These environmental heroes will surprise you

Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage is a book that will change how you think about global climate conferences and the people working at the heart of them.

The book, edited by award-winning writer and environmentalist, Chris Spence, and Felix Dodds, a leading thinker in the area of global governance for 30 years, and someone who has written or edited 24 books on sustainable development, tells stories about the scientists, politicians, diplomats, activists and businesspeople changing the world.

“One of our points in the book is that the big outcomes, like the Kyoto Protocol or the Paris Agreement, do have a significant impact that cascades all around the world through government policies,” Chris explains. “It influences business decisions, it influences investment in new technology. Prior to 2015 when the Paris Agreement was signed we were staring down the barrel of between 4 and 6 degrees Celsius of warming, now we’ve reduced it to somewhere in the order of 2 to 2.5 something. That’s still terrible – but it’s not as catastrophic and that all came through these UN agreements.”

The 12 heroes discussed in the book show the progress made when genuine humanity meets innovative thinking.

“We’ve had successes, and if we start to tell some of those stories, we could inspire future leaders, the next generation, who can lead us to new, even bigger successes,” adds Chris.

For more from the pages of Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage, check out the full podcast.