Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief, and head of TED Chris Anderson debut Countdown at the TED World Theater on December 4, 2019. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

The launch of Countdown, a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, is just a few weeks away. Initiated by TED and Future Stewards, Countdown is a global initiative that aims to mobilize millions to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Speakers will outline what a healthy, abundant, zero-emission future can look like — and how we can build a world that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone. Tune in to the free, five-hour virtual event on Saturday, October 10, 2020 from 11am – 5pm ET on TED’s YouTube channel. View the full program and speaker lineup here.

Many Countdown speakers have already shared ideas with TED. Below is a list of their talks to get you thinking in the leadup to the event:

Al Gore, climate advocate

• Averting the climate crisis (2006)
• New thinking on the climate crisis (2008)
• What comes after An Inconvenient Truth? (2009)
• The case for optimism on climate change (2016)
• The new urgency of climate change (2020)

Angel Hsu, climate and data scientist

• How China is (and isn’t) fighting pollution and climate change

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

• Refugees have the right to be protected

Christiana Figueres, stubborn optimist

• The inside story of the Paris climate agreement

Elif Shafak, novelist, political scientist

• The politics of fiction (2010)
• The revolutionary power of diverse thought (2017)

His Holiness Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome

• Why the only future worth building includes everyone (2017)

Johan Rockström, climate impact scholar

• Let the environment guide our development (2010)
• 5 transformational policies for a prosperous and sustainable world (2018)

John Doerr, engineer, investor

• Salvation (and profit) in greentech (2007)
• Why the secret to success is setting the right goals (2018)

Liz Ogbu, designer, urbanist, spatial justice activist

• What if gentrification was about healing communities instead of displacing them?

Monica Araya, electrification advocate

• A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels

Nigel Topping, UK’s High Level Climate Action Champion for COP26

• We need to green the economy while restarting it

Olafur Eliasson, artist

• Playing with space and light

Rose M. Mutiso, energy researcher

• How to bring affordable, sustainable electricity to Africa

Stephen Wilkes, photographer

• The passing of time, caught in a single photo

Tom Crowther, ecosystem ecology professor

• Nature-based solutions in the fight against climate change

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown

• How to turn your dissatisfaction into action

Varun Sivaram, clean-energy executive

• We’re doomed if solar energy stalls — here’s how to keep it rising

View the full list of talks in this playlist on YouTube.