamageiconicculturalsitessuch
asAustralia’sGreatBarrierReef,aswellascoastalhabitatsandendangeredanimalspecies,
theselossesarelikelytotriggerwidespread“solastalgia”—nostalgiaorwistfulnessforterrains
lost.Justlikenostalgia,whichscientistshavefoundtocreateasenseofcontinuitywiththe
pastandgreatersocialconnectedness,solastalgiaislikelytofosterasenseofcontinuitywith
earlierterrainsandencouragesocialconnectednessamongthoseeagertoacttogetherto
preventtheirdestruction.
abundantdatafordecisionmaking
Newsensingtechnologysuchassatelliteimaging,dronemapping,andoceansensorswill
provideaviewofourplanetatextraordinaryresolution.Theabilitytotrackconsumption,
production,andweatherpatternsatnewscaleswillmakepreviouslyinvisibleimpactsof
climatechangevisible.Embeddingdigitalintelligenceinourphysicalenvironment—fromself-
drivingcarstophonesthattrackairquality—willallowreal-timeanalysisfordecisionmaking.
newauthorities,newpowerdynamics
Howweinfluenceatscaleandwhohastheabilitytodosowillshiftasnewmediaplatforms
enableindividualstoprojecttheirvoicestomillionsandgeopoliticalchangesgiverisetonew
economicpowercenters.Oldpower,heldbyafewandjealouslyguarded,closed,inaccessible,
andleader-driven,willgivewaytonewpower,whichismadebymany,open,participatory,and
peer-driven,inthewordsofactivistauthorsJeremyHeimansandHenryTimms.Thenewpower
dynamicswillopenupnewopportunitiesforclimateactionatalllevels—local,global,civic,and
institutional.
technologiesofdecentralization
Thenextdecadewillseethesteadyriseoftools—suchasblockchain,gridedge,and
crowdsourcing—thatcutoutunnecessarymiddlemenandempowernetworkedges.
Blockchainwillbeusednotsimplyasdigitalcurrencybutfor“smart”peer-to-peerandpeer-
to-marketcontracts,andwillfuelnewexperimentsinsecureidentity,distributedownership,
andfinancialtransactions.Thesetoolswillpushustorethinkscale,enablinginvestmentand
insuranceformorelocal,lessmainstreamclimateprojects.
ORGANIZINGWITHOUTORGANIZATIONS
fromformalstructurestonetworkednodes
Networked,distributed,openorganizational
formsareovertakingandreplacingthe
oneswe’vereliedonforthelastseveral
centuries,creatingnewwaystogetthings
done.Theneworganizationswillbemore
porous,distributed,andactivatedthanlegacy
institutions,whilealsobeinglessstableand
unpredictable.Characterizedbyreputation-
basedsystems,software-managedprocesses,
andnetworksofcontributorsratherthan
formalstaffs,theseemergingtwenty-first-
centuryorganizationswillofferincentives
beyondmonetarycompensation.Participants
willbedrivenbyopportunitiestobuild
reputationsandhaveawe-inspiringimpact.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Redesigninginstitutionalstructuresto
incentivizeconnectionwithopen,emergent
networks;prototypingnation-level
crowdfundingandcrowdsourcingsites
forclimateadaptation
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Institutionalbridgebuilders,community
managers,platformcooperatives,
blockchainnodes	
CLIMATEASGROWTHSPACE
fromburdentoprofitableinvestment
By2030theprofitabilityoftechnologiesand
businessesthatbenefittheclimatewillbe
proven,shiftingourviewsoninvestments
forclimatechange.Soontheywillbeseen
asareasofinnovationandprofit.New
marketsinclimatedataandinsurable
naturalinfrastructure—andevenclimate-
sectorcryptocurrencies—willemerge.With
assetsatrisk,largecompanieswillinvest
moreinadaptation,services,andtheirown
renewableenergyinfrastructure.Jobseekers,
development,andworkforceprograms
willseetheclimatechangesectorasajob
creator.Nationsandcorporationswillneedto
rebalanceeconomicandsocialprioritiesby
promotingclimate-friendlyinvestmentpolicies
andencouraginggreaterwealthequality.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Incubatingclimateservicesstart-upsinleast-
developedcountries;fundingentrepreneurs
tode-riskgreenproducts,drivinglarger
corporateinvestment;developingnew
businessschoolprogramstobalancesocial
goalssuchasecosystempreservationwith
economicprofits
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Entrepreneurshippolicymakers,workforce
planners,start-ups,eliteinvestorsatscale
(especiallyinsurancecompanies,pension
funds,sovereignwealthfunds,endowments,
andfoundations),climateentrepreneurs
ALGORITHMICACTION
frompeoplepowertocomputercollaborators
Smartsystemsandobjectswillundertake
climateactiononourbehalf.Overthenext
decade,regulatorsandprogrammerswill
bakeclimateactionintoourprocessesand
machines—imaginesocialcreditsystemsthat
automaticallyregisterandsanctionpolluters,
andobjectsthatorganizetheirownpower
consumption.Artificiallyintelligentpersonal
assistantslikeSiriandAlexacouldmake
climate-friendlyindividualconsumptionthe
default,whileindustrialautomationdoesthe
sameattheinstitutionallevel.Smartcontracts,
basedonblockchains,willallowgroupsofany
sizetocreateautomatedexchanges,whether
landtitlesorexcesselectrons.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Automatingclimateregulationcompliance;
outsourcingclimateregulationcompliance;
enablingpeer-to-marketenergytransactions
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Compliancesystemdesigners,process
automationprogrammers,smartgrid
managers
WATCHFULEYES
frominstitutionalauthoritytocrowdoversight
By2030,collaborativeclimatedatagathering,
citizenmonitoringofplacesandinstitutions,
andsharedknowledgebaseswillallow
greaterindependentoversightandverification
ofwhat’shappeningtoourplanet.Mass
observationfromdiverseperspectiveswillbe
acriticalmethodforpushingbackagainst
falseinformationfromofficialsources(both
governmentalandcorporate)andcorruption.
Hidingbadactionsfrompublicscrutinywill
becomemuchharder.Thenewtransparency
willbringnewvoicesandauthoritiesinto
climateconversations,enablingactionona
widerscale.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Buildingsystemsforcross-borderdata
analysis;fundingopensourceclimatedata
collectiontoolsandteachingcitizenshowto
usethem
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Anti-corruptionactivists,journalists,
manufacturersofuser-friendlyclimatedata
collectionhardware
IMMERSIVENEWS
fromdistantfactstointimateimpact
Newstorytellingtoolswillconvertcomplex,
jargon-ladengraphsintoemotional
experiences,increasingourpsychological
graspoftherealityofclimatechange.Awide
varietyofnewtechniques—includingvirtual
andaugmentedrealitysimulations,snappy
Internetmemes,andfeedbackloopsabout
climateimpactsofdailyactivities—willdraw
inpeoplewhodon’tcareaboutclimate
changeandmobilizepeoplewhoareready
toact.Accurateclimatedatarepositories—
accessibleinmultiplesensory-richformats
andcomprehensibletobothprosand
amateurs—willbecriticalbuildingblocks.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Bringingrealimpactstolifeviavisceral
experiences;optimizingclimatedata
platformsforsensemakingandstory
building;designingclimateactionmemesand
infographics
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Mediacreationtooldevelopers,science
journalists,entertainmentcreatives
MEDIAFORGOOD
fromcomputationalpropaganda
topositivepersuasion
Toolsforinjectingideasintothemedia
willbecomemoreaccessibleandmore
powerful,wieldednotonlybydisruptive
nationalactorsbutalsobycorporations,
NGOs,governments,andindividuals.The
technologyunderlyingtheweaponized
botsandcomputationalpropaganda
thatactivatedanti-democraticbehavior
worldwideinthelate2010scanalsobe
harnessedtoopenlyinfluenceenvironmental
beliefs,connectmicro-communities,and
organizepro-climatesocialbehaviorinthe
2020s.Transparencywillbecritical:knowing
thatinformationcamefromabotwon’t
necessarilyundermineitseffectiveness.It
mayevenmakeitmoretrustworthy,ifone
knowsthesourceofthebot.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Signaltrackingandsignalboostinginreal
time;designinganddeployingbotnetworks
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Botnetworks,socialmedia
platformdesigners
These modes of interaction aren’t new. What’s novel is that a broader set of actors
will be able to use the modes to influence one another, across borders and at
different scales. Sometimes the persuasion will be based on good old-fashioned
politics and financial incentives. But we also desperately need unpredictable—
even unimaginable—new coalitions and tactics.
As you look to 2030, ask yourself how you can use ideas from the map to
shake up your current stakeholder coalitions and build a new narrative that
will drive change:
•	 How might you empower a different
set of voices that could alter power
dynamics among traditional stakeholders?
•	 How might you drastically
increase the number and quality
of interactions among your current
stakeholders to drive faster, larger,
or more efficient impact?
•	 How might you transform
your organization’s own
story to connect with a
mass audience?
ACTIVATEDYOUTH
fromsiloedscenestomememovements
Whilenoteveryyoungpersonwillbe
onlineby2030,increasedconnectivitywill
provideaccesstonext-generation,cutting-
edgeviralcommunicationtechniques
bornofyouthInternetandmobilephone
culture.Youngpeopleinplacessubjectto
themostdevastatingimpactsofclimate
changewillbearwitnessonglobalsocial
mediaplatformsandinon-the-ground
movements,activatingpeersindeveloping
anddevelopedeconomiesalike.Asinthe
past,youth-ledsocialmovementswillbean
emotionalnucleusofchangewiththepower
totransformnationalpolitics.Thistime,they
willfightforthehealthoftheplanet.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Harnessingonlineresponseforstreet
action;teachingyouthhowtounderstand
governmentstructuresandreach
governmentofficials
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Girls,students,youth-supportinggroups
WOMENASCLIMATEACTIONLEADERS
fromtraditionalgenderrolesto
empoweredrepresentation
Womenaredisproportionatelyimpacted
byclimatechange—anoutsizednumber
ofclimatemigrantsarewomen,asjust
oneexample—andtheyarealsocritical
totakingactiononclimatechange.Inthe
nextdecade,ashigh-levelpolicymakers,
theywillberesponsibleforincreased
internationalcooperation.Inruraland
developingcommunities,theywillleverage
socialandfamilialrolestochangepublic
sentimentonclimateaction.Communities
andframeworksthattapintotheorganizing
abilityandknowledgecapitalofwomen
willsucceedbetteratclimateactionefforts
thanthosethatcontinuethestatusquoof
underrepresentation.
NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION:
Seekingoutandempoweringwomen
inclimateactionleadershippositions;
supportingwomenaslocalandground-
levelinfluencers
NEWCLIMATEACTORS:
Femalepoliticians,femalecommunity
organizers,women-ledorganizations
ACCELERATINGCLIMATEACTION
zonesofopportunity
Zonesofopportunityoutlinenewpossibilityspacesforreframingthe
narrativearoundclimatechangeandacceleratingclimateaction.
FRICTION POINTS
obstacles hampering
climate change action
We need to write a new narrative of climate change action.
A narrative that compels, empowers, and attracts people across
industries and geographies to think of climate change not as an
intractable problem, but as a space for innovative solutions.
This map helps to navigate this space by examining all the influential
elements of the next decade of climate action, including the
Friction Points that interfere with climate action responses.
LEGACY ENERGY
Fossil fuel–based patterns of consumption and approaches to economic growth are
deeply embedded in national political and regulatory systems. Decarbonization won’t
happen without a fight.
SHORT-TERMISM
The natural human tendency to focus on the here and now gets amplified by
climate-related fear, passivity, and apathy, that drown out long-term thinking.
RISE IN DISPOSABLE INCOMES
Economic growth brings with it rising demands for all types of consumer goods,
putting increasing strain on resources and expanding outputs of CO2.
ATTENTION SCARCITY
As we become increasingly overwhelmed by rapid, flashy media
cycles and addictive entertainment, it becomes more and
more difficult for climate dangers to break through the noise.
FACT RESISTANCE
Science, journalism, and other fact-gathering institutions
are challenged by rampant misinformation, that turns
policy debates into polarized shouting matches.
PROTECTIONISM
Economic and political nationalism reduce the
public appetite for financing cross-border
solutions to planet-scale problems.
EXTREME WEATHER.
RISING SEAS.
FOOD SCARCITY.
The science and symptoms are clear: climate disruptions are all around
us. Over the past several decades, citizens and governments have
mobilized to contain the menace of a changing climate. We’ve forged
new global partnerships and agreements. Scientific advancements have
helped us model climate change scenarios with greater accuracy and
design better solutions for preventing the worst of them from happening.
We’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars in monitoring, prevention,
and mitigation technologies. We’ve developed new laws and cutting-edge
financial instruments to coordinate action at scale.
And yet, much more needs to be done. We have the knowledge and resources to prevent
global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial times, but science
and technology alone won’t get us there. We must accelerate momentum toward a
new narrative that galvanizes and inspires. One that moves us all—individuals and
governments, manufacturers and investors—to hasten our march toward decarbonization.
Now we have a chance to do just that. No one can know for certain what the future holds
for climate change, but we can attempt to identify a broad set of actors—emerging and
those yet to emerge—from the public, private, international, national, and civic sectors to
reimagine our response to climate change. In this new narrative, what we call “The Future
of Climate Action,” climate influences every aspect of our daily lives and pushes us to
care for the earth, ourselves, and generations to come. It delivers us from fear, uncertainty,
and doubt, because it centers instead on opportunity, meaning, and possibility.
Through this narrative, and this map, we can blaze a new path. It opens the door to a
future we can build and mold by focusing on the external forces that shape our capacity
to act. It describes the emerging opportunity zones, or levers, for accelerating progress.
It poses provocative questions to stimulate ideas for altering power dynamics rather than
focusing on current prevention, mitigation, and adaptation efforts, and it predicts the
frictions we may encounter as we work to advance climate action.
“The Future of Climate Action” describes the hopeful signals of change of today and
presents positive scenarios of tomorrow to inform action and ignite genuine change.
Today we begin writing
that story. Today we take
that leap toward an
urgently needed future.
www.iftf.org
www.climateinvestmentfunds.org
Special thanks for contributions from our partners at Impossible Labs.
© 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands
and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.
SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
A NEW STORY TO SPARK
THE FUTURE OF
CLIMATE
ACTION
THINKGLOBALLY,ACTEVERYWHERE
Thismapismorethananoutlineofanewnarrativeforthefuture.It’satool
formatchingexternalforcestodesignnewcoalitions,identifyareasfor
experimentation,andcapitalizeonnewopportunitiestoaccelerate
climateaction.
Whetherinmultilateralnegotiations,top-downmandates,orcommunityorganizing,
threemodesofinteractioncanbeleveragedtomotivatepartners:
•	WecanCOMPELotherstodowhattheywouldn’tvoluntarilydo.Forexample,governments
mightdesignregulationsandpricingschemesthatmotivateashiftinproductiontowards
moreclimate-friendlymodelsofappliancesandvehicles,mandatingmanufacturerstocomply
andmakingecologicallysustainablemodelsmoreattractivetoconsumers.
•	WecanEMPOWERotherstouseexistingresourcestocommunicatewiththeirconstituents
andcrafttheirowncompellingnarratives.Forexample,scientificinstitutionscouldwork
multilaterallywithartists,designers,andsocialactiviststomakeclimatedataaccessible
bymobilephonesinhighlycontext-relevantwaystoempowerinterestedcitizensandcivic
organizationstoengagetheircommunitiesinclimateaction.
•	WecanATTRACTotherswhocare,pullingthemincloserandcreatingasenseofurgency
andmeaning.Forexample,anewwaveofgloballyconnectedyouthactivistsmightunleash
freshmessagingcampaignsthatdrawinconfusedoruninterestedparents,siblings,and
teachers,eventuallyimpactingnationaldecisionmakerswithinawiderangeofinternal
politicalsystems.
EXTERNAL FORCES
key drivers shaping the landscape
for climate action
These are major developments impacting the larger external environment
in which climate action will take place.
extreme megacities
Vast cities will house up to two-thirds of the world’s population by 2030, and most of them will
be located within 100 kilometers of coastal zones. These urban centers will concentrate the
effects of climate disruption such as storm surges, putting trillions of dollars at risk, and will
spur a new wave of climate gentrification as the wealthy relocate to safe areas. This will also
make municipal governments the frontline for climate efforts, driving subnational and multipolar
climate action to new levels.
climate suffering
City dwellers around the globe will suffer cardiovascular and respiratory health conditions
caused by dirty emissions from vehicles, factories, and power plants. Deforestation, too much
or too little rain, and rising temperatures will push insects and animals into unwanted contact
with humans, spreading disease. The elderly will be especially vulnerable. Challenged by
personal health consequences, citizens will press for change.
solastalgia
As the severe weather effects of climate change significantly damage iconic cultural sites such
as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, as well as coastal habitats and endangered animal species,
these losses are likely to trigger widespread “solastalgia”—nostalgia or wistfulness for terrains
lost. Just like nostalgia, which scientists have found to create a sense of continuity with the
past and greater social connectedness, solastalgia is likely to foster a sense of continuity with
earlier terrains and encourage social connectedness among those eager to act together to
prevent their destruction.
abundant data for decision making
New sensing technology such as satellite imaging, drone mapping, and ocean sensors will
provide a view of our planet at extraordinary resolution. The ability to track consumption,
production, and weather patterns at new scales will make previously invisible impacts of
climate change visible. Embedding digital intelligence in our physical environment—from self-
driving cars to phones that track air quality—will allow real-time analysis for decision making.
new authorities, new power dynamics
How we influence at scale and who has the ability to do so will shift as new media platforms
enable individuals to project their voices to millions and geopolitical changes give rise to new
economic power centers. Old power, held by a few and jealously guarded, closed, inaccessible,
and leader-driven, will give way to new power, which is made by many, open, participatory, and
peer-driven, in the words of activist authors Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms. The new power
dynamics will open up new opportunities for climate action at all levels—local, global, civic, and
institutional.
technologies of decentralization
The next decade will see the steady rise of tools—such as blockchain, grid edge, and
crowdsourcing—that cut out unnecessary middlemen and empower network edges.
Blockchain will be used not simply as digital currency but for “smart” peer-to-peer and peer-
to-market contracts, and will fuel new experiments in secure identity, distributed ownership,
and financial transactions. These tools will push us to rethink scale, enabling investment and
insurance for more local, less mainstream climate projects.
ORGANIZING WITHOUT ORGANIZATIONS
from formal structures to networked nodes
Networked, distributed, open organizational
forms are overtaking and replacing the
ones we’ve relied on for the last several
centuries, creating new ways to get things
done. The new organizations will be more
porous, distributed, and activated than legacy
institutions, while also being less stable and
unpredictable. Characterized by reputation-
based systems, software-managed processes,
and networks of contributors rather than
formal staffs, these emerging twenty-first-
century organizations will offer incentives
beyond monetary compensation. Participants
will be driven by opportunities to build
reputations and have awe-inspiring impact.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Redesigning institutional structures to
incentivize connection with open, emergent
networks; prototyping nation-level
crowdfunding and crowdsourcing sites
for climate adaptation
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Institutional bridge builders, community
managers, platform cooperatives,
blockchain nodes	
CLIMATE AS GROWTH SPACE
from burden to profitable investment
By 2030 the profitability of technologies and
businesses that benefit the climate will be
proven, shifting our views on investments
for climate change. Soon they will be seen
as areas of innovation and profit. New
markets in climate data and insurable
natural infrastructure—and even climate-
sector cryptocurrencies—will emerge. With
assets at risk, large companies will invest
more in adaptation, services, and their own
renewable energy infrastructure. Job seekers,
development, and workforce programs
will see the climate change sector as a job
creator. Nations and corporations will need to
rebalance economic and social priorities by
promoting climate-friendly investment policies
and encouraging greater wealth equality.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Incubating climate services start-ups in least-
developed countries; funding entrepreneurs
to de-risk green products, driving larger
corporate investment; developing new
business school programs to balance social
goals such as ecosystem preservation with
economic profits
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Entrepreneurship policymakers, workforce
planners, start-ups, elite investors at scale
(especially insurance companies, pension
funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments,
and foundations), climate entrepreneurs
ALGORITHMIC ACTION
from people power to computer collaborators
Smart systems and objects will undertake
climate action on our behalf. Over the next
decade, regulators and programmers will
bake climate action into our processes and
machines—imagine social credit systems that
automatically register and sanction polluters,
and objects that organize their own power
consumption. Artificially intelligent personal
assistants like Siri and Alexa could make
climate-friendly individual consumption the
default, while industrial automation does the
same at the institutional level. Smart contracts,
based on blockchains, will allow groups of any
size to create automated exchanges, whether
land titles or excess electrons.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Automating climate regulation compliance;
outsourcing climate regulation compliance;
enabling peer-to-market energy transactions
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Compliance system designers, process
automation programmers, smart grid
managers
WATCHFUL EYES
from institutional authority to crowd oversight
By 2030, collaborative climate data gathering,
citizen monitoring of places and institutions,
and shared knowledge bases will allow
greater independent oversight and verification
of what’s happening to our planet. Mass
observation from diverse perspectives will be
a critical method for pushing back against
false information from official sources (both
governmental and corporate) and corruption.
Hiding bad actions from public scrutiny will
become much harder. The new transparency
will bring new voices and authorities into
climate conversations, enabling action on a
wider scale.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Building systems for cross-border data
analysis; funding open source climate data
collection tools and teaching citizens how to
use them
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Anti-corruption activists, journalists,
manufacturers of user-friendly climate data
collection hardware
IMMERSIVE NEWS
from distant facts to intimate impact
New storytelling tools will convert complex,
jargon-laden graphs into emotional
experiences, increasing our psychological
grasp of the reality of climate change. A wide
variety of new techniques—including virtual
and augmented reality simulations, snappy
Internet memes, and feedback loops about
climate impacts of daily activities—will draw
in people who don’t care about climate
change and mobilize people who are ready
to act. Accurate climate data repositories—
accessible in multiple sensory-rich formats
and comprehensible to both pros and
amateurs—will be critical building blocks.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Bringing real impacts to life via visceral
experiences; optimizing climate data
platforms for sense making and story
building; designing climate action memes and
infographics
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Media creation tool developers, science
journalists, entertainment creatives
MEDIA FOR GOOD
from computational propaganda
to positive persuasion
Tools for injecting ideas into the media
will become more accessible and more
powerful, wielded not only by disruptive
national actors but also by corporations,
NGOs, governments, and individuals. The
technology underlying the weaponized
bots and computational propaganda
that activated anti-democratic behavior
worldwide in the late 2010s can also be
harnessed to openly influence environmental
beliefs, connect micro-communities, and
organize pro-climate social behavior in the
2020s. Transparency will be critical: knowing
that information came from a bot won’t
necessarily undermine its effectiveness. It
may even make it more trustworthy, if one
knows the source of the bot.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Signal tracking and signal boosting in real
time; designing and deploying bot networks
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Bot networks, social media
platform designers
Thesemodesofinteractionaren’tnew.What’snovelisthatabroadersetofactors
willbeabletousethemodestoinfluenceoneanother,acrossbordersandat
differentscales.Sometimesthepersuasionwillbebasedongoodold-fashioned
politicsandfinancialincentives.Butwealsodesperatelyneedunpredictable—
evenunimaginable—newcoalitionsandtactics.
Asyoulookto2030,askyourselfhowyoucanuseideasfromthemapto
shakeupyourcurrentstakeholdercoalitionsandbuildanewnarrativethat
willdrivechange:
•	Howmightyouempoweradifferent
setofvoicesthatcouldalterpower
dynamicsamongtraditionalstakeholders?
•	Howmightyoudrastically
increasethenumberandquality
ofinteractionsamongyourcurrent
stakeholderstodrivefaster,larger,
ormoreefficientimpact?
•	Howmightyoutransform
yourorganization’sown
storytoconnectwitha
massaudience?
ACTIVATED YOUTH
from siloed scenes to meme movements
While not every young person will be
online by 2030, increased connectivity will
provide access to next-generation, cutting-
edge viral communication techniques
born of youth Internet and mobile phone
culture. Young people in places subject to
the most devastating impacts of climate
change will bear witness on global social
media platforms and in on-the-ground
movements, activating peers in developing
and developed economies alike. As in the
past, youth-led social movements will be an
emotional nucleus of change with the power
to transform national politics. This time, they
will fight for the health of the planet.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Harnessing online response for street
action; teaching youth how to understand
government structures and reach
government officials
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Girls, students, youth-supporting groups
WOMEN AS CLIMATE ACTION LEADERS
from traditional gender roles to
empowered representation
Women are disproportionately impacted
by climate change—an outsized number
of climate migrants are women, as just
one example—and they are also critical
to taking action on climate change. In the
next decade, as high-level policymakers,
they will be responsible for increased
international cooperation. In rural and
developing communities, they will leverage
social and familial roles to change public
sentiment on climate action. Communities
and frameworks that tap into the organizing
ability and knowledge capital of women
will succeed better at climate action efforts
than those that continue the status quo of
underrepresentation.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Seeking out and empowering women
in climate action leadership positions;
supporting women as local and ground-
level influencers
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Female politicians, female community
organizers, women-led organizations
ACCELERATING CLIMATE ACTION
zones of opportunity
Zones of opportunity outline new possibility spaces for reframing the
narrative around climate change and accelerating climate action.
FRICTIONPOINTS
obstacleshampering
climatechangeaction
Weneedtowriteanewnarrativeofclimatechangeaction.
Anarrativethatcompels,empowers,andattractspeopleacross
industriesandgeographiestothinkofclimatechangenotasan
intractableproblem,butasaspaceforinnovativesolutions.
Thismaphelpstonavigatethisspacebyexaminingalltheinfluential
elementsofthenextdecadeofclimateaction,includingthe
FrictionPointsthatinterferewithclimateactionresponses.
LEGACYENERGY
Fossilfuel–basedpatternsofconsumptionandapproachestoeconomicgrowthare
deeplyembeddedinnationalpoliticalandregulatorysystems.Decarbonizationwon’t
happenwithoutafight.
SHORT-TERMISM
Thenaturalhumantendencytofocusonthehereandnowgetsamplifiedby
climate-relatedfear,passivity,andapathy,thatdrownoutlong-termthinking.
RISEINDISPOSABLEINCOMES
Economicgrowthbringswithitrisingdemandsforalltypesofconsumergoods,
puttingincreasingstrainonresourcesandexpandingoutputsofCO2.
ATTENTIONSCARCITY
Aswebecomeincreasinglyoverwhelmedbyrapid,flashymedia
cyclesandaddictiveentertainment,itbecomesmoreand
moredifficultforclimatedangerstobreakthroughthenoise.
FACTRESISTANCE
Science,journalism,andotherfact-gatheringinstitutions
arechallengedbyrampantmisinformation,thatturns
policydebatesintopolarizedshoutingmatches.
PROTECTIONISM
Economicandpoliticalnationalismreducethe
publicappetiteforfinancingcross-border
solutionstoplanet-scaleproblems.
EXTREMEWEATHER.
RISINGSEAS.
FOODSCARCITY.
Thescienceandsymptomsareclear:climatedisruptionsareallaround
us.Overthepastseveraldecades,citizensandgovernmentshave
mobilizedtocontainthemenaceofachangingclimate.We’veforged
newglobalpartnershipsandagreements.Scientificadvancementshave
helpedusmodelclimatechangescenarioswithgreateraccuracyand
designbettersolutionsforpreventingtheworstofthemfromhappening.
We’veinvestedhundredsofbillionsofdollarsinmonitoring,prevention,
andmitigationtechnologies.We’vedevelopednewlawsandcutting-edge
financialinstrumentstocoordinateactionatscale.
Andyet,muchmoreneedstobedone.Wehavetheknowledgeandresourcestoprevent
globaltemperaturesfromrisingmorethan2°Cabovepre-industrialtimes,butscience
andtechnologyalonewon’tgetusthere.Wemustacceleratemomentumtowarda
newnarrativethatgalvanizesandinspires.Onethatmovesusall—individualsand
governments,manufacturersandinvestors—tohastenourmarchtowarddecarbonization.
Nowwehaveachancetodojustthat.Noonecanknowforcertainwhatthefutureholds
forclimatechange,butwecanattempttoidentifyabroadsetofactors—emergingand
thoseyettoemerge—fromthepublic,private,international,national,andcivicsectorsto
reimagineourresponsetoclimatechange.Inthisnewnarrative,whatwecall“TheFuture
ofClimateAction,”climateinfluenceseveryaspectofourdailylivesandpushesusto
carefortheearth,ourselves,andgenerationstocome.Itdeliversusfromfear,uncertainty,
anddoubt,becauseitcentersinsteadonopportunity,meaning,andpossibility.
Throughthisnarrative,andthismap,wecanblazeanewpath.Itopensthedoortoa
futurewecanbuildandmoldbyfocusingontheexternalforcesthatshapeourcapacity
toact.Itdescribestheemergingopportunityzones,orlevers,foracceleratingprogress.
Itposesprovocativequestionstostimulateideasforalteringpowerdynamicsratherthan
focusingoncurrentprevention,mitigation,andadaptationefforts,anditpredictsthe
frictionswemayencounterasweworktoadvanceclimateaction.
“TheFutureofClimateAction”describesthehopefulsignalsofchangeoftodayand
presentspositivescenariosoftomorrowtoinformactionandignitegenuinechange.
Todaywebeginwriting
thatstory.Todaywetake
thatleaptowardan
urgentlyneededfuture.
www.iftf.org
www.climateinvestmentfunds.org
SpecialthanksforcontributionsfromourpartnersatImpossibleLabs.
©2018InstitutefortheFuture.Allrightsreserved.Allbrands
andtrademarksremainthepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners.
SR-2037A|CCBY-NC-ND4.0
ANEWSTORYTOSPARK
THEFUTUREOF
CLIMATE
ACTION
THINKGLOBALLY,ACTEVERYWHERE
Thismapismorethananoutlineofanewnarrativeforthefuture.It’satool
formatchingexternalforcestodesignnewcoalitions,identifyareasfor
experimentation,andcapitalizeonnewopportunitiestoaccelerate
climateaction.
Whetherinmultilateralnegotiations,top-downmandates,orcommunityorganizing,
threemodesofinteractioncanbeleveragedtomotivatepartners:
•	WecanCOMPELotherstodowhattheywouldn’tvoluntarilydo.Forexample,governments
mightdesignregulationsandpricingschemesthatmotivateashiftinproductiontowards
moreclimate-friendlymodelsofappliancesandvehicles,mandatingmanufacturerstocomply
andmakingecologicallysustainablemodelsmoreattractivetoconsumers.
•	WecanEMPOWERotherstouseexistingresourcestocommunicatewiththeirconstituents
andcrafttheirowncompellingnarratives.Forexample,scientificinstitutionscouldwork
multilaterallywithartists,designers,andsocialactiviststomakeclimatedataaccessible
bymobilephonesinhighlycontext-relevantwaystoempowerinterestedcitizensandcivic
organizationstoengagetheircommunitiesinclimateaction.
•	WecanATTRACTotherswhocare,pullingthemincloserandcreatingasenseofurgency
andmeaning.Forexample,anewwaveofgloballyconnectedyouthactivistsmightunleash
freshmessagingcampaignsthatdrawinconfusedoruninterestedparents,siblings,and
teachers,eventuallyimpactingnationaldecisionmakerswithinawiderangeofinternal
politicalsystems.
EXTERNAL FORCES
key drivers shaping the landscape
for climate action
These are major developments impacting the larger external environment
in which climate action will take place.
extreme megacities
Vast cities will house up to two-thirds of the world’s population by 2030, and most of them will
be located within 100 kilometers of coastal zones. These urban centers will concentrate the
effects of climate disruption such as storm surges, putting trillions of dollars at risk, and will
spur a new wave of climate gentrification as the wealthy relocate to safe areas. This will also
make municipal governments the frontline for climate efforts, driving subnational and multipolar
climate action to new levels.
climate suffering
City dwellers around the globe will suffer cardiovascular and respiratory health conditions
caused by dirty emissions from vehicles, factories, and power plants. Deforestation, too much
or too little rain, and rising temperatures will push insects and animals into unwanted contact
with humans, spreading disease. The elderly will be especially vulnerable. Challenged by
personal health consequences, citizens will press for change.
solastalgia
As the severe weather effects of climate change significantly damage iconic cultural sites such
as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, as well as coastal habitats and endangered animal species,
these losses are likely to trigger widespread “solastalgia”—nostalgia or wistfulness for terrains
lost. Just like nostalgia, which scientists have found to create a sense of continuity with the
past and greater social connectedness, solastalgia is likely to foster a sense of continuity with
earlier terrains and encourage social connectedness among those eager to act together to
prevent their destruction.
abundant data for decision making
New sensing technology such as satellite imaging, drone mapping, and ocean sensors will
provide a view of our planet at extraordinary resolution. The ability to track consumption,
production, and weather patterns at new scales will make previously invisible impacts of
climate change visible. Embedding digital intelligence in our physical environment—from self-
driving cars to phones that track air quality—will allow real-time analysis for decision making.
new authorities, new power dynamics
How we influence at scale and who has the ability to do so will shift as new media platforms
enable individuals to project their voices to millions and geopolitical changes give rise to new
economic power centers. Old power, held by a few and jealously guarded, closed, inaccessible,
and leader-driven, will give way to new power, which is made by many, open, participatory, and
peer-driven, in the words of activist authors Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms. The new power
dynamics will open up new opportunities for climate action at all levels—local, global, civic, and
institutional.
technologies of decentralization
The next decade will see the steady rise of tools—such as blockchain, grid edge, and
crowdsourcing—that cut out unnecessary middlemen and empower network edges.
Blockchain will be used not simply as digital currency but for “smart” peer-to-peer and peer-
to-market contracts, and will fuel new experiments in secure identity, distributed ownership,
and financial transactions. These tools will push us to rethink scale, enabling investment and
insurance for more local, less mainstream climate projects.
ORGANIZING WITHOUT ORGANIZATIONS
from formal structures to networked nodes
Networked, distributed, open organizational
forms are overtaking and replacing the
ones we’ve relied on for the last several
centuries, creating new ways to get things
done. The new organizations will be more
porous, distributed, and activated than legacy
institutions, while also being less stable and
unpredictable. Characterized by reputation-
based systems, software-managed processes,
and networks of contributors rather than
formal staffs, these emerging twenty-first-
century organizations will offer incentives
beyond monetary compensation. Participants
will be driven by opportunities to build
reputations and have awe-inspiring impact.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Redesigning institutional structures to
incentivize connection with open, emergent
networks; prototyping nation-level
crowdfunding and crowdsourcing sites
for climate adaptation
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Institutional bridge builders, community
managers, platform cooperatives,
blockchain nodes	
CLIMATE AS GROWTH SPACE
from burden to profitable investment
By 2030 the profitability of technologies and
businesses that benefit the climate will be
proven, shifting our views on investments
for climate change. Soon they will be seen
as areas of innovation and profit. New
markets in climate data and insurable
natural infrastructure—and even climate-
sector cryptocurrencies—will emerge. With
assets at risk, large companies will invest
more in adaptation, services, and their own
renewable energy infrastructure. Job seekers,
development, and workforce programs
will see the climate change sector as a job
creator. Nations and corporations will need to
rebalance economic and social priorities by
promoting climate-friendly investment policies
and encouraging greater wealth equality.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Incubating climate services start-ups in least-
developed countries; funding entrepreneurs
to de-risk green products, driving larger
corporate investment; developing new
business school programs to balance social
goals such as ecosystem preservation with
economic profits
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Entrepreneurship policymakers, workforce
planners, start-ups, elite investors at scale
(especially insurance companies, pension
funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments,
and foundations), climate entrepreneurs
ALGORITHMIC ACTION
from people power to computer collaborators
Smart systems and objects will undertake
climate action on our behalf. Over the next
decade, regulators and programmers will
bake climate action into our processes and
machines—imagine social credit systems that
automatically register and sanction polluters,
and objects that organize their own power
consumption. Artificially intelligent personal
assistants like Siri and Alexa could make
climate-friendly individual consumption the
default, while industrial automation does the
same at the institutional level. Smart contracts,
based on blockchains, will allow groups of any
size to create automated exchanges, whether
land titles or excess electrons.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Automating climate regulation compliance;
outsourcing climate regulation compliance;
enabling peer-to-market energy transactions
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Compliance system designers, process
automation programmers, smart grid
managers
WATCHFUL EYES
from institutional authority to crowd oversight
By 2030, collaborative climate data gathering,
citizen monitoring of places and institutions,
and shared knowledge bases will allow
greater independent oversight and verification
of what’s happening to our planet. Mass
observation from diverse perspectives will be
a critical method for pushing back against
false information from official sources (both
governmental and corporate) and corruption.
Hiding bad actions from public scrutiny will
become much harder. The new transparency
will bring new voices and authorities into
climate conversations, enabling action on a
wider scale.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Building systems for cross-border data
analysis; funding open source climate data
collection tools and teaching citizens how to
use them
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Anti-corruption activists, journalists,
manufacturers of user-friendly climate data
collection hardware
IMMERSIVE NEWS
from distant facts to intimate impact
New storytelling tools will convert complex,
jargon-laden graphs into emotional
experiences, increasing our psychological
grasp of the reality of climate change. A wide
variety of new techniques—including virtual
and augmented reality simulations, snappy
Internet memes, and feedback loops about
climate impacts of daily activities—will draw
in people who don’t care about climate
change and mobilize people who are ready
to act. Accurate climate data repositories—
accessible in multiple sensory-rich formats
and comprehensible to both pros and
amateurs—will be critical building blocks.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Bringing real impacts to life via visceral
experiences; optimizing climate data
platforms for sense making and story
building; designing climate action memes and
infographics
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Media creation tool developers, science
journalists, entertainment creatives
MEDIA FOR GOOD
from computational propaganda
to positive persuasion
Tools for injecting ideas into the media
will become more accessible and more
powerful, wielded not only by disruptive
national actors but also by corporations,
NGOs, governments, and individuals. The
technology underlying the weaponized
bots and computational propaganda
that activated anti-democratic behavior
worldwide in the late 2010s can also be
harnessed to openly influence environmental
beliefs, connect micro-communities, and
organize pro-climate social behavior in the
2020s. Transparency will be critical: knowing
that information came from a bot won’t
necessarily undermine its effectiveness. It
may even make it more trustworthy, if one
knows the source of the bot.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Signal tracking and signal boosting in real
time; designing and deploying bot networks
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Bot networks, social media
platform designers
Thesemodesofinteractionaren’tnew.What’snovelisthatabroadersetofactors
willbeabletousethemodestoinfluenceoneanother,acrossbordersandat
differentscales.Sometimesthepersuasionwillbebasedongoodold-fashioned
politicsandfinancialincentives.Butwealsodesperatelyneedunpredictable—
evenunimaginable—newcoalitionsandtactics.
Asyoulookto2030,askyourselfhowyoucanuseideasfromthemapto
shakeupyourcurrentstakeholdercoalitionsandbuildanewnarrativethat
willdrivechange:
•	Howmightyouempoweradifferent
setofvoicesthatcouldalterpower
dynamicsamongtraditionalstakeholders?
•	Howmightyoudrastically
increasethenumberandquality
ofinteractionsamongyourcurrent
stakeholderstodrivefaster,larger,
ormoreefficientimpact?
•	Howmightyoutransform
yourorganization’sown
storytoconnectwitha
massaudience?
ACTIVATED YOUTH
from siloed scenes to meme movements
While not every young person will be
online by 2030, increased connectivity will
provide access to next-generation, cutting-
edge viral communication techniques
born of youth Internet and mobile phone
culture. Young people in places subject to
the most devastating impacts of climate
change will bear witness on global social
media platforms and in on-the-ground
movements, activating peers in developing
and developed economies alike. As in the
past, youth-led social movements will be an
emotional nucleus of change with the power
to transform national politics. This time, they
will fight for the health of the planet.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Harnessing online response for street
action; teaching youth how to understand
government structures and reach
government officials
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Girls, students, youth-supporting groups
WOMEN AS CLIMATE ACTION LEADERS
from traditional gender roles to
empowered representation
Women are disproportionately impacted
by climate change—an outsized number
of climate migrants are women, as just
one example—and they are also critical
to taking action on climate change. In the
next decade, as high-level policymakers,
they will be responsible for increased
international cooperation. In rural and
developing communities, they will leverage
social and familial roles to change public
sentiment on climate action. Communities
and frameworks that tap into the organizing
ability and knowledge capital of women
will succeed better at climate action efforts
than those that continue the status quo of
underrepresentation.
NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION:
Seeking out and empowering women
in climate action leadership positions;
supporting women as local and ground-
level influencers
NEW CLIMATE ACTORS:
Female politicians, female community
organizers, women-led organizations
ACCELERATING CLIMATE ACTION
zones of opportunity
Zones of opportunity outline new possibility spaces for reframing the
narrative around climate change and accelerating climate action.
FRICTIONPOINTS
obstacleshampering
climatechangeaction
Weneedtowriteanewnarrativeofclimatechangeaction.
Anarrativethatcompels,empowers,andattractspeopleacross
industriesandgeographiestothinkofclimatechangenotasan
intractableproblem,butasaspaceforinnovativesolutions.
Thismaphelpstonavigatethisspacebyexaminingalltheinfluential
elementsofthenextdecadeofclimateaction,includingthe
FrictionPointsthatinterferewithclimateactionresponses.
LEGACYENERGY
Fossilfuel–basedpatternsofconsumptionandapproachestoeconomicgrowthare
deeplyembeddedinnationalpoliticalandregulatorysystems.Decarbonizationwon’t
happenwithoutafight.
SHORT-TERMISM
Thenaturalhumantendencytofocusonthehereandnowgetsamplifiedby
climate-relatedfear,passivity,andapathy,thatdrownoutlong-termthinking.
RISEINDISPOSABLEINCOMES
Economicgrowthbringswithitrisingdemandsforalltypesofconsumergoods,
puttingincreasingstrainonresourcesandexpandingoutputsofCO2.
ATTENTIONSCARCITY
Aswebecomeincreasinglyoverwhelmedbyrapid,flashymedia
cyclesandaddictiveentertainment,itbecomesmoreand
moredifficultforclimatedangerstobreakthroughthenoise.
FACTRESISTANCE
Science,journalism,andotherfact-gatheringinstitutions
arechallengedbyrampantmisinformation,thatturns
policydebatesintopolarizedshoutingmatches.
PROTECTIONISM
Economicandpoliticalnationalismreducethe
publicappetiteforfinancingcross-border
solutionstoplanet-scaleproblems.
EXTREMEWEATHER.
RISINGSEAS.
FOODSCARCITY.
Thescienceandsymptomsareclear:climatedisruptionsareallaround
us.Overthepastseveraldecades,citizensandgovernmentshave
mobilizedtocontainthemenaceofachangingclimate.We’veforged
newglobalpartnershipsandagreements.Scientificadvancementshave
helpedusmodelclimatechangescenarioswithgreateraccuracyand
designbettersolutionsforpreventingtheworstofthemfromhappening.
We’veinvestedhundredsofbillionsofdollarsinmonitoring,prevention,
andmitigationtechnologies.We’vedevelopednewlawsandcutting-edge
financialinstrumentstocoordinateactionatscale.
Andyet,muchmoreneedstobedone.Wehavetheknowledgeandresourcestoprevent
globaltemperaturesfromrisingmorethan2°Cabovepre-industrialtimes,butscience
andtechnologyalonewon’tgetusthere.Wemustacceleratemomentumtowarda
newnarrativethatgalvanizesandinspires.Onethatmovesusall—individualsand
governments,manufacturersandinvestors—tohastenourmarchtowarddecarbonization.
Nowwehaveachancetodojustthat.Noonecanknowforcertainwhatthefutureholds
forclimatechange,butwecanattempttoidentifyabroadsetofactors—emergingand
thoseyettoemerge—fromthepublic,private,international,national,andcivicsectorsto
reimagineourresponsetoclimatechange.Inthisnewnarrative,whatwecall“TheFuture
ofClimateAction,”climateinfluenceseveryaspectofourdailylivesandpushesusto
carefortheearth,ourselves,andgenerationstocome.Itdeliversusfromfear,uncertainty,
anddoubt,becauseitcentersinsteadonopportunity,meaning,andpossibility.
Throughthisnarrative,andthismap,wecanblazeanewpath.Itopensthedoortoa
futurewecanbuildandmoldbyfocusingontheexternalforcesthatshapeourcapacity
toact.Itdescribestheemergingopportunityzones,orlevers,foracceleratingprogress.
Itposesprovocativequestionstostimulateideasforalteringpowerdynamicsratherthan
focusingoncurrentprevention,mitigation,andadaptationefforts,anditpredictsthe
frictionswemayencounterasweworktoadvanceclimateaction.
“TheFutureofClimateAction”describesthehopefulsignalsofchangeoftodayand
presentspositivescenariosoftomorrowtoinformactionandignitegenuinechange.
Todaywebeginwriting
thatstory.Todaywetake
thatleaptowardan
urgentlyneededfuture.
www.iftf.org
www.climateinvestmentfunds.org
SpecialthanksforcontributionsfromourpartnersatImpossibleLabs.
©2018InstitutefortheFuture.Allrightsreserved.Allbrands
andtrademarksremainthepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners.
SR-2037A|CCBY-NC-ND4.0
ANEWSTORYTOSPARK
THEFUTUREOF
CLIMATE
ACTION
© 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands and trademarks
remain the property of their respective owners. SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
IMMERSIVE
NEWS
from distant facts
to intimate impact
WATCHFUL
EYES
from institutional
authority to
crowd oversight
WOMEN AS
CLIMATE ACTION
LEADERS
from traditional
gender roles to
empowered
representation
ORGANIZING
WITHOUT
ORGANIZATIONS
from formal structures
to networked nodes
ALGORITHMIC
ACTION
from people power
to computer
collaborators
ACTIVATED
YOUTH
from siloed scenes
to meme
movements
March For Our Lives, a movement launched
by high school students, rapidly generated
one of the largest US political protests ever and
is reshaping the dynamics of addressing gun
violence issues, long considered
politically untouchable.
Source: marchforourlives.com
Image: facebook.com/marchforourlives.
Youth rapper Sonita Alizadeh’s music video Brides for Sale
spread her story of escaping fate as a child bride in Afghanistan
after it went viral, reaching leaders and citizens worldwide. The song
became the launchpad for her advocacy organization, Girls Not
Brides, which has formed a global network of more than 800 civil
society groups that work to end child marriage as well as accomplish
a number of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Source: https://www.sonita.org/
Image: flickr user IIP Photo Archive
The Earth Journalism Network in
February 2018 launched a three-year
project to help journalists, educators,
and activists create and distribute
reliable, actionable information to
increase climate resilience in vulnerable
communities in the Bay of Bengal region.
Source and Image: earthjournalism.net
Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning
conceptual virtual reality installation
CARNE y ARENA places visitors inside an
encounter between immigrants and police
on the US-Mexico border, transforming
reportage into immersive experience.
Source and Image: lacma.org/carne-y-arena
ME SOLshare, a peer-to-peer solar
microgrid, lets citizens in Bangladesh
independently generate solar PV power
and then buy it from and sell it to one
another using plug-and-play blockchain-
powered electricity meters.
Source and Image: me-solshare.com
IBM and Samsung developed a
proof-of-concept using their ADEPT
(Autonomous Decentralized Peer-to-
Peer Telemetry) protocol to enable a
washing machine to autonomously
negotiate energy use with the grid
so as to avoid peak power usage.
Source: insights.samsung.com
Image: ibm.com
People’s Project is a citizen-led online
crowdfunding platform that was started to
provide the Ukrainian army with equipment
and then expanded to fund rehabilitation of
wounded soldiers and support promising
projects and initiatives in Ukraine.
Source and Image: peoplesproject.com/en
DeepMind AI, a powerful machine learning system,
has reduced the energy used to cool Google’s
massive data centers by up to 40 percent by
automating dynamic energy consumption.
Source: deepmind.com
Image: unbonmotgroundswell.blogspot.com
Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) project,
funded by USAID, holds local governments accountable for
progress on capital projects like construction of classrooms and
clinics by equipping citizens with tools to collect firsthand data.
Source: gsamproject.org
Image: facebook.com/gsamproject
The Organized Crime and Corruption
Reporting Project harnesses a global
network of independent journalists
and citizens to conduct cross-border
investigations that expose hidden corruption
via projects like the Panama Papers.
Source: occrp.org
Image: facebook.com/occrp.org
MEDIA
FOR GOOD
from computational
propaganda
to positive persuasion
Researchers find that tweets
from “good” bots spread just as
quickly as bad ones.
Source: journals.plos.org
Image: nytimes.com
The Cognitive Online Simulation of Information
Network Environments (COSINE) project at
Indiana University was granted $4.95 million
by DARPA to investigate online information
diffusion in complex, massive-scale networks.
Source: cnets.indiana.edu
Image: pnas.org
CLIMATE AS
GROWTH SPACE
from burden to
profitable investment
Morocco’s increasingly ambitious power
generation goals—the latest of which is 52%
renewable energy power by 2030—has spurred investors,
from international development banks funding Morocco’s
800MW Noor Midelt solar complex to private firms
like Soluna, a blockchain company with plans to
develop a 900MW wind farm in the area.
Source: www.reuters.com
Image: wikimedia commons
Ninety-six percent of MBA students
at top global business schools
think businesses should lead
efforts to address climate change,
according to a Yale survey of 3,700
students at 29 top business schools
across five continents.
Source and Image: cbey.yale.edu
The Natural Resources Defense Council
reports that a study of 130 countries found
that women in government leadership
positions are more likely than men to
sign on to international treaties taking
action on climate change.
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council
Image: NRDC.org
Zenab for Women in Development, a
Sudanese NGO founded by Fatima
Ahmed in 2000, trains traditionally
excluded women in conservation and
agricultural techniques, and in 2017
won an award from the UNFCCC’s
Momentum for Change program.
Source and Image: https://unfccc.int
PROTECTIONISM
ATTENTION
SCARCITY
RISE IN
DISPOSABLE
INCOMES
FACT
RESISTANCE
LEGACY
ENERGY
SHORT-
TERMISM
the environment is a friend
you can chat with every day?
In daily life most people think of the Voices of Nature (VoNs) as nature spirits, but in reality they
are sophisticated artificial intelligence networks that pull together readings from environmental
sensors embedded in trees, soil, and smartphones and carried on drones and migratory animals.
Some of the world’s best dramatic storytellers turn the data into colorful, personality-packed
updates for social media. A tree-based VoN in New Delhi who brags about cooling the overheated
air and reducing particulate matter made history when its follower count surpassed that of India’s
top cricket player.
It’s estimated that more than 40 percent of the planet’s youth have at least one VoN app,
and about half of them collect local data to feed back to the network. Like other celebrities,
VoNs endorse brands they love and encourage audiences to boycott companies harming the
personified environment. VoNs have given nature a voice and are using that voice to rally a global
network of human friends to defend their cause.
anyone can trade energy
through a local grid?
The boom has finally cooled off and people are no longer making fortunes on open-network grids.
It’s not that it’s no longer profitable but simply that everyone seems to be doing it these days,
from young entrepreneurs building profitable businesses with the latest solar technology to elders
with a single panel helping stretch their savings a little further.
In the early 2020s, blockchain systems finally got reliable and user friendly enough that distributed
solar grids became a popular way to power cities. At first, it was the tech savvy who were buying
up cheap rooftops in Lima, Lagos, and Kuala Lumpur and making piles of cash selling clean
energy. But just like with bitcoin mining, a few big success stories attracted a lot of interest.
The demand for energy is near endless, and these grids are a stable source of income for a lot
of people. Even in places where local investment capital is low, the demand for cheap energy is
high, and the low buy-in cost means anyone can be a green entrepreneur.
bots are a force
for good?
The same tools once used by people to influence elections are now used by civil society groups
to influence popular opinion in an open, transparent, and beneficial way. The new benevolent bots
focus on verifying the truth of statements, finding connections among diverse communities, and
amplifying the stickiest grassroots messages.
It all started with young climate activists. Teenagers in the Maldives whose families were hit hard
by rising sea levels created a mini-movement documenting their struggles and solutions in simple,
powerful memes and videos. An open-source bot started connecting them with teens in Vietnam, Egypt,
and Miami whose profiles signaled the same needs. Facebook and WhatsApp, seeking to rebuild trust
and expand their reach with teen audiences, explicitly jumped on board to help, opening up their APIs.
Now, global connections for climate activists are the fuel that allows most projects to go forward.
Benevolent bots make these connections possible.
our devices guide us towards
climate-friendly decisions?
Behavioral optimization software systems (BOSSes) have become commonplace across a range
of applications, but perhaps their most profound impact has resulted from tens of millions of
users adopting what are known as green BOSSes.
First-generation green BOSSes guided users to make choices they would have found too
complex to make on their own, such as planning the week’s grocery shopping around optimally
low-carbon ingredients. Second- and third-gen BOSSes introduced AI algorithms that guided
massive groups of people to make almost unnoticeably small adjustments in virtually all of their
daily habits, with effects that shocked even the most optimistic BOSS evangelists.
Top algorithm designers say they can’t always understand the linkages their AI makes between
cause and effect, but scientists agree that green BOSS adoption has driven down key climate
change indicators more than any other factor. Nudging people towards climate-friendly behaviors
has made doing the right thing effortless.
WHAT IF IN
2030
WHAT IF IN
2030
WHAT IF IN
2030
WHAT IF IN
2030
CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES
A NEW STORY TO SPARK
THE FUTURE OF
CLIMATE
ACTION
THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION  by  IIF, CIF.

More Related Content

Similar to THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION by IIF, CIF.

Nesta impact partnerships
Nesta impact partnershipsNesta impact partnerships
Nesta impact partnershipsNesta
 
Effective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private Sectors
Effective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private SectorsEffective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private Sectors
Effective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private SectorsE Rey Garcia, MPA, DCS-EIS Candidate
 
Global Integrity Annual Report 2016
Global Integrity Annual Report 2016Global Integrity Annual Report 2016
Global Integrity Annual Report 2016Cashin Yiu
 
Design Public Local, synthèse en anglais
Design Public Local, synthèse en anglaisDesign Public Local, synthèse en anglais
Design Public Local, synthèse en anglaisStéphane VINCENT
 
Intelligent city 12th december nmh
Intelligent city 12th december nmhIntelligent city 12th december nmh
Intelligent city 12th december nmhNicola Headlam
 
Transforming Governance
Transforming GovernanceTransforming Governance
Transforming GovernanceNicole Cabral
 
Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked the impact of socia...
Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked  the impact of socia...Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked  the impact of socia...
Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked the impact of socia...Maikel Anthoni Lazo Torres
 
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2armelleguillermet
 
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challengesASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challengesarmelleguillermet
 
Master thesis sdeg pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...
Master thesis sdeg   pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...Master thesis sdeg   pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...
Master thesis sdeg pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...Pieter van de Glind
 
Crowdsourcing community activism
Crowdsourcing community activismCrowdsourcing community activism
Crowdsourcing community activismAnton Shynkaruk
 
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...Giuseppe Torzi
 
Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...
Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...
Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...mrlgregion
 
"Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic...
 "Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic... "Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic...
"Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic...eraser Juan José Calderón
 
A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...
A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...
A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...José Carlos Mota
 

Similar to THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION by IIF, CIF. (20)

Nesta impact partnerships
Nesta impact partnershipsNesta impact partnerships
Nesta impact partnerships
 
Effective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private Sectors
Effective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private SectorsEffective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private Sectors
Effective Collaboration: Across Public, Nonprofit, and Private Sectors
 
Global Integrity Annual Report 2016
Global Integrity Annual Report 2016Global Integrity Annual Report 2016
Global Integrity Annual Report 2016
 
Design Public Local, synthèse en anglais
Design Public Local, synthèse en anglaisDesign Public Local, synthèse en anglais
Design Public Local, synthèse en anglais
 
Intelligent city 12th december nmh
Intelligent city 12th december nmhIntelligent city 12th december nmh
Intelligent city 12th december nmh
 
Atina ppt son
Atina ppt sonAtina ppt son
Atina ppt son
 
Transforming Governance
Transforming GovernanceTransforming Governance
Transforming Governance
 
Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked the impact of socia...
Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked  the impact of socia...Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked  the impact of socia...
Lyon, t. p., & montgomery, a. w. (2013). tweetjacked the impact of socia...
 
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges - Part 2
 
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challengesASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges
ASIS - Training #7 - Innovation and societal challenges
 
Program Design for Peacemakers
Program Design for PeacemakersProgram Design for Peacemakers
Program Design for Peacemakers
 
Co-Chair Declaration
Co-Chair DeclarationCo-Chair Declaration
Co-Chair Declaration
 
Master thesis sdeg pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...
Master thesis sdeg   pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...Master thesis sdeg   pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...
Master thesis sdeg pieter van de glind - 3845494 - the consumer potential o...
 
Missions
MissionsMissions
Missions
 
Crowdsourcing community activism
Crowdsourcing community activismCrowdsourcing community activism
Crowdsourcing community activism
 
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Technology in the Pre...
 
Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...
Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...
Getting from commitment to impact - leveraging the private sector to support ...
 
"Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic...
 "Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic... "Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic...
"Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’". World Economic...
 
Mcm module 3b
Mcm   module 3bMcm   module 3b
Mcm module 3b
 
A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...
A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...
A new relevant relationship between communities and local authorities through...
 

More from Anna Poberezhna

Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.
Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.
Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.Anna Poberezhna
 
SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core
SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core
SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core Anna Poberezhna
 
Circular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING Bank
Circular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING BankCircular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING Bank
Circular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING BankAnna Poberezhna
 
Circular Economy, Water Resources Management
Circular Economy, Water Resources Management  Circular Economy, Water Resources Management
Circular Economy, Water Resources Management Anna Poberezhna
 
Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)
Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)
Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)Anna Poberezhna
 
Delivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainability
Delivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainabilityDelivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainability
Delivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainabilityAnna Poberezhna
 
Hashing out the future of blockchain for the water industry
Hashing out the future of blockchain for the water industryHashing out the future of blockchain for the water industry
Hashing out the future of blockchain for the water industryAnna Poberezhna
 
Innovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water Governance
Innovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water GovernanceInnovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water Governance
Innovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water GovernanceAnna Poberezhna
 
Beyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchain
Beyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchainBeyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchain
Beyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchainAnna Poberezhna
 

More from Anna Poberezhna (9)

Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.
Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.
Smart4Tech: I-water resource management. Era of smart cities.
 
SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core
SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core
SuperYachts Redefined: Sustainability in Core
 
Circular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING Bank
Circular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING BankCircular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING Bank
Circular Solutions to Water Shortage by ING Bank
 
Circular Economy, Water Resources Management
Circular Economy, Water Resources Management  Circular Economy, Water Resources Management
Circular Economy, Water Resources Management
 
Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)
Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)
Smart4 Water Hub (innovative water thinking)
 
Delivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainability
Delivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainabilityDelivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainability
Delivering blockchain’s potential for environmental sustainability
 
Hashing out the future of blockchain for the water industry
Hashing out the future of blockchain for the water industryHashing out the future of blockchain for the water industry
Hashing out the future of blockchain for the water industry
 
Innovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water Governance
Innovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water GovernanceInnovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water Governance
Innovation, Decentralisation & Blockchain in Water Governance
 
Beyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchain
Beyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchainBeyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchain
Beyond bitcoin: the future of pollution tracking with blockchain
 

Recently uploaded

Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...
Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...
Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...roncy bisnoi
 
The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...
The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...
The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...ranjana rawat
 
Call Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur Escorts
Call Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur EscortsCall Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur Escorts
Call Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur EscortsCall Girls in Nagpur High Profile
 
Call Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Booking
Call Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance BookingCall Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Booking
Call Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Bookingroncy bisnoi
 
Call On 6297143586 Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...
Call On 6297143586  Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...Call On 6297143586  Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...
Call On 6297143586 Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...tanu pandey
 
Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...
Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...
Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...rajputriyana310
 
Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa 6297143586 Call Hot India...
Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa  6297143586 Call Hot India...Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa  6297143586 Call Hot India...
Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa 6297143586 Call Hot India...Call Girls in Nagpur High Profile
 
Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune 6297143586 Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...
Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune  6297143586  Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune  6297143586  Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...
Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune 6297143586 Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...tanu pandey
 
Types of Pollution Powerpoint presentation
Types of Pollution Powerpoint presentationTypes of Pollution Powerpoint presentation
Types of Pollution Powerpoint presentationmarygraceaque1
 
VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...
VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...
VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...SUHANI PANDEY
 
VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...
VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...
VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...SUHANI PANDEY
 
Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth 6297143586 Call Hot Indi...
Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth  6297143586 Call Hot Indi...Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth  6297143586 Call Hot Indi...
Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth 6297143586 Call Hot Indi...Call Girls in Nagpur High Profile
 
VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...
VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...
VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...SUHANI PANDEY
 
Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls 8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...
Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls  8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls  8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...
Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls 8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...tanu pandey
 
Hot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night Stand
Hot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night StandHot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night Stand
Hot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night Standkumarajju5765
 

Recently uploaded (20)

Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...
Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...
Call Girls Talegaon Dabhade Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Boo...
 
The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...
The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...
The Most Attractive Pune Call Girls Shirwal 8250192130 Will You Miss This Cha...
 
Call Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur Escorts
Call Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur EscortsCall Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur Escorts
Call Girl Nagpur Roshni Call 7001035870 Meet With Nagpur Escorts
 
Call Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Booking
Call Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance BookingCall Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Booking
Call Girls Moshi Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Booking
 
Call On 6297143586 Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...
Call On 6297143586  Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...Call On 6297143586  Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...
Call On 6297143586 Pimpri Chinchwad Call Girls In All Pune 24/7 Provide Call...
 
Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...
Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...
Call Girls In Bloom Boutique | GK-1 ☎ 9990224454 High Class Delhi NCR 24 Hour...
 
Call Girls In Yamuna Vihar꧁❤ 🔝 9953056974🔝❤꧂ Escort ServiCe
Call Girls In Yamuna Vihar꧁❤ 🔝 9953056974🔝❤꧂ Escort ServiCeCall Girls In Yamuna Vihar꧁❤ 🔝 9953056974🔝❤꧂ Escort ServiCe
Call Girls In Yamuna Vihar꧁❤ 🔝 9953056974🔝❤꧂ Escort ServiCe
 
Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa 6297143586 Call Hot India...
Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa  6297143586 Call Hot India...Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa  6297143586 Call Hot India...
Book Sex Workers Available Pune Call Girls Kondhwa 6297143586 Call Hot India...
 
Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune 6297143586 Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...
Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune  6297143586  Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune  6297143586  Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...
Kondhwa ( Call Girls ) Pune 6297143586 Hot Model With Sexy Bhabi Ready For ...
 
Sustainable Packaging
Sustainable PackagingSustainable Packaging
Sustainable Packaging
 
Types of Pollution Powerpoint presentation
Types of Pollution Powerpoint presentationTypes of Pollution Powerpoint presentation
Types of Pollution Powerpoint presentation
 
E Waste Management
E Waste ManagementE Waste Management
E Waste Management
 
VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...
VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...
VVIP Pune Call Girls Vishal Nagar WhatSapp Number 8005736733 With Elite Staff...
 
VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...
VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...
VIP Model Call Girls Chakan ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K to 2...
 
Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth 6297143586 Call Hot Indi...
Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth  6297143586 Call Hot Indi...Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth  6297143586 Call Hot Indi...
Booking open Available Pune Call Girls Budhwar Peth 6297143586 Call Hot Indi...
 
VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...
VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...
VIP Model Call Girls Viman Nagar ( Pune ) Call ON 8005736733 Starting From 5K...
 
Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls 8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...
Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls  8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls  8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...
Verified Trusted Kalyani Nagar Call Girls 8005736733 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 Call 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐕...
 
Hot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night Stand
Hot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night StandHot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night Stand
Hot Call Girls |Delhi |Preet Vihar ☎ 9711199171 Book Your One night Stand
 
(NEHA) Call Girls Navi Mumbai Call Now 8250077686 Navi Mumbai Escorts 24x7
(NEHA) Call Girls Navi Mumbai Call Now 8250077686 Navi Mumbai Escorts 24x7(NEHA) Call Girls Navi Mumbai Call Now 8250077686 Navi Mumbai Escorts 24x7
(NEHA) Call Girls Navi Mumbai Call Now 8250077686 Navi Mumbai Escorts 24x7
 
young Whatsapp Call Girls in Delhi Cantt🔝 9953056974 🔝 escort service
young Whatsapp Call Girls in Delhi Cantt🔝 9953056974 🔝 escort serviceyoung Whatsapp Call Girls in Delhi Cantt🔝 9953056974 🔝 escort service
young Whatsapp Call Girls in Delhi Cantt🔝 9953056974 🔝 escort service
 

THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION by IIF, CIF.

  • 1. THINK GLOBALLY, ACT EVERYWHERE This map is more than an outline of a new narrative for the future. It’s a tool for matching external forces to design new coalitions, identify areas for experimentation, and capitalize on new opportunities to accelerate climate action. Whether in multilateral negotiations, top-down mandates, or community organizing, three modes of interaction can be leveraged to motivate partners: • We can COMPEL others to do what they wouldn’t voluntarily do. For example, governments might design regulations and pricing schemes that motivate a shift in production towards more climate-friendly models of appliances and vehicles, mandating manufacturers to comply and making ecologically sustainable models more attractive to consumers. • We can EMPOWER others to use existing resources to communicate with their constituents and craft their own compelling narratives. For example, scientific institutions could work multilaterally with artists, designers, and social activists to make climate data accessible by mobile phones in highly context-relevant ways to empower interested citizens and civic organizations to engage their communities in climate action. • We can ATTRACT others who care, pulling them in closer and creating a sense of urgency and meaning. For example, a new wave of globally connected youth activists might unleash fresh messaging campaigns that draw in confused or uninterested parents, siblings, and teachers, eventually impacting national decision makers within a wide range of internal political systems. EXTERNALFORCES keydriversshapingthelandscape forclimateaction Thesearemajordevelopmentsimpactingthelargerexternalenvironment inwhichclimateactionwilltakeplace. extrememegacities Vastcitieswillhouseuptotwo-thirdsoftheworld’spopulationby2030,andmostofthemwill belocatedwithin100kilometersofcoastalzones.Theseurbancenterswillconcentratethe effectsofclimatedisruptionsuchasstormsurges,puttingtrillionsofdollarsatrisk,andwill spuranewwaveofclimategentrificationasthewealthyrelocatetosafeareas.Thiswillalso makemunicipalgovernmentsthefrontlineforclimateefforts,drivingsubnationalandmultipolar climateactiontonewlevels. climatesuffering Citydwellersaroundtheglobewillsuffercardiovascularandrespiratoryhealthconditions causedbydirtyemissionsfromvehicles,factories,andpowerplants.Deforestation,toomuch ortoolittlerain,andrisingtemperatureswillpushinsectsandanimalsintounwantedcontact withhumans,spreadingdisease.Theelderlywillbeespeciallyvulnerable.Challengedby personalhealthconsequences,citizenswillpressforchange. solastalgia Asthesevereweathereffectsofclimatechangesignificantlydamageiconicculturalsitessuch asAustralia’sGreatBarrierReef,aswellascoastalhabitatsandendangeredanimalspecies, theselossesarelikelytotriggerwidespread“solastalgia”—nostalgiaorwistfulnessforterrains lost.Justlikenostalgia,whichscientistshavefoundtocreateasenseofcontinuitywiththe pastandgreatersocialconnectedness,solastalgiaislikelytofosterasenseofcontinuitywith earlierterrainsandencouragesocialconnectednessamongthoseeagertoacttogetherto preventtheirdestruction. abundantdatafordecisionmaking Newsensingtechnologysuchassatelliteimaging,dronemapping,andoceansensorswill provideaviewofourplanetatextraordinaryresolution.Theabilitytotrackconsumption, production,andweatherpatternsatnewscaleswillmakepreviouslyinvisibleimpactsof climatechangevisible.Embeddingdigitalintelligenceinourphysicalenvironment—fromself- drivingcarstophonesthattrackairquality—willallowreal-timeanalysisfordecisionmaking. newauthorities,newpowerdynamics Howweinfluenceatscaleandwhohastheabilitytodosowillshiftasnewmediaplatforms enableindividualstoprojecttheirvoicestomillionsandgeopoliticalchangesgiverisetonew economicpowercenters.Oldpower,heldbyafewandjealouslyguarded,closed,inaccessible, andleader-driven,willgivewaytonewpower,whichismadebymany,open,participatory,and peer-driven,inthewordsofactivistauthorsJeremyHeimansandHenryTimms.Thenewpower dynamicswillopenupnewopportunitiesforclimateactionatalllevels—local,global,civic,and institutional. technologiesofdecentralization Thenextdecadewillseethesteadyriseoftools—suchasblockchain,gridedge,and crowdsourcing—thatcutoutunnecessarymiddlemenandempowernetworkedges. Blockchainwillbeusednotsimplyasdigitalcurrencybutfor“smart”peer-to-peerandpeer- to-marketcontracts,andwillfuelnewexperimentsinsecureidentity,distributedownership, andfinancialtransactions.Thesetoolswillpushustorethinkscale,enablinginvestmentand insuranceformorelocal,lessmainstreamclimateprojects. ORGANIZINGWITHOUTORGANIZATIONS fromformalstructurestonetworkednodes Networked,distributed,openorganizational formsareovertakingandreplacingthe oneswe’vereliedonforthelastseveral centuries,creatingnewwaystogetthings done.Theneworganizationswillbemore porous,distributed,andactivatedthanlegacy institutions,whilealsobeinglessstableand unpredictable.Characterizedbyreputation- basedsystems,software-managedprocesses, andnetworksofcontributorsratherthan formalstaffs,theseemergingtwenty-first- centuryorganizationswillofferincentives beyondmonetarycompensation.Participants willbedrivenbyopportunitiestobuild reputationsandhaveawe-inspiringimpact. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Redesigninginstitutionalstructuresto incentivizeconnectionwithopen,emergent networks;prototypingnation-level crowdfundingandcrowdsourcingsites forclimateadaptation NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Institutionalbridgebuilders,community managers,platformcooperatives, blockchainnodes CLIMATEASGROWTHSPACE fromburdentoprofitableinvestment By2030theprofitabilityoftechnologiesand businessesthatbenefittheclimatewillbe proven,shiftingourviewsoninvestments forclimatechange.Soontheywillbeseen asareasofinnovationandprofit.New marketsinclimatedataandinsurable naturalinfrastructure—andevenclimate- sectorcryptocurrencies—willemerge.With assetsatrisk,largecompanieswillinvest moreinadaptation,services,andtheirown renewableenergyinfrastructure.Jobseekers, development,andworkforceprograms willseetheclimatechangesectorasajob creator.Nationsandcorporationswillneedto rebalanceeconomicandsocialprioritiesby promotingclimate-friendlyinvestmentpolicies andencouraginggreaterwealthequality. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Incubatingclimateservicesstart-upsinleast- developedcountries;fundingentrepreneurs tode-riskgreenproducts,drivinglarger corporateinvestment;developingnew businessschoolprogramstobalancesocial goalssuchasecosystempreservationwith economicprofits NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Entrepreneurshippolicymakers,workforce planners,start-ups,eliteinvestorsatscale (especiallyinsurancecompanies,pension funds,sovereignwealthfunds,endowments, andfoundations),climateentrepreneurs ALGORITHMICACTION frompeoplepowertocomputercollaborators Smartsystemsandobjectswillundertake climateactiononourbehalf.Overthenext decade,regulatorsandprogrammerswill bakeclimateactionintoourprocessesand machines—imaginesocialcreditsystemsthat automaticallyregisterandsanctionpolluters, andobjectsthatorganizetheirownpower consumption.Artificiallyintelligentpersonal assistantslikeSiriandAlexacouldmake climate-friendlyindividualconsumptionthe default,whileindustrialautomationdoesthe sameattheinstitutionallevel.Smartcontracts, basedonblockchains,willallowgroupsofany sizetocreateautomatedexchanges,whether landtitlesorexcesselectrons. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Automatingclimateregulationcompliance; outsourcingclimateregulationcompliance; enablingpeer-to-marketenergytransactions NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Compliancesystemdesigners,process automationprogrammers,smartgrid managers WATCHFULEYES frominstitutionalauthoritytocrowdoversight By2030,collaborativeclimatedatagathering, citizenmonitoringofplacesandinstitutions, andsharedknowledgebaseswillallow greaterindependentoversightandverification ofwhat’shappeningtoourplanet.Mass observationfromdiverseperspectiveswillbe acriticalmethodforpushingbackagainst falseinformationfromofficialsources(both governmentalandcorporate)andcorruption. Hidingbadactionsfrompublicscrutinywill becomemuchharder.Thenewtransparency willbringnewvoicesandauthoritiesinto climateconversations,enablingactionona widerscale. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Buildingsystemsforcross-borderdata analysis;fundingopensourceclimatedata collectiontoolsandteachingcitizenshowto usethem NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Anti-corruptionactivists,journalists, manufacturersofuser-friendlyclimatedata collectionhardware IMMERSIVENEWS fromdistantfactstointimateimpact Newstorytellingtoolswillconvertcomplex, jargon-ladengraphsintoemotional experiences,increasingourpsychological graspoftherealityofclimatechange.Awide varietyofnewtechniques—includingvirtual andaugmentedrealitysimulations,snappy Internetmemes,andfeedbackloopsabout climateimpactsofdailyactivities—willdraw inpeoplewhodon’tcareaboutclimate changeandmobilizepeoplewhoareready toact.Accurateclimatedatarepositories— accessibleinmultiplesensory-richformats andcomprehensibletobothprosand amateurs—willbecriticalbuildingblocks. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Bringingrealimpactstolifeviavisceral experiences;optimizingclimatedata platformsforsensemakingandstory building;designingclimateactionmemesand infographics NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Mediacreationtooldevelopers,science journalists,entertainmentcreatives MEDIAFORGOOD fromcomputationalpropaganda topositivepersuasion Toolsforinjectingideasintothemedia willbecomemoreaccessibleandmore powerful,wieldednotonlybydisruptive nationalactorsbutalsobycorporations, NGOs,governments,andindividuals.The technologyunderlyingtheweaponized botsandcomputationalpropaganda thatactivatedanti-democraticbehavior worldwideinthelate2010scanalsobe harnessedtoopenlyinfluenceenvironmental beliefs,connectmicro-communities,and organizepro-climatesocialbehaviorinthe 2020s.Transparencywillbecritical:knowing thatinformationcamefromabotwon’t necessarilyundermineitseffectiveness.It mayevenmakeitmoretrustworthy,ifone knowsthesourceofthebot. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Signaltrackingandsignalboostinginreal time;designinganddeployingbotnetworks NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Botnetworks,socialmedia platformdesigners These modes of interaction aren’t new. What’s novel is that a broader set of actors will be able to use the modes to influence one another, across borders and at different scales. Sometimes the persuasion will be based on good old-fashioned politics and financial incentives. But we also desperately need unpredictable— even unimaginable—new coalitions and tactics. As you look to 2030, ask yourself how you can use ideas from the map to shake up your current stakeholder coalitions and build a new narrative that will drive change: • How might you empower a different set of voices that could alter power dynamics among traditional stakeholders? • How might you drastically increase the number and quality of interactions among your current stakeholders to drive faster, larger, or more efficient impact? • How might you transform your organization’s own story to connect with a mass audience? ACTIVATEDYOUTH fromsiloedscenestomememovements Whilenoteveryyoungpersonwillbe onlineby2030,increasedconnectivitywill provideaccesstonext-generation,cutting- edgeviralcommunicationtechniques bornofyouthInternetandmobilephone culture.Youngpeopleinplacessubjectto themostdevastatingimpactsofclimate changewillbearwitnessonglobalsocial mediaplatformsandinon-the-ground movements,activatingpeersindeveloping anddevelopedeconomiesalike.Asinthe past,youth-ledsocialmovementswillbean emotionalnucleusofchangewiththepower totransformnationalpolitics.Thistime,they willfightforthehealthoftheplanet. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Harnessingonlineresponseforstreet action;teachingyouthhowtounderstand governmentstructuresandreach governmentofficials NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Girls,students,youth-supportinggroups WOMENASCLIMATEACTIONLEADERS fromtraditionalgenderrolesto empoweredrepresentation Womenaredisproportionatelyimpacted byclimatechange—anoutsizednumber ofclimatemigrantsarewomen,asjust oneexample—andtheyarealsocritical totakingactiononclimatechange.Inthe nextdecade,ashigh-levelpolicymakers, theywillberesponsibleforincreased internationalcooperation.Inruraland developingcommunities,theywillleverage socialandfamilialrolestochangepublic sentimentonclimateaction.Communities andframeworksthattapintotheorganizing abilityandknowledgecapitalofwomen willsucceedbetteratclimateactionefforts thanthosethatcontinuethestatusquoof underrepresentation. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Seekingoutandempoweringwomen inclimateactionleadershippositions; supportingwomenaslocalandground- levelinfluencers NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Femalepoliticians,femalecommunity organizers,women-ledorganizations ACCELERATINGCLIMATEACTION zonesofopportunity Zonesofopportunityoutlinenewpossibilityspacesforreframingthe narrativearoundclimatechangeandacceleratingclimateaction. FRICTION POINTS obstacles hampering climate change action We need to write a new narrative of climate change action. A narrative that compels, empowers, and attracts people across industries and geographies to think of climate change not as an intractable problem, but as a space for innovative solutions. This map helps to navigate this space by examining all the influential elements of the next decade of climate action, including the Friction Points that interfere with climate action responses. LEGACY ENERGY Fossil fuel–based patterns of consumption and approaches to economic growth are deeply embedded in national political and regulatory systems. Decarbonization won’t happen without a fight. SHORT-TERMISM The natural human tendency to focus on the here and now gets amplified by climate-related fear, passivity, and apathy, that drown out long-term thinking. RISE IN DISPOSABLE INCOMES Economic growth brings with it rising demands for all types of consumer goods, putting increasing strain on resources and expanding outputs of CO2. ATTENTION SCARCITY As we become increasingly overwhelmed by rapid, flashy media cycles and addictive entertainment, it becomes more and more difficult for climate dangers to break through the noise. FACT RESISTANCE Science, journalism, and other fact-gathering institutions are challenged by rampant misinformation, that turns policy debates into polarized shouting matches. PROTECTIONISM Economic and political nationalism reduce the public appetite for financing cross-border solutions to planet-scale problems. EXTREME WEATHER. RISING SEAS. FOOD SCARCITY. The science and symptoms are clear: climate disruptions are all around us. Over the past several decades, citizens and governments have mobilized to contain the menace of a changing climate. We’ve forged new global partnerships and agreements. Scientific advancements have helped us model climate change scenarios with greater accuracy and design better solutions for preventing the worst of them from happening. We’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars in monitoring, prevention, and mitigation technologies. We’ve developed new laws and cutting-edge financial instruments to coordinate action at scale. And yet, much more needs to be done. We have the knowledge and resources to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial times, but science and technology alone won’t get us there. We must accelerate momentum toward a new narrative that galvanizes and inspires. One that moves us all—individuals and governments, manufacturers and investors—to hasten our march toward decarbonization. Now we have a chance to do just that. No one can know for certain what the future holds for climate change, but we can attempt to identify a broad set of actors—emerging and those yet to emerge—from the public, private, international, national, and civic sectors to reimagine our response to climate change. In this new narrative, what we call “The Future of Climate Action,” climate influences every aspect of our daily lives and pushes us to care for the earth, ourselves, and generations to come. It delivers us from fear, uncertainty, and doubt, because it centers instead on opportunity, meaning, and possibility. Through this narrative, and this map, we can blaze a new path. It opens the door to a future we can build and mold by focusing on the external forces that shape our capacity to act. It describes the emerging opportunity zones, or levers, for accelerating progress. It poses provocative questions to stimulate ideas for altering power dynamics rather than focusing on current prevention, mitigation, and adaptation efforts, and it predicts the frictions we may encounter as we work to advance climate action. “The Future of Climate Action” describes the hopeful signals of change of today and presents positive scenarios of tomorrow to inform action and ignite genuine change. Today we begin writing that story. Today we take that leap toward an urgently needed future. www.iftf.org www.climateinvestmentfunds.org Special thanks for contributions from our partners at Impossible Labs. © 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 A NEW STORY TO SPARK THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION
  • 2. THINK GLOBALLY, ACT EVERYWHERE This map is more than an outline of a new narrative for the future. It’s a tool for matching external forces to design new coalitions, identify areas for experimentation, and capitalize on new opportunities to accelerate climate action. Whether in multilateral negotiations, top-down mandates, or community organizing, three modes of interaction can be leveraged to motivate partners: • We can COMPEL others to do what they wouldn’t voluntarily do. For example, governments might design regulations and pricing schemes that motivate a shift in production towards more climate-friendly models of appliances and vehicles, mandating manufacturers to comply and making ecologically sustainable models more attractive to consumers. • We can EMPOWER others to use existing resources to communicate with their constituents and craft their own compelling narratives. For example, scientific institutions could work multilaterally with artists, designers, and social activists to make climate data accessible by mobile phones in highly context-relevant ways to empower interested citizens and civic organizations to engage their communities in climate action. • We can ATTRACT others who care, pulling them in closer and creating a sense of urgency and meaning. For example, a new wave of globally connected youth activists might unleash fresh messaging campaigns that draw in confused or uninterested parents, siblings, and teachers, eventually impacting national decision makers within a wide range of internal political systems. EXTERNALFORCES keydriversshapingthelandscape forclimateaction Thesearemajordevelopmentsimpactingthelargerexternalenvironment inwhichclimateactionwilltakeplace. extrememegacities Vastcitieswillhouseuptotwo-thirdsoftheworld’spopulationby2030,andmostofthemwill belocatedwithin100kilometersofcoastalzones.Theseurbancenterswillconcentratethe effectsofclimatedisruptionsuchasstormsurges,puttingtrillionsofdollarsatrisk,andwill spuranewwaveofclimategentrificationasthewealthyrelocatetosafeareas.Thiswillalso makemunicipalgovernmentsthefrontlineforclimateefforts,drivingsubnationalandmultipolar climateactiontonewlevels. climatesuffering Citydwellersaroundtheglobewillsuffercardiovascularandrespiratoryhealthconditions causedbydirtyemissionsfromvehicles,factories,andpowerplants.Deforestation,toomuch ortoolittlerain,andrisingtemperatureswillpushinsectsandanimalsintounwantedcontact withhumans,spreadingdisease.Theelderlywillbeespeciallyvulnerable.Challengedby personalhealthconsequences,citizenswillpressforchange. solastalgia Asthesevereweathereffectsofclimatechangesignificantlydamageiconicculturalsitessuch asAustralia’sGreatBarrierReef,aswellascoastalhabitatsandendangeredanimalspecies, theselossesarelikelytotriggerwidespread“solastalgia”—nostalgiaorwistfulnessforterrains lost.Justlikenostalgia,whichscientistshavefoundtocreateasenseofcontinuitywiththe pastandgreatersocialconnectedness,solastalgiaislikelytofosterasenseofcontinuitywith earlierterrainsandencouragesocialconnectednessamongthoseeagertoacttogetherto preventtheirdestruction. abundantdatafordecisionmaking Newsensingtechnologysuchassatelliteimaging,dronemapping,andoceansensorswill provideaviewofourplanetatextraordinaryresolution.Theabilitytotrackconsumption, production,andweatherpatternsatnewscaleswillmakepreviouslyinvisibleimpactsof climatechangevisible.Embeddingdigitalintelligenceinourphysicalenvironment—fromself- drivingcarstophonesthattrackairquality—willallowreal-timeanalysisfordecisionmaking. newauthorities,newpowerdynamics Howweinfluenceatscaleandwhohastheabilitytodosowillshiftasnewmediaplatforms enableindividualstoprojecttheirvoicestomillionsandgeopoliticalchangesgiverisetonew economicpowercenters.Oldpower,heldbyafewandjealouslyguarded,closed,inaccessible, andleader-driven,willgivewaytonewpower,whichismadebymany,open,participatory,and peer-driven,inthewordsofactivistauthorsJeremyHeimansandHenryTimms.Thenewpower dynamicswillopenupnewopportunitiesforclimateactionatalllevels—local,global,civic,and institutional. technologiesofdecentralization Thenextdecadewillseethesteadyriseoftools—suchasblockchain,gridedge,and crowdsourcing—thatcutoutunnecessarymiddlemenandempowernetworkedges. Blockchainwillbeusednotsimplyasdigitalcurrencybutfor“smart”peer-to-peerandpeer- to-marketcontracts,andwillfuelnewexperimentsinsecureidentity,distributedownership, andfinancialtransactions.Thesetoolswillpushustorethinkscale,enablinginvestmentand insuranceformorelocal,lessmainstreamclimateprojects. ORGANIZINGWITHOUTORGANIZATIONS fromformalstructurestonetworkednodes Networked,distributed,openorganizational formsareovertakingandreplacingthe oneswe’vereliedonforthelastseveral centuries,creatingnewwaystogetthings done.Theneworganizationswillbemore porous,distributed,andactivatedthanlegacy institutions,whilealsobeinglessstableand unpredictable.Characterizedbyreputation- basedsystems,software-managedprocesses, andnetworksofcontributorsratherthan formalstaffs,theseemergingtwenty-first- centuryorganizationswillofferincentives beyondmonetarycompensation.Participants willbedrivenbyopportunitiestobuild reputationsandhaveawe-inspiringimpact. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Redesigninginstitutionalstructuresto incentivizeconnectionwithopen,emergent networks;prototypingnation-level crowdfundingandcrowdsourcingsites forclimateadaptation NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Institutionalbridgebuilders,community managers,platformcooperatives, blockchainnodes CLIMATEASGROWTHSPACE fromburdentoprofitableinvestment By2030theprofitabilityoftechnologiesand businessesthatbenefittheclimatewillbe proven,shiftingourviewsoninvestments forclimatechange.Soontheywillbeseen asareasofinnovationandprofit.New marketsinclimatedataandinsurable naturalinfrastructure—andevenclimate- sectorcryptocurrencies—willemerge.With assetsatrisk,largecompanieswillinvest moreinadaptation,services,andtheirown renewableenergyinfrastructure.Jobseekers, development,andworkforceprograms willseetheclimatechangesectorasajob creator.Nationsandcorporationswillneedto rebalanceeconomicandsocialprioritiesby promotingclimate-friendlyinvestmentpolicies andencouraginggreaterwealthequality. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Incubatingclimateservicesstart-upsinleast- developedcountries;fundingentrepreneurs tode-riskgreenproducts,drivinglarger corporateinvestment;developingnew businessschoolprogramstobalancesocial goalssuchasecosystempreservationwith economicprofits NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Entrepreneurshippolicymakers,workforce planners,start-ups,eliteinvestorsatscale (especiallyinsurancecompanies,pension funds,sovereignwealthfunds,endowments, andfoundations),climateentrepreneurs ALGORITHMICACTION frompeoplepowertocomputercollaborators Smartsystemsandobjectswillundertake climateactiononourbehalf.Overthenext decade,regulatorsandprogrammerswill bakeclimateactionintoourprocessesand machines—imaginesocialcreditsystemsthat automaticallyregisterandsanctionpolluters, andobjectsthatorganizetheirownpower consumption.Artificiallyintelligentpersonal assistantslikeSiriandAlexacouldmake climate-friendlyindividualconsumptionthe default,whileindustrialautomationdoesthe sameattheinstitutionallevel.Smartcontracts, basedonblockchains,willallowgroupsofany sizetocreateautomatedexchanges,whether landtitlesorexcesselectrons. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Automatingclimateregulationcompliance; outsourcingclimateregulationcompliance; enablingpeer-to-marketenergytransactions NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Compliancesystemdesigners,process automationprogrammers,smartgrid managers WATCHFULEYES frominstitutionalauthoritytocrowdoversight By2030,collaborativeclimatedatagathering, citizenmonitoringofplacesandinstitutions, andsharedknowledgebaseswillallow greaterindependentoversightandverification ofwhat’shappeningtoourplanet.Mass observationfromdiverseperspectiveswillbe acriticalmethodforpushingbackagainst falseinformationfromofficialsources(both governmentalandcorporate)andcorruption. Hidingbadactionsfrompublicscrutinywill becomemuchharder.Thenewtransparency willbringnewvoicesandauthoritiesinto climateconversations,enablingactionona widerscale. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Buildingsystemsforcross-borderdata analysis;fundingopensourceclimatedata collectiontoolsandteachingcitizenshowto usethem NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Anti-corruptionactivists,journalists, manufacturersofuser-friendlyclimatedata collectionhardware IMMERSIVENEWS fromdistantfactstointimateimpact Newstorytellingtoolswillconvertcomplex, jargon-ladengraphsintoemotional experiences,increasingourpsychological graspoftherealityofclimatechange.Awide varietyofnewtechniques—includingvirtual andaugmentedrealitysimulations,snappy Internetmemes,andfeedbackloopsabout climateimpactsofdailyactivities—willdraw inpeoplewhodon’tcareaboutclimate changeandmobilizepeoplewhoareready toact.Accurateclimatedatarepositories— accessibleinmultiplesensory-richformats andcomprehensibletobothprosand amateurs—willbecriticalbuildingblocks. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Bringingrealimpactstolifeviavisceral experiences;optimizingclimatedata platformsforsensemakingandstory building;designingclimateactionmemesand infographics NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Mediacreationtooldevelopers,science journalists,entertainmentcreatives MEDIAFORGOOD fromcomputationalpropaganda topositivepersuasion Toolsforinjectingideasintothemedia willbecomemoreaccessibleandmore powerful,wieldednotonlybydisruptive nationalactorsbutalsobycorporations, NGOs,governments,andindividuals.The technologyunderlyingtheweaponized botsandcomputationalpropaganda thatactivatedanti-democraticbehavior worldwideinthelate2010scanalsobe harnessedtoopenlyinfluenceenvironmental beliefs,connectmicro-communities,and organizepro-climatesocialbehaviorinthe 2020s.Transparencywillbecritical:knowing thatinformationcamefromabotwon’t necessarilyundermineitseffectiveness.It mayevenmakeitmoretrustworthy,ifone knowsthesourceofthebot. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Signaltrackingandsignalboostinginreal time;designinganddeployingbotnetworks NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Botnetworks,socialmedia platformdesigners These modes of interaction aren’t new. What’s novel is that a broader set of actors will be able to use the modes to influence one another, across borders and at different scales. Sometimes the persuasion will be based on good old-fashioned politics and financial incentives. But we also desperately need unpredictable— even unimaginable—new coalitions and tactics. As you look to 2030, ask yourself how you can use ideas from the map to shake up your current stakeholder coalitions and build a new narrative that will drive change: • How might you empower a different set of voices that could alter power dynamics among traditional stakeholders? • How might you drastically increase the number and quality of interactions among your current stakeholders to drive faster, larger, or more efficient impact? • How might you transform your organization’s own story to connect with a mass audience? ACTIVATEDYOUTH fromsiloedscenestomememovements Whilenoteveryyoungpersonwillbe onlineby2030,increasedconnectivitywill provideaccesstonext-generation,cutting- edgeviralcommunicationtechniques bornofyouthInternetandmobilephone culture.Youngpeopleinplacessubjectto themostdevastatingimpactsofclimate changewillbearwitnessonglobalsocial mediaplatformsandinon-the-ground movements,activatingpeersindeveloping anddevelopedeconomiesalike.Asinthe past,youth-ledsocialmovementswillbean emotionalnucleusofchangewiththepower totransformnationalpolitics.Thistime,they willfightforthehealthoftheplanet. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Harnessingonlineresponseforstreet action;teachingyouthhowtounderstand governmentstructuresandreach governmentofficials NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Girls,students,youth-supportinggroups WOMENASCLIMATEACTIONLEADERS fromtraditionalgenderrolesto empoweredrepresentation Womenaredisproportionatelyimpacted byclimatechange—anoutsizednumber ofclimatemigrantsarewomen,asjust oneexample—andtheyarealsocritical totakingactiononclimatechange.Inthe nextdecade,ashigh-levelpolicymakers, theywillberesponsibleforincreased internationalcooperation.Inruraland developingcommunities,theywillleverage socialandfamilialrolestochangepublic sentimentonclimateaction.Communities andframeworksthattapintotheorganizing abilityandknowledgecapitalofwomen willsucceedbetteratclimateactionefforts thanthosethatcontinuethestatusquoof underrepresentation. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Seekingoutandempoweringwomen inclimateactionleadershippositions; supportingwomenaslocalandground- levelinfluencers NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Femalepoliticians,femalecommunity organizers,women-ledorganizations ACCELERATINGCLIMATEACTION zonesofopportunity Zonesofopportunityoutlinenewpossibilityspacesforreframingthe narrativearoundclimatechangeandacceleratingclimateaction. FRICTION POINTS obstacles hampering climate change action We need to write a new narrative of climate change action. A narrative that compels, empowers, and attracts people across industries and geographies to think of climate change not as an intractable problem, but as a space for innovative solutions. This map helps to navigate this space by examining all the influential elements of the next decade of climate action, including the Friction Points that interfere with climate action responses. LEGACY ENERGY Fossil fuel–based patterns of consumption and approaches to economic growth are deeply embedded in national political and regulatory systems. Decarbonization won’t happen without a fight. SHORT-TERMISM The natural human tendency to focus on the here and now gets amplified by climate-related fear, passivity, and apathy, that drown out long-term thinking. RISE IN DISPOSABLE INCOMES Economic growth brings with it rising demands for all types of consumer goods, putting increasing strain on resources and expanding outputs of CO2. ATTENTION SCARCITY As we become increasingly overwhelmed by rapid, flashy media cycles and addictive entertainment, it becomes more and more difficult for climate dangers to break through the noise. FACT RESISTANCE Science, journalism, and other fact-gathering institutions are challenged by rampant misinformation, that turns policy debates into polarized shouting matches. PROTECTIONISM Economic and political nationalism reduce the public appetite for financing cross-border solutions to planet-scale problems. EXTREME WEATHER. RISING SEAS. FOOD SCARCITY. The science and symptoms are clear: climate disruptions are all around us. Over the past several decades, citizens and governments have mobilized to contain the menace of a changing climate. We’ve forged new global partnerships and agreements. Scientific advancements have helped us model climate change scenarios with greater accuracy and design better solutions for preventing the worst of them from happening. We’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars in monitoring, prevention, and mitigation technologies. We’ve developed new laws and cutting-edge financial instruments to coordinate action at scale. And yet, much more needs to be done. We have the knowledge and resources to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial times, but science and technology alone won’t get us there. We must accelerate momentum toward a new narrative that galvanizes and inspires. One that moves us all—individuals and governments, manufacturers and investors—to hasten our march toward decarbonization. Now we have a chance to do just that. No one can know for certain what the future holds for climate change, but we can attempt to identify a broad set of actors—emerging and those yet to emerge—from the public, private, international, national, and civic sectors to reimagine our response to climate change. In this new narrative, what we call “The Future of Climate Action,” climate influences every aspect of our daily lives and pushes us to care for the earth, ourselves, and generations to come. It delivers us from fear, uncertainty, and doubt, because it centers instead on opportunity, meaning, and possibility. Through this narrative, and this map, we can blaze a new path. It opens the door to a future we can build and mold by focusing on the external forces that shape our capacity to act. It describes the emerging opportunity zones, or levers, for accelerating progress. It poses provocative questions to stimulate ideas for altering power dynamics rather than focusing on current prevention, mitigation, and adaptation efforts, and it predicts the frictions we may encounter as we work to advance climate action. “The Future of Climate Action” describes the hopeful signals of change of today and presents positive scenarios of tomorrow to inform action and ignite genuine change. Today we begin writing that story. Today we take that leap toward an urgently needed future. www.iftf.org www.climateinvestmentfunds.org Special thanks for contributions from our partners at Impossible Labs. © 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 A NEW STORY TO SPARK THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION
  • 3. THINK GLOBALLY, ACT EVERYWHERE This map is more than an outline of a new narrative for the future. It’s a tool for matching external forces to design new coalitions, identify areas for experimentation, and capitalize on new opportunities to accelerate climate action. Whether in multilateral negotiations, top-down mandates, or community organizing, three modes of interaction can be leveraged to motivate partners: • We can COMPEL others to do what they wouldn’t voluntarily do. For example, governments might design regulations and pricing schemes that motivate a shift in production towards more climate-friendly models of appliances and vehicles, mandating manufacturers to comply and making ecologically sustainable models more attractive to consumers. • We can EMPOWER others to use existing resources to communicate with their constituents and craft their own compelling narratives. For example, scientific institutions could work multilaterally with artists, designers, and social activists to make climate data accessible by mobile phones in highly context-relevant ways to empower interested citizens and civic organizations to engage their communities in climate action. • We can ATTRACT others who care, pulling them in closer and creating a sense of urgency and meaning. For example, a new wave of globally connected youth activists might unleash fresh messaging campaigns that draw in confused or uninterested parents, siblings, and teachers, eventually impacting national decision makers within a wide range of internal political systems. EXTERNALFORCES keydriversshapingthelandscape forclimateaction Thesearemajordevelopmentsimpactingthelargerexternalenvironment inwhichclimateactionwilltakeplace. extrememegacities Vastcitieswillhouseuptotwo-thirdsoftheworld’spopulationby2030,andmostofthemwill belocatedwithin100kilometersofcoastalzones.Theseurbancenterswillconcentratethe effectsofclimatedisruptionsuchasstormsurges,puttingtrillionsofdollarsatrisk,andwill spuranewwaveofclimategentrificationasthewealthyrelocatetosafeareas.Thiswillalso makemunicipalgovernmentsthefrontlineforclimateefforts,drivingsubnationalandmultipolar climateactiontonewlevels. climatesuffering Citydwellersaroundtheglobewillsuffercardiovascularandrespiratoryhealthconditions causedbydirtyemissionsfromvehicles,factories,andpowerplants.Deforestation,toomuch ortoolittlerain,andrisingtemperatureswillpushinsectsandanimalsintounwantedcontact withhumans,spreadingdisease.Theelderlywillbeespeciallyvulnerable.Challengedby personalhealthconsequences,citizenswillpressforchange. solastalgia Asthesevereweathereffectsofclimatechangesignificantlydamageiconicculturalsitessuch asAustralia’sGreatBarrierReef,aswellascoastalhabitatsandendangeredanimalspecies, theselossesarelikelytotriggerwidespread“solastalgia”—nostalgiaorwistfulnessforterrains lost.Justlikenostalgia,whichscientistshavefoundtocreateasenseofcontinuitywiththe pastandgreatersocialconnectedness,solastalgiaislikelytofosterasenseofcontinuitywith earlierterrainsandencouragesocialconnectednessamongthoseeagertoacttogetherto preventtheirdestruction. abundantdatafordecisionmaking Newsensingtechnologysuchassatelliteimaging,dronemapping,andoceansensorswill provideaviewofourplanetatextraordinaryresolution.Theabilitytotrackconsumption, production,andweatherpatternsatnewscaleswillmakepreviouslyinvisibleimpactsof climatechangevisible.Embeddingdigitalintelligenceinourphysicalenvironment—fromself- drivingcarstophonesthattrackairquality—willallowreal-timeanalysisfordecisionmaking. newauthorities,newpowerdynamics Howweinfluenceatscaleandwhohastheabilitytodosowillshiftasnewmediaplatforms enableindividualstoprojecttheirvoicestomillionsandgeopoliticalchangesgiverisetonew economicpowercenters.Oldpower,heldbyafewandjealouslyguarded,closed,inaccessible, andleader-driven,willgivewaytonewpower,whichismadebymany,open,participatory,and peer-driven,inthewordsofactivistauthorsJeremyHeimansandHenryTimms.Thenewpower dynamicswillopenupnewopportunitiesforclimateactionatalllevels—local,global,civic,and institutional. technologiesofdecentralization Thenextdecadewillseethesteadyriseoftools—suchasblockchain,gridedge,and crowdsourcing—thatcutoutunnecessarymiddlemenandempowernetworkedges. Blockchainwillbeusednotsimplyasdigitalcurrencybutfor“smart”peer-to-peerandpeer- to-marketcontracts,andwillfuelnewexperimentsinsecureidentity,distributedownership, andfinancialtransactions.Thesetoolswillpushustorethinkscale,enablinginvestmentand insuranceformorelocal,lessmainstreamclimateprojects. ORGANIZINGWITHOUTORGANIZATIONS fromformalstructurestonetworkednodes Networked,distributed,openorganizational formsareovertakingandreplacingthe oneswe’vereliedonforthelastseveral centuries,creatingnewwaystogetthings done.Theneworganizationswillbemore porous,distributed,andactivatedthanlegacy institutions,whilealsobeinglessstableand unpredictable.Characterizedbyreputation- basedsystems,software-managedprocesses, andnetworksofcontributorsratherthan formalstaffs,theseemergingtwenty-first- centuryorganizationswillofferincentives beyondmonetarycompensation.Participants willbedrivenbyopportunitiestobuild reputationsandhaveawe-inspiringimpact. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Redesigninginstitutionalstructuresto incentivizeconnectionwithopen,emergent networks;prototypingnation-level crowdfundingandcrowdsourcingsites forclimateadaptation NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Institutionalbridgebuilders,community managers,platformcooperatives, blockchainnodes CLIMATEASGROWTHSPACE fromburdentoprofitableinvestment By2030theprofitabilityoftechnologiesand businessesthatbenefittheclimatewillbe proven,shiftingourviewsoninvestments forclimatechange.Soontheywillbeseen asareasofinnovationandprofit.New marketsinclimatedataandinsurable naturalinfrastructure—andevenclimate- sectorcryptocurrencies—willemerge.With assetsatrisk,largecompanieswillinvest moreinadaptation,services,andtheirown renewableenergyinfrastructure.Jobseekers, development,andworkforceprograms willseetheclimatechangesectorasajob creator.Nationsandcorporationswillneedto rebalanceeconomicandsocialprioritiesby promotingclimate-friendlyinvestmentpolicies andencouraginggreaterwealthequality. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Incubatingclimateservicesstart-upsinleast- developedcountries;fundingentrepreneurs tode-riskgreenproducts,drivinglarger corporateinvestment;developingnew businessschoolprogramstobalancesocial goalssuchasecosystempreservationwith economicprofits NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Entrepreneurshippolicymakers,workforce planners,start-ups,eliteinvestorsatscale (especiallyinsurancecompanies,pension funds,sovereignwealthfunds,endowments, andfoundations),climateentrepreneurs ALGORITHMICACTION frompeoplepowertocomputercollaborators Smartsystemsandobjectswillundertake climateactiononourbehalf.Overthenext decade,regulatorsandprogrammerswill bakeclimateactionintoourprocessesand machines—imaginesocialcreditsystemsthat automaticallyregisterandsanctionpolluters, andobjectsthatorganizetheirownpower consumption.Artificiallyintelligentpersonal assistantslikeSiriandAlexacouldmake climate-friendlyindividualconsumptionthe default,whileindustrialautomationdoesthe sameattheinstitutionallevel.Smartcontracts, basedonblockchains,willallowgroupsofany sizetocreateautomatedexchanges,whether landtitlesorexcesselectrons. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Automatingclimateregulationcompliance; outsourcingclimateregulationcompliance; enablingpeer-to-marketenergytransactions NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Compliancesystemdesigners,process automationprogrammers,smartgrid managers WATCHFULEYES frominstitutionalauthoritytocrowdoversight By2030,collaborativeclimatedatagathering, citizenmonitoringofplacesandinstitutions, andsharedknowledgebaseswillallow greaterindependentoversightandverification ofwhat’shappeningtoourplanet.Mass observationfromdiverseperspectiveswillbe acriticalmethodforpushingbackagainst falseinformationfromofficialsources(both governmentalandcorporate)andcorruption. Hidingbadactionsfrompublicscrutinywill becomemuchharder.Thenewtransparency willbringnewvoicesandauthoritiesinto climateconversations,enablingactionona widerscale. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Buildingsystemsforcross-borderdata analysis;fundingopensourceclimatedata collectiontoolsandteachingcitizenshowto usethem NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Anti-corruptionactivists,journalists, manufacturersofuser-friendlyclimatedata collectionhardware IMMERSIVENEWS fromdistantfactstointimateimpact Newstorytellingtoolswillconvertcomplex, jargon-ladengraphsintoemotional experiences,increasingourpsychological graspoftherealityofclimatechange.Awide varietyofnewtechniques—includingvirtual andaugmentedrealitysimulations,snappy Internetmemes,andfeedbackloopsabout climateimpactsofdailyactivities—willdraw inpeoplewhodon’tcareaboutclimate changeandmobilizepeoplewhoareready toact.Accurateclimatedatarepositories— accessibleinmultiplesensory-richformats andcomprehensibletobothprosand amateurs—willbecriticalbuildingblocks. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Bringingrealimpactstolifeviavisceral experiences;optimizingclimatedata platformsforsensemakingandstory building;designingclimateactionmemesand infographics NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Mediacreationtooldevelopers,science journalists,entertainmentcreatives MEDIAFORGOOD fromcomputationalpropaganda topositivepersuasion Toolsforinjectingideasintothemedia willbecomemoreaccessibleandmore powerful,wieldednotonlybydisruptive nationalactorsbutalsobycorporations, NGOs,governments,andindividuals.The technologyunderlyingtheweaponized botsandcomputationalpropaganda thatactivatedanti-democraticbehavior worldwideinthelate2010scanalsobe harnessedtoopenlyinfluenceenvironmental beliefs,connectmicro-communities,and organizepro-climatesocialbehaviorinthe 2020s.Transparencywillbecritical:knowing thatinformationcamefromabotwon’t necessarilyundermineitseffectiveness.It mayevenmakeitmoretrustworthy,ifone knowsthesourceofthebot. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Signaltrackingandsignalboostinginreal time;designinganddeployingbotnetworks NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Botnetworks,socialmedia platformdesigners These modes of interaction aren’t new. What’s novel is that a broader set of actors will be able to use the modes to influence one another, across borders and at different scales. Sometimes the persuasion will be based on good old-fashioned politics and financial incentives. But we also desperately need unpredictable— even unimaginable—new coalitions and tactics. As you look to 2030, ask yourself how you can use ideas from the map to shake up your current stakeholder coalitions and build a new narrative that will drive change: • How might you empower a different set of voices that could alter power dynamics among traditional stakeholders? • How might you drastically increase the number and quality of interactions among your current stakeholders to drive faster, larger, or more efficient impact? • How might you transform your organization’s own story to connect with a mass audience? ACTIVATEDYOUTH fromsiloedscenestomememovements Whilenoteveryyoungpersonwillbe onlineby2030,increasedconnectivitywill provideaccesstonext-generation,cutting- edgeviralcommunicationtechniques bornofyouthInternetandmobilephone culture.Youngpeopleinplacessubjectto themostdevastatingimpactsofclimate changewillbearwitnessonglobalsocial mediaplatformsandinon-the-ground movements,activatingpeersindeveloping anddevelopedeconomiesalike.Asinthe past,youth-ledsocialmovementswillbean emotionalnucleusofchangewiththepower totransformnationalpolitics.Thistime,they willfightforthehealthoftheplanet. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Harnessingonlineresponseforstreet action;teachingyouthhowtounderstand governmentstructuresandreach governmentofficials NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Girls,students,youth-supportinggroups WOMENASCLIMATEACTIONLEADERS fromtraditionalgenderrolesto empoweredrepresentation Womenaredisproportionatelyimpacted byclimatechange—anoutsizednumber ofclimatemigrantsarewomen,asjust oneexample—andtheyarealsocritical totakingactiononclimatechange.Inthe nextdecade,ashigh-levelpolicymakers, theywillberesponsibleforincreased internationalcooperation.Inruraland developingcommunities,theywillleverage socialandfamilialrolestochangepublic sentimentonclimateaction.Communities andframeworksthattapintotheorganizing abilityandknowledgecapitalofwomen willsucceedbetteratclimateactionefforts thanthosethatcontinuethestatusquoof underrepresentation. NEWFORMSOFCLIMATEACTION: Seekingoutandempoweringwomen inclimateactionleadershippositions; supportingwomenaslocalandground- levelinfluencers NEWCLIMATEACTORS: Femalepoliticians,femalecommunity organizers,women-ledorganizations ACCELERATINGCLIMATEACTION zonesofopportunity Zonesofopportunityoutlinenewpossibilityspacesforreframingthe narrativearoundclimatechangeandacceleratingclimateaction. FRICTION POINTS obstacles hampering climate change action We need to write a new narrative of climate change action. A narrative that compels, empowers, and attracts people across industries and geographies to think of climate change not as an intractable problem, but as a space for innovative solutions. This map helps to navigate this space by examining all the influential elements of the next decade of climate action, including the Friction Points that interfere with climate action responses. LEGACY ENERGY Fossil fuel–based patterns of consumption and approaches to economic growth are deeply embedded in national political and regulatory systems. Decarbonization won’t happen without a fight. SHORT-TERMISM The natural human tendency to focus on the here and now gets amplified by climate-related fear, passivity, and apathy, that drown out long-term thinking. RISE IN DISPOSABLE INCOMES Economic growth brings with it rising demands for all types of consumer goods, putting increasing strain on resources and expanding outputs of CO2. ATTENTION SCARCITY As we become increasingly overwhelmed by rapid, flashy media cycles and addictive entertainment, it becomes more and more difficult for climate dangers to break through the noise. FACT RESISTANCE Science, journalism, and other fact-gathering institutions are challenged by rampant misinformation, that turns policy debates into polarized shouting matches. PROTECTIONISM Economic and political nationalism reduce the public appetite for financing cross-border solutions to planet-scale problems. EXTREME WEATHER. RISING SEAS. FOOD SCARCITY. The science and symptoms are clear: climate disruptions are all around us. Over the past several decades, citizens and governments have mobilized to contain the menace of a changing climate. We’ve forged new global partnerships and agreements. Scientific advancements have helped us model climate change scenarios with greater accuracy and design better solutions for preventing the worst of them from happening. We’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars in monitoring, prevention, and mitigation technologies. We’ve developed new laws and cutting-edge financial instruments to coordinate action at scale. And yet, much more needs to be done. We have the knowledge and resources to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial times, but science and technology alone won’t get us there. We must accelerate momentum toward a new narrative that galvanizes and inspires. One that moves us all—individuals and governments, manufacturers and investors—to hasten our march toward decarbonization. Now we have a chance to do just that. No one can know for certain what the future holds for climate change, but we can attempt to identify a broad set of actors—emerging and those yet to emerge—from the public, private, international, national, and civic sectors to reimagine our response to climate change. In this new narrative, what we call “The Future of Climate Action,” climate influences every aspect of our daily lives and pushes us to care for the earth, ourselves, and generations to come. It delivers us from fear, uncertainty, and doubt, because it centers instead on opportunity, meaning, and possibility. Through this narrative, and this map, we can blaze a new path. It opens the door to a future we can build and mold by focusing on the external forces that shape our capacity to act. It describes the emerging opportunity zones, or levers, for accelerating progress. It poses provocative questions to stimulate ideas for altering power dynamics rather than focusing on current prevention, mitigation, and adaptation efforts, and it predicts the frictions we may encounter as we work to advance climate action. “The Future of Climate Action” describes the hopeful signals of change of today and presents positive scenarios of tomorrow to inform action and ignite genuine change. Today we begin writing that story. Today we take that leap toward an urgently needed future. www.iftf.org www.climateinvestmentfunds.org Special thanks for contributions from our partners at Impossible Labs. © 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 A NEW STORY TO SPARK THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION
  • 4. THINKGLOBALLY,ACTEVERYWHERE Thismapismorethananoutlineofanewnarrativeforthefuture.It’satool formatchingexternalforcestodesignnewcoalitions,identifyareasfor experimentation,andcapitalizeonnewopportunitiestoaccelerate climateaction. Whetherinmultilateralnegotiations,top-downmandates,orcommunityorganizing, threemodesofinteractioncanbeleveragedtomotivatepartners: • WecanCOMPELotherstodowhattheywouldn’tvoluntarilydo.Forexample,governments mightdesignregulationsandpricingschemesthatmotivateashiftinproductiontowards moreclimate-friendlymodelsofappliancesandvehicles,mandatingmanufacturerstocomply andmakingecologicallysustainablemodelsmoreattractivetoconsumers. • WecanEMPOWERotherstouseexistingresourcestocommunicatewiththeirconstituents andcrafttheirowncompellingnarratives.Forexample,scientificinstitutionscouldwork multilaterallywithartists,designers,andsocialactiviststomakeclimatedataaccessible bymobilephonesinhighlycontext-relevantwaystoempowerinterestedcitizensandcivic organizationstoengagetheircommunitiesinclimateaction. • WecanATTRACTotherswhocare,pullingthemincloserandcreatingasenseofurgency andmeaning.Forexample,anewwaveofgloballyconnectedyouthactivistsmightunleash freshmessagingcampaignsthatdrawinconfusedoruninterestedparents,siblings,and teachers,eventuallyimpactingnationaldecisionmakerswithinawiderangeofinternal politicalsystems. EXTERNAL FORCES key drivers shaping the landscape for climate action These are major developments impacting the larger external environment in which climate action will take place. extreme megacities Vast cities will house up to two-thirds of the world’s population by 2030, and most of them will be located within 100 kilometers of coastal zones. These urban centers will concentrate the effects of climate disruption such as storm surges, putting trillions of dollars at risk, and will spur a new wave of climate gentrification as the wealthy relocate to safe areas. This will also make municipal governments the frontline for climate efforts, driving subnational and multipolar climate action to new levels. climate suffering City dwellers around the globe will suffer cardiovascular and respiratory health conditions caused by dirty emissions from vehicles, factories, and power plants. Deforestation, too much or too little rain, and rising temperatures will push insects and animals into unwanted contact with humans, spreading disease. The elderly will be especially vulnerable. Challenged by personal health consequences, citizens will press for change. solastalgia As the severe weather effects of climate change significantly damage iconic cultural sites such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, as well as coastal habitats and endangered animal species, these losses are likely to trigger widespread “solastalgia”—nostalgia or wistfulness for terrains lost. Just like nostalgia, which scientists have found to create a sense of continuity with the past and greater social connectedness, solastalgia is likely to foster a sense of continuity with earlier terrains and encourage social connectedness among those eager to act together to prevent their destruction. abundant data for decision making New sensing technology such as satellite imaging, drone mapping, and ocean sensors will provide a view of our planet at extraordinary resolution. The ability to track consumption, production, and weather patterns at new scales will make previously invisible impacts of climate change visible. Embedding digital intelligence in our physical environment—from self- driving cars to phones that track air quality—will allow real-time analysis for decision making. new authorities, new power dynamics How we influence at scale and who has the ability to do so will shift as new media platforms enable individuals to project their voices to millions and geopolitical changes give rise to new economic power centers. Old power, held by a few and jealously guarded, closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven, will give way to new power, which is made by many, open, participatory, and peer-driven, in the words of activist authors Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms. The new power dynamics will open up new opportunities for climate action at all levels—local, global, civic, and institutional. technologies of decentralization The next decade will see the steady rise of tools—such as blockchain, grid edge, and crowdsourcing—that cut out unnecessary middlemen and empower network edges. Blockchain will be used not simply as digital currency but for “smart” peer-to-peer and peer- to-market contracts, and will fuel new experiments in secure identity, distributed ownership, and financial transactions. These tools will push us to rethink scale, enabling investment and insurance for more local, less mainstream climate projects. ORGANIZING WITHOUT ORGANIZATIONS from formal structures to networked nodes Networked, distributed, open organizational forms are overtaking and replacing the ones we’ve relied on for the last several centuries, creating new ways to get things done. The new organizations will be more porous, distributed, and activated than legacy institutions, while also being less stable and unpredictable. Characterized by reputation- based systems, software-managed processes, and networks of contributors rather than formal staffs, these emerging twenty-first- century organizations will offer incentives beyond monetary compensation. Participants will be driven by opportunities to build reputations and have awe-inspiring impact. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Redesigning institutional structures to incentivize connection with open, emergent networks; prototyping nation-level crowdfunding and crowdsourcing sites for climate adaptation NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Institutional bridge builders, community managers, platform cooperatives, blockchain nodes CLIMATE AS GROWTH SPACE from burden to profitable investment By 2030 the profitability of technologies and businesses that benefit the climate will be proven, shifting our views on investments for climate change. Soon they will be seen as areas of innovation and profit. New markets in climate data and insurable natural infrastructure—and even climate- sector cryptocurrencies—will emerge. With assets at risk, large companies will invest more in adaptation, services, and their own renewable energy infrastructure. Job seekers, development, and workforce programs will see the climate change sector as a job creator. Nations and corporations will need to rebalance economic and social priorities by promoting climate-friendly investment policies and encouraging greater wealth equality. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Incubating climate services start-ups in least- developed countries; funding entrepreneurs to de-risk green products, driving larger corporate investment; developing new business school programs to balance social goals such as ecosystem preservation with economic profits NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Entrepreneurship policymakers, workforce planners, start-ups, elite investors at scale (especially insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and foundations), climate entrepreneurs ALGORITHMIC ACTION from people power to computer collaborators Smart systems and objects will undertake climate action on our behalf. Over the next decade, regulators and programmers will bake climate action into our processes and machines—imagine social credit systems that automatically register and sanction polluters, and objects that organize their own power consumption. Artificially intelligent personal assistants like Siri and Alexa could make climate-friendly individual consumption the default, while industrial automation does the same at the institutional level. Smart contracts, based on blockchains, will allow groups of any size to create automated exchanges, whether land titles or excess electrons. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Automating climate regulation compliance; outsourcing climate regulation compliance; enabling peer-to-market energy transactions NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Compliance system designers, process automation programmers, smart grid managers WATCHFUL EYES from institutional authority to crowd oversight By 2030, collaborative climate data gathering, citizen monitoring of places and institutions, and shared knowledge bases will allow greater independent oversight and verification of what’s happening to our planet. Mass observation from diverse perspectives will be a critical method for pushing back against false information from official sources (both governmental and corporate) and corruption. Hiding bad actions from public scrutiny will become much harder. The new transparency will bring new voices and authorities into climate conversations, enabling action on a wider scale. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Building systems for cross-border data analysis; funding open source climate data collection tools and teaching citizens how to use them NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Anti-corruption activists, journalists, manufacturers of user-friendly climate data collection hardware IMMERSIVE NEWS from distant facts to intimate impact New storytelling tools will convert complex, jargon-laden graphs into emotional experiences, increasing our psychological grasp of the reality of climate change. A wide variety of new techniques—including virtual and augmented reality simulations, snappy Internet memes, and feedback loops about climate impacts of daily activities—will draw in people who don’t care about climate change and mobilize people who are ready to act. Accurate climate data repositories— accessible in multiple sensory-rich formats and comprehensible to both pros and amateurs—will be critical building blocks. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Bringing real impacts to life via visceral experiences; optimizing climate data platforms for sense making and story building; designing climate action memes and infographics NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Media creation tool developers, science journalists, entertainment creatives MEDIA FOR GOOD from computational propaganda to positive persuasion Tools for injecting ideas into the media will become more accessible and more powerful, wielded not only by disruptive national actors but also by corporations, NGOs, governments, and individuals. The technology underlying the weaponized bots and computational propaganda that activated anti-democratic behavior worldwide in the late 2010s can also be harnessed to openly influence environmental beliefs, connect micro-communities, and organize pro-climate social behavior in the 2020s. Transparency will be critical: knowing that information came from a bot won’t necessarily undermine its effectiveness. It may even make it more trustworthy, if one knows the source of the bot. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Signal tracking and signal boosting in real time; designing and deploying bot networks NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Bot networks, social media platform designers Thesemodesofinteractionaren’tnew.What’snovelisthatabroadersetofactors willbeabletousethemodestoinfluenceoneanother,acrossbordersandat differentscales.Sometimesthepersuasionwillbebasedongoodold-fashioned politicsandfinancialincentives.Butwealsodesperatelyneedunpredictable— evenunimaginable—newcoalitionsandtactics. Asyoulookto2030,askyourselfhowyoucanuseideasfromthemapto shakeupyourcurrentstakeholdercoalitionsandbuildanewnarrativethat willdrivechange: • Howmightyouempoweradifferent setofvoicesthatcouldalterpower dynamicsamongtraditionalstakeholders? • Howmightyoudrastically increasethenumberandquality ofinteractionsamongyourcurrent stakeholderstodrivefaster,larger, ormoreefficientimpact? • Howmightyoutransform yourorganization’sown storytoconnectwitha massaudience? ACTIVATED YOUTH from siloed scenes to meme movements While not every young person will be online by 2030, increased connectivity will provide access to next-generation, cutting- edge viral communication techniques born of youth Internet and mobile phone culture. Young people in places subject to the most devastating impacts of climate change will bear witness on global social media platforms and in on-the-ground movements, activating peers in developing and developed economies alike. As in the past, youth-led social movements will be an emotional nucleus of change with the power to transform national politics. This time, they will fight for the health of the planet. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Harnessing online response for street action; teaching youth how to understand government structures and reach government officials NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Girls, students, youth-supporting groups WOMEN AS CLIMATE ACTION LEADERS from traditional gender roles to empowered representation Women are disproportionately impacted by climate change—an outsized number of climate migrants are women, as just one example—and they are also critical to taking action on climate change. In the next decade, as high-level policymakers, they will be responsible for increased international cooperation. In rural and developing communities, they will leverage social and familial roles to change public sentiment on climate action. Communities and frameworks that tap into the organizing ability and knowledge capital of women will succeed better at climate action efforts than those that continue the status quo of underrepresentation. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Seeking out and empowering women in climate action leadership positions; supporting women as local and ground- level influencers NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Female politicians, female community organizers, women-led organizations ACCELERATING CLIMATE ACTION zones of opportunity Zones of opportunity outline new possibility spaces for reframing the narrative around climate change and accelerating climate action. FRICTIONPOINTS obstacleshampering climatechangeaction Weneedtowriteanewnarrativeofclimatechangeaction. Anarrativethatcompels,empowers,andattractspeopleacross industriesandgeographiestothinkofclimatechangenotasan intractableproblem,butasaspaceforinnovativesolutions. Thismaphelpstonavigatethisspacebyexaminingalltheinfluential elementsofthenextdecadeofclimateaction,includingthe FrictionPointsthatinterferewithclimateactionresponses. LEGACYENERGY Fossilfuel–basedpatternsofconsumptionandapproachestoeconomicgrowthare deeplyembeddedinnationalpoliticalandregulatorysystems.Decarbonizationwon’t happenwithoutafight. SHORT-TERMISM Thenaturalhumantendencytofocusonthehereandnowgetsamplifiedby climate-relatedfear,passivity,andapathy,thatdrownoutlong-termthinking. RISEINDISPOSABLEINCOMES Economicgrowthbringswithitrisingdemandsforalltypesofconsumergoods, puttingincreasingstrainonresourcesandexpandingoutputsofCO2. ATTENTIONSCARCITY Aswebecomeincreasinglyoverwhelmedbyrapid,flashymedia cyclesandaddictiveentertainment,itbecomesmoreand moredifficultforclimatedangerstobreakthroughthenoise. FACTRESISTANCE Science,journalism,andotherfact-gatheringinstitutions arechallengedbyrampantmisinformation,thatturns policydebatesintopolarizedshoutingmatches. PROTECTIONISM Economicandpoliticalnationalismreducethe publicappetiteforfinancingcross-border solutionstoplanet-scaleproblems. EXTREMEWEATHER. RISINGSEAS. FOODSCARCITY. Thescienceandsymptomsareclear:climatedisruptionsareallaround us.Overthepastseveraldecades,citizensandgovernmentshave mobilizedtocontainthemenaceofachangingclimate.We’veforged newglobalpartnershipsandagreements.Scientificadvancementshave helpedusmodelclimatechangescenarioswithgreateraccuracyand designbettersolutionsforpreventingtheworstofthemfromhappening. We’veinvestedhundredsofbillionsofdollarsinmonitoring,prevention, andmitigationtechnologies.We’vedevelopednewlawsandcutting-edge financialinstrumentstocoordinateactionatscale. Andyet,muchmoreneedstobedone.Wehavetheknowledgeandresourcestoprevent globaltemperaturesfromrisingmorethan2°Cabovepre-industrialtimes,butscience andtechnologyalonewon’tgetusthere.Wemustacceleratemomentumtowarda newnarrativethatgalvanizesandinspires.Onethatmovesusall—individualsand governments,manufacturersandinvestors—tohastenourmarchtowarddecarbonization. Nowwehaveachancetodojustthat.Noonecanknowforcertainwhatthefutureholds forclimatechange,butwecanattempttoidentifyabroadsetofactors—emergingand thoseyettoemerge—fromthepublic,private,international,national,andcivicsectorsto reimagineourresponsetoclimatechange.Inthisnewnarrative,whatwecall“TheFuture ofClimateAction,”climateinfluenceseveryaspectofourdailylivesandpushesusto carefortheearth,ourselves,andgenerationstocome.Itdeliversusfromfear,uncertainty, anddoubt,becauseitcentersinsteadonopportunity,meaning,andpossibility. Throughthisnarrative,andthismap,wecanblazeanewpath.Itopensthedoortoa futurewecanbuildandmoldbyfocusingontheexternalforcesthatshapeourcapacity toact.Itdescribestheemergingopportunityzones,orlevers,foracceleratingprogress. Itposesprovocativequestionstostimulateideasforalteringpowerdynamicsratherthan focusingoncurrentprevention,mitigation,andadaptationefforts,anditpredictsthe frictionswemayencounterasweworktoadvanceclimateaction. “TheFutureofClimateAction”describesthehopefulsignalsofchangeoftodayand presentspositivescenariosoftomorrowtoinformactionandignitegenuinechange. Todaywebeginwriting thatstory.Todaywetake thatleaptowardan urgentlyneededfuture. www.iftf.org www.climateinvestmentfunds.org SpecialthanksforcontributionsfromourpartnersatImpossibleLabs. ©2018InstitutefortheFuture.Allrightsreserved.Allbrands andtrademarksremainthepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners. SR-2037A|CCBY-NC-ND4.0 ANEWSTORYTOSPARK THEFUTUREOF CLIMATE ACTION
  • 5. THINKGLOBALLY,ACTEVERYWHERE Thismapismorethananoutlineofanewnarrativeforthefuture.It’satool formatchingexternalforcestodesignnewcoalitions,identifyareasfor experimentation,andcapitalizeonnewopportunitiestoaccelerate climateaction. Whetherinmultilateralnegotiations,top-downmandates,orcommunityorganizing, threemodesofinteractioncanbeleveragedtomotivatepartners: • WecanCOMPELotherstodowhattheywouldn’tvoluntarilydo.Forexample,governments mightdesignregulationsandpricingschemesthatmotivateashiftinproductiontowards moreclimate-friendlymodelsofappliancesandvehicles,mandatingmanufacturerstocomply andmakingecologicallysustainablemodelsmoreattractivetoconsumers. • WecanEMPOWERotherstouseexistingresourcestocommunicatewiththeirconstituents andcrafttheirowncompellingnarratives.Forexample,scientificinstitutionscouldwork multilaterallywithartists,designers,andsocialactiviststomakeclimatedataaccessible bymobilephonesinhighlycontext-relevantwaystoempowerinterestedcitizensandcivic organizationstoengagetheircommunitiesinclimateaction. • WecanATTRACTotherswhocare,pullingthemincloserandcreatingasenseofurgency andmeaning.Forexample,anewwaveofgloballyconnectedyouthactivistsmightunleash freshmessagingcampaignsthatdrawinconfusedoruninterestedparents,siblings,and teachers,eventuallyimpactingnationaldecisionmakerswithinawiderangeofinternal politicalsystems. EXTERNAL FORCES key drivers shaping the landscape for climate action These are major developments impacting the larger external environment in which climate action will take place. extreme megacities Vast cities will house up to two-thirds of the world’s population by 2030, and most of them will be located within 100 kilometers of coastal zones. These urban centers will concentrate the effects of climate disruption such as storm surges, putting trillions of dollars at risk, and will spur a new wave of climate gentrification as the wealthy relocate to safe areas. This will also make municipal governments the frontline for climate efforts, driving subnational and multipolar climate action to new levels. climate suffering City dwellers around the globe will suffer cardiovascular and respiratory health conditions caused by dirty emissions from vehicles, factories, and power plants. Deforestation, too much or too little rain, and rising temperatures will push insects and animals into unwanted contact with humans, spreading disease. The elderly will be especially vulnerable. Challenged by personal health consequences, citizens will press for change. solastalgia As the severe weather effects of climate change significantly damage iconic cultural sites such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, as well as coastal habitats and endangered animal species, these losses are likely to trigger widespread “solastalgia”—nostalgia or wistfulness for terrains lost. Just like nostalgia, which scientists have found to create a sense of continuity with the past and greater social connectedness, solastalgia is likely to foster a sense of continuity with earlier terrains and encourage social connectedness among those eager to act together to prevent their destruction. abundant data for decision making New sensing technology such as satellite imaging, drone mapping, and ocean sensors will provide a view of our planet at extraordinary resolution. The ability to track consumption, production, and weather patterns at new scales will make previously invisible impacts of climate change visible. Embedding digital intelligence in our physical environment—from self- driving cars to phones that track air quality—will allow real-time analysis for decision making. new authorities, new power dynamics How we influence at scale and who has the ability to do so will shift as new media platforms enable individuals to project their voices to millions and geopolitical changes give rise to new economic power centers. Old power, held by a few and jealously guarded, closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven, will give way to new power, which is made by many, open, participatory, and peer-driven, in the words of activist authors Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms. The new power dynamics will open up new opportunities for climate action at all levels—local, global, civic, and institutional. technologies of decentralization The next decade will see the steady rise of tools—such as blockchain, grid edge, and crowdsourcing—that cut out unnecessary middlemen and empower network edges. Blockchain will be used not simply as digital currency but for “smart” peer-to-peer and peer- to-market contracts, and will fuel new experiments in secure identity, distributed ownership, and financial transactions. These tools will push us to rethink scale, enabling investment and insurance for more local, less mainstream climate projects. ORGANIZING WITHOUT ORGANIZATIONS from formal structures to networked nodes Networked, distributed, open organizational forms are overtaking and replacing the ones we’ve relied on for the last several centuries, creating new ways to get things done. The new organizations will be more porous, distributed, and activated than legacy institutions, while also being less stable and unpredictable. Characterized by reputation- based systems, software-managed processes, and networks of contributors rather than formal staffs, these emerging twenty-first- century organizations will offer incentives beyond monetary compensation. Participants will be driven by opportunities to build reputations and have awe-inspiring impact. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Redesigning institutional structures to incentivize connection with open, emergent networks; prototyping nation-level crowdfunding and crowdsourcing sites for climate adaptation NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Institutional bridge builders, community managers, platform cooperatives, blockchain nodes CLIMATE AS GROWTH SPACE from burden to profitable investment By 2030 the profitability of technologies and businesses that benefit the climate will be proven, shifting our views on investments for climate change. Soon they will be seen as areas of innovation and profit. New markets in climate data and insurable natural infrastructure—and even climate- sector cryptocurrencies—will emerge. With assets at risk, large companies will invest more in adaptation, services, and their own renewable energy infrastructure. Job seekers, development, and workforce programs will see the climate change sector as a job creator. Nations and corporations will need to rebalance economic and social priorities by promoting climate-friendly investment policies and encouraging greater wealth equality. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Incubating climate services start-ups in least- developed countries; funding entrepreneurs to de-risk green products, driving larger corporate investment; developing new business school programs to balance social goals such as ecosystem preservation with economic profits NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Entrepreneurship policymakers, workforce planners, start-ups, elite investors at scale (especially insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and foundations), climate entrepreneurs ALGORITHMIC ACTION from people power to computer collaborators Smart systems and objects will undertake climate action on our behalf. Over the next decade, regulators and programmers will bake climate action into our processes and machines—imagine social credit systems that automatically register and sanction polluters, and objects that organize their own power consumption. Artificially intelligent personal assistants like Siri and Alexa could make climate-friendly individual consumption the default, while industrial automation does the same at the institutional level. Smart contracts, based on blockchains, will allow groups of any size to create automated exchanges, whether land titles or excess electrons. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Automating climate regulation compliance; outsourcing climate regulation compliance; enabling peer-to-market energy transactions NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Compliance system designers, process automation programmers, smart grid managers WATCHFUL EYES from institutional authority to crowd oversight By 2030, collaborative climate data gathering, citizen monitoring of places and institutions, and shared knowledge bases will allow greater independent oversight and verification of what’s happening to our planet. Mass observation from diverse perspectives will be a critical method for pushing back against false information from official sources (both governmental and corporate) and corruption. Hiding bad actions from public scrutiny will become much harder. The new transparency will bring new voices and authorities into climate conversations, enabling action on a wider scale. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Building systems for cross-border data analysis; funding open source climate data collection tools and teaching citizens how to use them NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Anti-corruption activists, journalists, manufacturers of user-friendly climate data collection hardware IMMERSIVE NEWS from distant facts to intimate impact New storytelling tools will convert complex, jargon-laden graphs into emotional experiences, increasing our psychological grasp of the reality of climate change. A wide variety of new techniques—including virtual and augmented reality simulations, snappy Internet memes, and feedback loops about climate impacts of daily activities—will draw in people who don’t care about climate change and mobilize people who are ready to act. Accurate climate data repositories— accessible in multiple sensory-rich formats and comprehensible to both pros and amateurs—will be critical building blocks. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Bringing real impacts to life via visceral experiences; optimizing climate data platforms for sense making and story building; designing climate action memes and infographics NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Media creation tool developers, science journalists, entertainment creatives MEDIA FOR GOOD from computational propaganda to positive persuasion Tools for injecting ideas into the media will become more accessible and more powerful, wielded not only by disruptive national actors but also by corporations, NGOs, governments, and individuals. The technology underlying the weaponized bots and computational propaganda that activated anti-democratic behavior worldwide in the late 2010s can also be harnessed to openly influence environmental beliefs, connect micro-communities, and organize pro-climate social behavior in the 2020s. Transparency will be critical: knowing that information came from a bot won’t necessarily undermine its effectiveness. It may even make it more trustworthy, if one knows the source of the bot. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Signal tracking and signal boosting in real time; designing and deploying bot networks NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Bot networks, social media platform designers Thesemodesofinteractionaren’tnew.What’snovelisthatabroadersetofactors willbeabletousethemodestoinfluenceoneanother,acrossbordersandat differentscales.Sometimesthepersuasionwillbebasedongoodold-fashioned politicsandfinancialincentives.Butwealsodesperatelyneedunpredictable— evenunimaginable—newcoalitionsandtactics. Asyoulookto2030,askyourselfhowyoucanuseideasfromthemapto shakeupyourcurrentstakeholdercoalitionsandbuildanewnarrativethat willdrivechange: • Howmightyouempoweradifferent setofvoicesthatcouldalterpower dynamicsamongtraditionalstakeholders? • Howmightyoudrastically increasethenumberandquality ofinteractionsamongyourcurrent stakeholderstodrivefaster,larger, ormoreefficientimpact? • Howmightyoutransform yourorganization’sown storytoconnectwitha massaudience? ACTIVATED YOUTH from siloed scenes to meme movements While not every young person will be online by 2030, increased connectivity will provide access to next-generation, cutting- edge viral communication techniques born of youth Internet and mobile phone culture. Young people in places subject to the most devastating impacts of climate change will bear witness on global social media platforms and in on-the-ground movements, activating peers in developing and developed economies alike. As in the past, youth-led social movements will be an emotional nucleus of change with the power to transform national politics. This time, they will fight for the health of the planet. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Harnessing online response for street action; teaching youth how to understand government structures and reach government officials NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Girls, students, youth-supporting groups WOMEN AS CLIMATE ACTION LEADERS from traditional gender roles to empowered representation Women are disproportionately impacted by climate change—an outsized number of climate migrants are women, as just one example—and they are also critical to taking action on climate change. In the next decade, as high-level policymakers, they will be responsible for increased international cooperation. In rural and developing communities, they will leverage social and familial roles to change public sentiment on climate action. Communities and frameworks that tap into the organizing ability and knowledge capital of women will succeed better at climate action efforts than those that continue the status quo of underrepresentation. NEW FORMS OF CLIMATE ACTION: Seeking out and empowering women in climate action leadership positions; supporting women as local and ground- level influencers NEW CLIMATE ACTORS: Female politicians, female community organizers, women-led organizations ACCELERATING CLIMATE ACTION zones of opportunity Zones of opportunity outline new possibility spaces for reframing the narrative around climate change and accelerating climate action. FRICTIONPOINTS obstacleshampering climatechangeaction Weneedtowriteanewnarrativeofclimatechangeaction. Anarrativethatcompels,empowers,andattractspeopleacross industriesandgeographiestothinkofclimatechangenotasan intractableproblem,butasaspaceforinnovativesolutions. Thismaphelpstonavigatethisspacebyexaminingalltheinfluential elementsofthenextdecadeofclimateaction,includingthe FrictionPointsthatinterferewithclimateactionresponses. LEGACYENERGY Fossilfuel–basedpatternsofconsumptionandapproachestoeconomicgrowthare deeplyembeddedinnationalpoliticalandregulatorysystems.Decarbonizationwon’t happenwithoutafight. SHORT-TERMISM Thenaturalhumantendencytofocusonthehereandnowgetsamplifiedby climate-relatedfear,passivity,andapathy,thatdrownoutlong-termthinking. RISEINDISPOSABLEINCOMES Economicgrowthbringswithitrisingdemandsforalltypesofconsumergoods, puttingincreasingstrainonresourcesandexpandingoutputsofCO2. ATTENTIONSCARCITY Aswebecomeincreasinglyoverwhelmedbyrapid,flashymedia cyclesandaddictiveentertainment,itbecomesmoreand moredifficultforclimatedangerstobreakthroughthenoise. FACTRESISTANCE Science,journalism,andotherfact-gatheringinstitutions arechallengedbyrampantmisinformation,thatturns policydebatesintopolarizedshoutingmatches. PROTECTIONISM Economicandpoliticalnationalismreducethe publicappetiteforfinancingcross-border solutionstoplanet-scaleproblems. EXTREMEWEATHER. RISINGSEAS. FOODSCARCITY. Thescienceandsymptomsareclear:climatedisruptionsareallaround us.Overthepastseveraldecades,citizensandgovernmentshave mobilizedtocontainthemenaceofachangingclimate.We’veforged newglobalpartnershipsandagreements.Scientificadvancementshave helpedusmodelclimatechangescenarioswithgreateraccuracyand designbettersolutionsforpreventingtheworstofthemfromhappening. We’veinvestedhundredsofbillionsofdollarsinmonitoring,prevention, andmitigationtechnologies.We’vedevelopednewlawsandcutting-edge financialinstrumentstocoordinateactionatscale. Andyet,muchmoreneedstobedone.Wehavetheknowledgeandresourcestoprevent globaltemperaturesfromrisingmorethan2°Cabovepre-industrialtimes,butscience andtechnologyalonewon’tgetusthere.Wemustacceleratemomentumtowarda newnarrativethatgalvanizesandinspires.Onethatmovesusall—individualsand governments,manufacturersandinvestors—tohastenourmarchtowarddecarbonization. Nowwehaveachancetodojustthat.Noonecanknowforcertainwhatthefutureholds forclimatechange,butwecanattempttoidentifyabroadsetofactors—emergingand thoseyettoemerge—fromthepublic,private,international,national,andcivicsectorsto reimagineourresponsetoclimatechange.Inthisnewnarrative,whatwecall“TheFuture ofClimateAction,”climateinfluenceseveryaspectofourdailylivesandpushesusto carefortheearth,ourselves,andgenerationstocome.Itdeliversusfromfear,uncertainty, anddoubt,becauseitcentersinsteadonopportunity,meaning,andpossibility. Throughthisnarrative,andthismap,wecanblazeanewpath.Itopensthedoortoa futurewecanbuildandmoldbyfocusingontheexternalforcesthatshapeourcapacity toact.Itdescribestheemergingopportunityzones,orlevers,foracceleratingprogress. Itposesprovocativequestionstostimulateideasforalteringpowerdynamicsratherthan focusingoncurrentprevention,mitigation,andadaptationefforts,anditpredictsthe frictionswemayencounterasweworktoadvanceclimateaction. “TheFutureofClimateAction”describesthehopefulsignalsofchangeoftodayand presentspositivescenariosoftomorrowtoinformactionandignitegenuinechange. Todaywebeginwriting thatstory.Todaywetake thatleaptowardan urgentlyneededfuture. www.iftf.org www.climateinvestmentfunds.org SpecialthanksforcontributionsfromourpartnersatImpossibleLabs. ©2018InstitutefortheFuture.Allrightsreserved.Allbrands andtrademarksremainthepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners. SR-2037A|CCBY-NC-ND4.0 ANEWSTORYTOSPARK THEFUTUREOF CLIMATE ACTION
  • 6. © 2018 Institute for the Future. All rights reserved. All brands and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. SR-2037A | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 IMMERSIVE NEWS from distant facts to intimate impact WATCHFUL EYES from institutional authority to crowd oversight WOMEN AS CLIMATE ACTION LEADERS from traditional gender roles to empowered representation ORGANIZING WITHOUT ORGANIZATIONS from formal structures to networked nodes ALGORITHMIC ACTION from people power to computer collaborators ACTIVATED YOUTH from siloed scenes to meme movements March For Our Lives, a movement launched by high school students, rapidly generated one of the largest US political protests ever and is reshaping the dynamics of addressing gun violence issues, long considered politically untouchable. Source: marchforourlives.com Image: facebook.com/marchforourlives. Youth rapper Sonita Alizadeh’s music video Brides for Sale spread her story of escaping fate as a child bride in Afghanistan after it went viral, reaching leaders and citizens worldwide. The song became the launchpad for her advocacy organization, Girls Not Brides, which has formed a global network of more than 800 civil society groups that work to end child marriage as well as accomplish a number of UN Sustainable Development Goals. Source: https://www.sonita.org/ Image: flickr user IIP Photo Archive The Earth Journalism Network in February 2018 launched a three-year project to help journalists, educators, and activists create and distribute reliable, actionable information to increase climate resilience in vulnerable communities in the Bay of Bengal region. Source and Image: earthjournalism.net Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning conceptual virtual reality installation CARNE y ARENA places visitors inside an encounter between immigrants and police on the US-Mexico border, transforming reportage into immersive experience. Source and Image: lacma.org/carne-y-arena ME SOLshare, a peer-to-peer solar microgrid, lets citizens in Bangladesh independently generate solar PV power and then buy it from and sell it to one another using plug-and-play blockchain- powered electricity meters. Source and Image: me-solshare.com IBM and Samsung developed a proof-of-concept using their ADEPT (Autonomous Decentralized Peer-to- Peer Telemetry) protocol to enable a washing machine to autonomously negotiate energy use with the grid so as to avoid peak power usage. Source: insights.samsung.com Image: ibm.com People’s Project is a citizen-led online crowdfunding platform that was started to provide the Ukrainian army with equipment and then expanded to fund rehabilitation of wounded soldiers and support promising projects and initiatives in Ukraine. Source and Image: peoplesproject.com/en DeepMind AI, a powerful machine learning system, has reduced the energy used to cool Google’s massive data centers by up to 40 percent by automating dynamic energy consumption. Source: deepmind.com Image: unbonmotgroundswell.blogspot.com Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) project, funded by USAID, holds local governments accountable for progress on capital projects like construction of classrooms and clinics by equipping citizens with tools to collect firsthand data. Source: gsamproject.org Image: facebook.com/gsamproject The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project harnesses a global network of independent journalists and citizens to conduct cross-border investigations that expose hidden corruption via projects like the Panama Papers. Source: occrp.org Image: facebook.com/occrp.org MEDIA FOR GOOD from computational propaganda to positive persuasion Researchers find that tweets from “good” bots spread just as quickly as bad ones. Source: journals.plos.org Image: nytimes.com The Cognitive Online Simulation of Information Network Environments (COSINE) project at Indiana University was granted $4.95 million by DARPA to investigate online information diffusion in complex, massive-scale networks. Source: cnets.indiana.edu Image: pnas.org CLIMATE AS GROWTH SPACE from burden to profitable investment Morocco’s increasingly ambitious power generation goals—the latest of which is 52% renewable energy power by 2030—has spurred investors, from international development banks funding Morocco’s 800MW Noor Midelt solar complex to private firms like Soluna, a blockchain company with plans to develop a 900MW wind farm in the area. Source: www.reuters.com Image: wikimedia commons Ninety-six percent of MBA students at top global business schools think businesses should lead efforts to address climate change, according to a Yale survey of 3,700 students at 29 top business schools across five continents. Source and Image: cbey.yale.edu The Natural Resources Defense Council reports that a study of 130 countries found that women in government leadership positions are more likely than men to sign on to international treaties taking action on climate change. Source: Natural Resources Defense Council Image: NRDC.org Zenab for Women in Development, a Sudanese NGO founded by Fatima Ahmed in 2000, trains traditionally excluded women in conservation and agricultural techniques, and in 2017 won an award from the UNFCCC’s Momentum for Change program. Source and Image: https://unfccc.int PROTECTIONISM ATTENTION SCARCITY RISE IN DISPOSABLE INCOMES FACT RESISTANCE LEGACY ENERGY SHORT- TERMISM the environment is a friend you can chat with every day? In daily life most people think of the Voices of Nature (VoNs) as nature spirits, but in reality they are sophisticated artificial intelligence networks that pull together readings from environmental sensors embedded in trees, soil, and smartphones and carried on drones and migratory animals. Some of the world’s best dramatic storytellers turn the data into colorful, personality-packed updates for social media. A tree-based VoN in New Delhi who brags about cooling the overheated air and reducing particulate matter made history when its follower count surpassed that of India’s top cricket player. It’s estimated that more than 40 percent of the planet’s youth have at least one VoN app, and about half of them collect local data to feed back to the network. Like other celebrities, VoNs endorse brands they love and encourage audiences to boycott companies harming the personified environment. VoNs have given nature a voice and are using that voice to rally a global network of human friends to defend their cause. anyone can trade energy through a local grid? The boom has finally cooled off and people are no longer making fortunes on open-network grids. It’s not that it’s no longer profitable but simply that everyone seems to be doing it these days, from young entrepreneurs building profitable businesses with the latest solar technology to elders with a single panel helping stretch their savings a little further. In the early 2020s, blockchain systems finally got reliable and user friendly enough that distributed solar grids became a popular way to power cities. At first, it was the tech savvy who were buying up cheap rooftops in Lima, Lagos, and Kuala Lumpur and making piles of cash selling clean energy. But just like with bitcoin mining, a few big success stories attracted a lot of interest. The demand for energy is near endless, and these grids are a stable source of income for a lot of people. Even in places where local investment capital is low, the demand for cheap energy is high, and the low buy-in cost means anyone can be a green entrepreneur. bots are a force for good? The same tools once used by people to influence elections are now used by civil society groups to influence popular opinion in an open, transparent, and beneficial way. The new benevolent bots focus on verifying the truth of statements, finding connections among diverse communities, and amplifying the stickiest grassroots messages. It all started with young climate activists. Teenagers in the Maldives whose families were hit hard by rising sea levels created a mini-movement documenting their struggles and solutions in simple, powerful memes and videos. An open-source bot started connecting them with teens in Vietnam, Egypt, and Miami whose profiles signaled the same needs. Facebook and WhatsApp, seeking to rebuild trust and expand their reach with teen audiences, explicitly jumped on board to help, opening up their APIs. Now, global connections for climate activists are the fuel that allows most projects to go forward. Benevolent bots make these connections possible. our devices guide us towards climate-friendly decisions? Behavioral optimization software systems (BOSSes) have become commonplace across a range of applications, but perhaps their most profound impact has resulted from tens of millions of users adopting what are known as green BOSSes. First-generation green BOSSes guided users to make choices they would have found too complex to make on their own, such as planning the week’s grocery shopping around optimally low-carbon ingredients. Second- and third-gen BOSSes introduced AI algorithms that guided massive groups of people to make almost unnoticeably small adjustments in virtually all of their daily habits, with effects that shocked even the most optimistic BOSS evangelists. Top algorithm designers say they can’t always understand the linkages their AI makes between cause and effect, but scientists agree that green BOSS adoption has driven down key climate change indicators more than any other factor. Nudging people towards climate-friendly behaviors has made doing the right thing effortless. WHAT IF IN 2030 WHAT IF IN 2030 WHAT IF IN 2030 WHAT IF IN 2030 CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES A NEW STORY TO SPARK THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE ACTION