Green Talks LIVE - Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change

‌‌The OECD Green Talks Live webinar series brings experts together to discuss pressing environmental issues. For a global audience, these free webinars are open to the general public and participants are welcome to pose questions during the Q&A segment. Video recordings of our Green Talks are made available online afterwards.

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WEBINAR: Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change

Green Talks Live Wildfires

WATCH THE VIDEO REPLAY AND PRESENTATION (PPT)

Fuelled by climate change, the occurrence of extreme wildfires is growing with unprecedented damages and impacts on communities, the environment and economies. Under future projected warming scenarios, wildfire frequency and severity are estimated to increase, calling for a fundamental shift in wildfire management to focus on climate change adaptation and wildfire risk prevention.

How does climate change affect the occurrence of extreme wildfires? What are the losses and costs observed during recent extreme wildfire events and what can be expected for the future? How are countries’ policies and practices evolving in the face of increased wildfire risk and how can they scale up climate adaptation efforts and limit future wildfire costs?

On Thursday 14 September 2023 our OECD Green Talks LIVE discussed how to prevent extreme wildfires in the context of a changing climate. Along with a panel of wildfire scientists and country experts, OECD analysts presented the key findings and recommendations from the OECD report Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change, launched at the 8th International Wildland Fire Conference in Portugal in May.

The report provides a global assessment of wildfire risks in the context of climate change to shed light on the potentially irreversible impacts extreme wildfires may trigger. The OECD worked closely together with Australia, Costa Rica, Greece, Portugal and the United States as well as with the OECD Task Force on Climate Change Adaptation to assess how wildfire management policies and practices need to be adapted to contain future wildfire damages. It summarises the main findings of this work and presents recommendations to support countries in building climate resilience to extreme wildfires.

Moderator: Kumi Kitamori, Deputy Director, OECD Environment Directorate

Speakers:

Catherine Gamper, Lead, Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Resilience Team, OECD Environment Directorate
Raoul Raward, Director of the Nature, Partnerships and International Section at the Australian National Emergency Management Agency
João Verde- Head of Integrated Management Policies, Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management, Portugal
Madeleine Rubenstein - NCASC National Science Lead, National Climate Adaptation Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey

WATCH THE REPLAY: How Green is Household Behaviour? Sustainable Choices in a Time of Interlocking Crises

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Virtually all household choices – ranging from daily routines, such as what to eat and how to get to work, to less frequent decisions, like how to heat our homes and whether to buy a car – affect the climate and the environment. While the potential of individual and household choices to reduce environmental impacts is clear, the increasing urgency of climate change and other environmental crises illustrates the challenge governments face in realising this potential.

How sustainable are household choices and how does behaviour vary across different domains? What is preventing us from making more sustainable choices and how can governments help overcome the barriers?

Launched on 13 June, the OECD report How Green is Household Behaviour? Sustainable Choices in a Time of Interlocking Crises provides an overview of the results from the 2022 OECD Survey on Environmental Policies and Individual Behaviour Change (EPIC). With comparable data on household environmental behaviour across nine countries (Belgium, Canada, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) and four thematic areas (energy, transport, waste and food), the EPIC Survey provides unique insights into the drivers of household choices and the measures governments can put in place to make them more sustainable.

The webinar included a presentation of the key findings by Jo Tyndall, Director, Environment Directorate, OECD; Shardul Agrawala, Head of Division, Environment and Economy Integration Division, Environment Directorate, OECD and Katherine Hassett, Environmental Economist, Environment and Economy Integration Division, Environment Directorate, OECD; including insights by Felix Creutzig, Head of Land-use, Infrastructures and Transport Group at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change; Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC's AR6 in Working Group III and Kimberly Cochran, Chief of the Sustainable Materials Branch in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery on the role of demand side measures in managing climate and environment challenges.

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