Climate uncut - No small talk: Where climate negotiations meet action

How does the current weak state of global climate agreements and negotiations influence the transition efforts that are made on the ground? 

How can we factor in the changing political and diplomatic dynamics that shape global climate policy when working to phase out fossil fuels, promoting energy access, and accelerating the energy transition?

Join Raj Ridvan Singh and Professor Scott Barrett for a real, uncut conversation that draws on their experiences from the IPCC to rural Malaysia.

This event will follow Chatham House rules and is designed to be an intimate space for fresh and authentic conversations that cut through the rhetoric about pressing climate-related topics. 

About the speakers

Scott Barrett is the Lenfest-Earth Institute Professor of Natural Resource Economics at Columbia University, based in the School of International and Public Affairs and the Earth Institute.

He was previously at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and, before that, the London Business School. He has also held many visiting appointments—including, most recently, as Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics.

His research is on achieving international cooperation through international law, and he has applied his theories to issues ranging from climate change to infectious disease eradication and ocean governance. He has received numerous awards for his research. In 2024 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He has also played a variety of roles in the policy arena, including as a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and as a member of the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria Eradication. He received a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Raj Ridvan Singh is the Founder and CEO of SOLS 24/7, an educational revolutionist and impact entrepreneur leading a team of passionate changemakers. 

One of the most successful humanitarian and social entrepreneur in Malaysia with more than 23 years in the social service sector, he began his career at 17-years old, co-founding an NGO in Cambodia to provide free education and personal development to Cambodian youth.

Raj runs the top Green Energy startup in Malaysia invested by Petronas & Silicon Valley 500 Startups. He is a multi award-winning humanitarian. Through SOLS Foundation, he has designed and implemented education and community development programs for entire communities. He has tapped into his innate entrepreneurial strengths to pioneer the concept of blending the worlds of social service (NGO) and entrepreneurship. In 2010, he set up SOLS Impact organizations, from start-up stage to a multi-million Ringgit organization within nine months. SOLS Impact Organizations focuses on four sectors, Education, Technology, Mental Health and Renewable Energy, all which play a crucial role enhancing the quality of life of people transcending race, gender, culture and age.

Most recently he was appointed as Advisor and Council member to the Prime Minister of Malaysia on Digital Economy and 4IR (2023-2024), he has won the prestigious Best Sustainability Leader award (2018) by EUmcci. He was the first and only Malaysian awarded the Ford Fellows (2015), with an International fellowship program at Columbia University & YALE, New York as well as being elected Deputy Lab Leader for the Ministry of Defence Malaysia National Service Programme 2.0 (PLKN) (2015). His life’s mission is to create a platform for all those who want to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. He firmly believes that serving and educating others can be made into a way of life that anyone can and should assume. This belief manifests in his propensity to share knowledge and actively engage in his personality as a Teacher-Leader and mentor. 

SOLS 24/7 & SOLS Foundation represents his vision for this belief. It is a focusing lens that collects the talent, hard work and raw passion of hundreds of individuals, refines them in the forge of his leadership, then directs this remarkable energy at underprivileged communities.