Geneva and climate change: start local and change the world

Imogen Foulkes

Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva for SWI swissinfo.ch as well as the BBC.

“We now know that 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record. At the same time, we have accumulated more CO2 than ever in the history of human life on Earth,” says Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization.

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On Inside Geneva this week, we look at the damage from the perspective of United Nations (UN) aid agencies.

“Climate change is making us sick, and it’s making us sick because it’s increasing the possibility of having more infectious diseases and waterborne diseases like cholera. It’s also sometimes destroying the capacity to produce food,” says Maria Neira, Climate Change Director at the World Health Organization.

We also hear how aid agencies are trying to reduce their own carbon footprints.

“Anyone who’s in the field at the moment shouldn’t be using their own agency vehicles. We should be ride-sharing. We’ve got 6,000 vehicles. Why aren’t they electric? We’ve got 6,000 generators. Why aren’t they all solar-powered?” says Andrew Harper, Climate Change Advisor to the UN Refugee Agency.

It’s part of a local Geneva initiative called 2050 Today to encourage the city’s UN agencies, diplomatic missions and private enterprises to tackle climate change.

“In my small mission, we know that our contribution may be minor in comparison, but we also understand the power of collective movements. By sharing the 2050 Today tools with our other embassies throughout the world, we aim to reduce our emissions by 45% from our 2022 levels,” says Matthew Wilson, the Ambassador of Barbados to the UN in Geneva.

Sometimes great things start local – join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva to find out how.

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