About Sustainability…

Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

About Sustainability… is a podcast presented by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, featuring IGES staff and guests having in-depth discussions about sustainability-related topics. Each episode addresses a different topic of conversation -- be it an upcoming event, a debate of interest, or an interesting research finding. With the topic as a starting point, we see where the conversation takes us. We aim at a broad audience, so we avoid using jargon and try not to assume lots of pre-existing knowledge on the topic. Views expressed during the podcast are those of the speaker at the time of recording and are not the official positions of IGES or other organisations involved.

  1. 2025/11/14

    The Science of Change (Part 1): Behavioural Insights for Sustainability

    Welcome to About Sustainability…, a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). In this episode, hosts Dwayne Appleby and Alice Yamabe are joined by Philipe Bujold, Senior Behavioural Scientist at Rare’s Centre for Behavior & the Environment.  The Center for Behavior & the Environment (BE.Center) at Rare is an international non-profit that works to put behavioural science into practice, applying behavioural insights and design thinking to address issues such as climate change, coastal overfishing, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. This episode is the first in a three part series exploring how behavioral science can help us tackle some of today's most urgent environmental challenges. We discussed what behavioural science is, where it comes from, and how organisations like Rare are applying behavioural insights to real world issues. We explore key concepts such as nudges, sludges and behavioural levers.  Resources mentioned Rare’s Centre for Behavior & the Environment: behavior.rare.orgNudge by Richard Thaler and Cass SunsteinThinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky"About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), an environmental policy think-tank based in Hayama, Japan. IGES experts are concerned with environmental and sustainability challenges. Everything shared on the podcast will be off-the-cuff discussion, and any viewpoints expressed are those held by the speaker at the time of recording. They are not necessarily official IGES positions.

  2. 2024/06/26

    Let's talk about the material footprint and its significance for sustainability

    In this episode of About Sustainability, we talked to Heinz Schandl, who joined us from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. He is an expert on natural resource use, and international resource flows. Among other things, Heinz explained about resource efficiency, the socioeconomic drivers of resource use, and about the possibilities of decoupling economic development and human well-being from resource use.  He also explained how resource use is measured through what we call the material footprint, and why it is important to capture the international dimension of that footprint.  We also learned about progress in indicators and data availability so that the international linkages between resource extraction and final consumption can be tracked and managed.   All these items are important for measuring progress across several SDGs including SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, and SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production.   "About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), an environmental policy think-tank based in Hayama, Japan. IGES experts are concerned with environmental and sustainability challenges. Everything shared on the podcast will be off-the-cuff discussion, and any viewpoints expressed are those held by the speaker at the time of recording. They are not necessarily official IGES positions.

  3. 2024/01/31

    About Climate Action (SDG 13): Framing Climate Change as a Security Issue and Outcomes of UNFCCC-COP28

    On this episode of About Sustainability…, Alice and Erin were joined by Naoyuki OKANO and Nagisa SHIIBA, IGES experts working on Climate Adaptation. This episode, recorded in December 2023, offers a quick recap of what happened at COP28 in Dubai and then dives deep into the far-reaching impacts of climate change on human security.  Hosted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) brought the world’s leaders together to discuss how to confront the climate crisis. Some of its main outcomes include the first Global Stocktake (GST), the agreement on the framework for operationalising the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), and the agreement on the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund.  Naoyuki and Nagisa introduce us to their new research project on Climate Security in the Asia Pacific, funded by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We discuss how framing the climate crisis as a security issue can be a powerful approach to mobilising resources across areas and tackling global challenges. ABOUT OUR GUESTS Dr. Naoyuki OKANO is a Policy Researcher in the Adaptation and Water Unit of IGES. He works on issues related to the laws and governance of climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, transboundary climate risks, and climate security.  Nagisa SHIIBA is a Policy Researcher at the Adaptation and Water Unit of IGES. She is engaged in research projects on climate change adaptation and supports the negotiation process for the Japanese delegation to the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS AND PROJECTS Asia-Pacific Climate Security Project (APCS) Website  TIMESTAMPS 00:10 - 02:10             Intro                                          02:10 - 05:06             COP 28                                    05:06 - 13:18             Global Goal on Adaptation      13:18 - 17:33             Loss and Damage  17:33 - 36:07             Climate Security  36:07 - 51:18             Climate Migration  51:18 - 54:22             Food Security  54:22 - 57:00             Balancing Security Issues in Climate Adaptation Plans  "About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), an environmental policy think-tank based in Hayama, Japan. IGES experts are concerned with environmental and sustainability challenges. Everything shared on the podcast will be off-the-cuff discussion, and any viewpoints expressed are those held by the speaker at the time of recording. They are not necessarily official IGES positions.

番組について

About Sustainability… is a podcast presented by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, featuring IGES staff and guests having in-depth discussions about sustainability-related topics. Each episode addresses a different topic of conversation -- be it an upcoming event, a debate of interest, or an interesting research finding. With the topic as a starting point, we see where the conversation takes us. We aim at a broad audience, so we avoid using jargon and try not to assume lots of pre-existing knowledge on the topic. Views expressed during the podcast are those of the speaker at the time of recording and are not the official positions of IGES or other organisations involved.