This week on Babel, Jon speaks with Olivia Lazard, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe focusing on the geopolitics of climate and the transitions ushered by climate change. They talk about the political and social impacts of climate change in the Middle East, what states in the region are already doing to mitigate the effects of climate change, and the bigger, transformative policy changes that are still needed. Then, Jon breaks down how international actors and governments in the region are thinking about these kinds of changes with Natasha Hall and Caleb Harper. 

Olivia Lazard et al., “Let’s Place Sustainability and Climate Change at the Heart of International Policy,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, July 8, 2022.  

Olivia Lazard et al., “The Middle East’s Climate Change Wake-Up,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, February 17, 2022. 

Jon Alterman, Natasha Hall, and Will Todman, "Sustainable States: Environment, Governance, and the Future of the Middle East," CSIS, May 18, 2021.

Transcript, "Climate in the Middle East," CSIS, September 6, 2022.