This Is Planet Ed, an initiative of the Energy and Environment Program of the Aspen Institute, seeks to unlock the power of education as a force for climate action, climate solutions, and environmental justice. Our goal is to empower the next generation to lead a sustainable, resilient, and equitable future. Scientists have made clear that the impacts of climate change and the need to take action will continue for decades. People must be the driving force for sustained action. Education has been identified as a critical tipping point to meet the societal decarbonization needed by 2050, and yet the education sector is underutilized in advancing solutions. Mobilizing educational leaders in the fight against climate change can help make progress towards decarbonization now and build lasting change for a sustainable future.

The India-U.S. Track II Dialogue on Energy and Climate Change, managed by the Aspen Institute and Ananta Aspen Centre in India, convenes a high-level group of about twenty-five experts from government, NGOs, academia, and the business community in the US and India to build on initiatives originally launched in the energy MOU signed between President Obama and Prime Minister Singh at the 2009 summit in Washington, to help define a constructive bilateral agenda on critical energy and climate concerns. The Dialogue is dedicated to positively impacting how the two countries interact bilaterally while also demonstrating genuine leadership multi-laterally on climate change.

The China-U.S.Track II Dialogue on Energy, Climate, and Sustainable Development, hosted in partnership with China’s National Center for Climate Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), is a dialogue series with U.S. and Chinese experts ranging from technical and policy experts, to opinion leaders to other knowledgeable individuals from think tanks, academic institutions, the private and non-profit sectors, and government. This dialogue is designed to help the two countries further increase mutual understanding and agreement on key issues, informing and strengthening the official engagement between the two countries and constructive bilateral impact on the multilateral process.

The Inter-Policy School Summit is a student-run conference hosted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. The Summit brings together graduate students from around the world each year to propose solutions to pressing global issues.

Threats to national security can be understood through many pathways, including: public health, food, water, and energy security, migration, and economic and political stability. As seen with food shocks and shortages in the Middle East, droughts in sub-Saharan Africa, and sea-level rise in Southeast Asia, climate change can lead to instability and security threats across a region and around the world. Yet, despite the escalating risks posed by climate change impacts, the body of scholarship on the topic is remarkably thin and little infrastructure exists to encourage or support further research. The initiative aims to explore and define the nexus of national and international climate and security issues, build nonpartisan relationships and cooperative policy approaches, identify critical areas for further research, and broaden the national and international community of engaged stakeholders.