About Sustainability…
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.
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 a...
Nov 14, 2025
57 min
Environmental negotiations: Discussions that shape our future
In this episode, Dwayne Appleby and Andre Mader had an illuminating discussion about multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and their negotiations. Their guest was none other than IGES Executive Director, Hiroshi Ono. With a wealth of experience as part of Japan’s negotiation team at various meetings in the past, Ono-san sheds light on how these agreements work and why it is so tough to come to decisions. "About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute...
Aug 7, 2025
57 min
SDG10 and Beyond: Ensuring a Just Transition for All
Join us on "About Sustainability," a podcast by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). In this episode, we explore what the just transition means, tracing its roots back to labour movements of the 1970s and its evolution into international debates and sustainable frameworks. Our guests share innovative case studies that showcase how just transition principles are being implemented locally across the world, with a special focus on Asia. The conversation also explores the ong...
Mar 7, 2025
1 hr 5 min
Depopulation, shrinking cities and urban-rural migration
In this episode Alice Yamabe and Andre Mader speak with two IGES colleagues, Fernando Ortiz Moya and Yasuo Takahashi, about the phenomenon of depopulation. Fernando has been studying shrinking cities, and Yasuo has been doing research on urban to rural migration, so we have two quite different angles on this subject. To many it may seem counterintuitive to worry about depopulation in a world in which the human populations continues to grow. But population growth rates have been slowing for de...
Oct 2, 2024
1 hr
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 wel...
Jun 26, 2024
1 hr 4 min
A few perspectives on UNEP's 6th Environment Assembly and its "OECPR"
In this episode Alice and Andre talked to Simon about the United Nations Environment Assembly, also known as UNEA, which is the decision-making body of the United Nations Environment Programme. UNEA takes place in Nairobi every second year and it is always preceded by the so-called OECPR, which stands for the Open-ended Committee of Permanent Representatives. This committee functions as the working level meeting that prepares decisions and resolutions for official approval by UNEA. This year,...
May 9, 2024
34 min
Looking back on the career of emeritus IGES Executive Director, Hideyuki Mori
On this episode of About Sustainability…, Andre, Alice and Simon celebrate the contribution of an IGES legend, Mr Hideyuki Mori. Mori-san has been a leader at IGES for most of the institute’s history, following diverse experience at other institutions including the United Nations Environment Programme and Asian Development Bank. He retired last year and we wanted to speak to him about his career including his long tenure at IGES. In this discussion we also reminisce about long-time coll...
Mar 28, 2024
38 min
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 wor...
Jan 31, 2024
57 min
Tackling plastic pollution: Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) updates
On this episode of About Sustainability…, Erin, Alice, and Simon were joined by Matthew Hengesbaugh and Chochoe Devaporihartakula, IGES experts working on plastic pollution. While plastics have been an indispensable part of modern life, plastic pollution has entered the public consciousness in recent years. It is an issue that most of us encounter every day. The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) agreed in 2022 to create an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) to establish a...
Dec 25, 2023
39 min
A life dedicated to the environment
It’s been a while since our last installment but today’s episode is a special interview with a long-serving member of IGES who has had a fascinating career, from which he just recently retired. Peter King has been based at IGES’s office in Bangkok, but has been mentor and advisor to many of us at IGES. In a wide-ranging discussion Alice, Shom, Simon and Andre spoke with Peter about his career, his reasons for choosing it, and the environment in general. Please listen in especially if you’re s...
Jul 21, 2023
59 min
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