Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. We've made it to Wednesday, it's April 6th. I'm

Nyla Boo. Today, we're covering how young techno optimists are driving the future and

are one big thing. The role of civic engagement in combating climate change with White House

Climate Advisor Ali Zadi.

New and climate scientists gave governments a final warning in a new report out on Monday,

saying to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Emissions have to peak

by 2025. That's just three years away. And in what Axios Climate reporter Andrew Friedman

calls a cold slap of water to the face. Emissions also have to decline by almost half by 2030.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is going forward with the largest strategic release

of oil in our history. One million barrels of oil a day for the next six months. In the

face of all of this, many of you have been emailing and texting the podcast asking the

same question. What can individuals actually do to help combat climate change? I put that

question to Ali Zadi. He's White House deputy national climate advisor and former New York

deputy secretary for energy and environment. He joined me backstage at the Axios What's

Next Summit yesterday in DC after an onstage interview. I think probably what folks are

looking for is an answer as simple as, you know, don't leave the water running or recycle

more or switch to a certain product or another. And those are really important personal actions.

But what's really, really important, I think at this moment, is that we press the entire

system to meet the moment. And that's going to require real engagement with the broader

society. So you're talking about civic engagement.

Civic engagement is going to be the critical ingredient in tackling the climate crisis.

And so when people are listening to this thinking in their small town, you grew up in a small

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