Top climate leaders meeting in Chicago for annual Aspen Institute conference
Record heat and major air quality issues created by wildfire smoke were key topics as some of the top climate leaders from around the world gathered in Chicago this week for the Aspen Institute's annual climate summit.
Aspen Ideas: Climate is being hosted in Chicago for a reason. City leaders want Chicago to be a hub for this work and a leader in sustainability as the impact of a changing climate plays out.
"We're not the Illinois of 20 years ago. We are building something I think that is sustainable," Gov. JB Pritzker said as he joined climate and environmental experts from across the country in Chicago for Aspen Ideas: Climate.
In 2021, Pritzker signed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, committing to a goal of moving Illinois to 100% clean energy by 2050.
"What we don't want is to have to go back into the bad old days of coal plants spewing particulates into the air," Pritzker said.
Climate solutions have been top of mind, especially after this past week, with wildfire smoke last week creating the worst air quality in the world in Chicago, and the worst ever recorded in the city's history. Air quality alerts have continued into this week as smoke from wildfires in Canada has repeatedly blown into the city.
"Those types of events, that type of weather is becoming more common and will happen into the future," said Dr. Sarah Kapnick, Global Head of Climate Advisory at JP Morgan Chase, and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The changing climate is affecting people's lives."
While many have tuned in this past week, since it's tough to ignore the smell of smoke outside the front door and the haze in the air, Kapnick has a reason to keep paying attention to climate change even after the smoke clears out: your wallet.
"It's also starting to hit the bottom line. We're seeing it first really in the insurance markets. The insurance markets are re-pricing due to increased climate risks and those losses, and we're also seeing credit quality, and we're seeing it in terms of expectations of how climate effects the future of soft commodities," she said.
The Aspen Institute's annual climate summit is focusing on solutions and mitigating the problems playing out across the Midwest and the country due to climate change.
"To figure out what are the issues going forward with climate? How does one adapt? And then actually adapting, and that will be a competitive advantage that we will export that knowledge outside the region, and other people will follow Chicago's lead on what it's doing," Kapnick said.
Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford said the work happening at the climate conference is focused on solutions and mitigating the problems already playing out across the country; work that could make a difference in Chicago.
"It's not solving a problem of, 'Hey, we need to get to clean energy.' It's solving a problem of, 'Hey, we don't want 900 people dying that don't need to.' We don't want to see extreme heat. We want to enjoy nice cool summer days as opposed to being stuck inside because of air quality problems."
