TED Countdown

Championing and accelerating solutions to the climate crisis

TED Countdown summit 2023 talks

Zainab Usman

How sci-fi informs our climate future – and what to do next

Science fiction authors have warned us for decades: division among global leaders can quickly create dystopia. Political economist Zainab Usman thinks present-day power struggles may seriously hinder the world's ability to fight climate change, with similarly disastrous results. She highlights three areas of particular economic concern, urging scholars, business leaders and policymakers to do more to align against the growing threat. (Contains spoilers for "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin)

Jonathan Foley

The climate solutions worth funding -- now

When it comes to climate solutions, "now is better than new, and time is more important than tech," says scientist Jonathan Foley. He presents a six-part framework to more efficiently address climate change, from better aligning capital with carbon to utilizing affordable solutions that are ready to go now. Learn more about what the data says to do — and how the solutions might be cheaper than we think.

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Discover over 140 Talks about climate change impacts and solutions.

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  • TEDx Countdown Events

    TEDx Countdown is a grassroots initiative that supports locally-curated climate events. Host communities have the opportunity to share Countdown content and showcase their own innovative climate solutions with the world through the TED stage.

  • Countdown Summit

    The 2023 Countdown Summit brought together 700+ leaders in Detroit, Michigan to share game changing innovations and bold actions moving us closer to a net-zero world.

  • Dilemma Series

    We live in a polarized world – can we make progress despite our differences? In this thought-provoking event series, we bring together credible people who disagree on a critical climate issue to explore the roots of the dilemma, understand diverse perspectives and coalesce around intelligent solutions.

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Jute is one of the best alternatives to plastic products. Due to heavy rains over the Bay of Bengal, many rural areas of West Bengal received sufficient water resources to support jute farming, which has grown drastically.

Jute is one of the best alternatives to plastic products. Due to heavy rains over the Bay of Bengal, many rural areas of West Bengal received sufficient water resources to support jute farming, which has grown drastically.

Dipayan Bose
Climate Visuals Countdown
Monitoring photobioreactors in the micro-algae production facility in Hellisheidi.

Monitoring photobioreactors in the micro-algae production facility in Hellisheidi.

Simone Tramonte
Climate Visuals Countdown
A young girl walks along a ruined, flooded road in Isle de Jean, Louisiana.

A young girl walks along a ruined, flooded road in Isle de Jean, Louisiana.

Stacy Kranitz
Climate Visuals Countdown
In the Fulani village of Hore Mondji, located in southern Mauritania on the banks of the Senegal River, a women's cooperative uses solar energy to operate the borehole that supplies water to the market garden

In the Fulani village of Hore Mondji, located in southern Mauritania on the banks of the Senegal River, a women's cooperative uses solar energy to operate the borehole that supplies water to the market garden

Raphael Pouget
Climate Visuals Countdown

TED COUNTDOWN + CLIMATE VISUALS

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Climate Visuals and TED Countdown released a library of 100 open source photographs, making impactful and effective climate imagery freely accessible to organizations around the world. The images were selected from +5,500 unique submissions spanning +150 countries.

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