Hosts Ryan Panchadsaram and Lindsay Levin speak at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Humphrey Gateri / TED)

Who says climate talks can’t come with a plot twist? Day 2 of TED Countdown Summit 2025 flipped the script on what we think of as the drivers of climate progress. It’s not just solar panels and policy — it’s in the flow of money, trust and imagination. Informal economies are bursting with potential. Even refrigeration and rewilding got their spotlight as unsung heroes of resilience. The common thread? Climate action works best when it works for people. Here’s what stood out from day 2:

Anuj Tanna speaks at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Humphrey Gateri / TED)

Capitalism, but make it work for everyone. Entrepreneur Anuj Tanna sees Africa’s informal economies not as something broken but as something brilliant — a space of creativity, community and grit. He dives into how identity, trust and peer-based learning are transforming side hustles into scalable enterprises, and why empowering this movement may be the most sustainable path forward. This thinking led him to build MESH: a platform designed to boost visibility, share skills and grow networks. His call? Stop trying to fix the informal economy. Unlock it instead. Sustainability investor Steve Howard flips the lens to capitalism itself, asking whether the same tools that helped break the planet might also help save it. With bold policy and long-term thinking, even profit-driven systems can scale climate solutions fast — if we dare to change the rules.

Yi Li speaks at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Humphrey Gateri / TED)

When profits protect the planet. We often think solving climate change means deploying new tools and training. But what if the real breakthrough starts with something far more basic: a steady paycheck? Agribusiness groundbreaker Yi Li shares how financial sustainability — not just climate solutions — is the key to long-term agricultural impact. When farmers thrive financially, she says, the climate benefits follow. Climate equity entrepreneur Sandeep Roy Choudhury highlights carbon credits as an imperfect but powerful financial tool to make solutions a reality, especially in vulnerable communities already facing the worst effects of climate change. From mangrove restoration to clean cooking initiatives that cut emissions, these projects build resilience and create jobs.

Sebastián Kind speaks at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Humphrey Gateri / TED)

De-risking the energy transition. Renewable energy pioneer Sebastián Kind helped transform Argentina into a global model for clean energy growth — despite economic crises and skepticism — by building political trust and protecting investors. Now, through his nonprofit RELP, he’s helping other countries follow the same path. What about the uncertainties no one can control? Enter climate risk advisor Amy Barnes, who reframes climate risk insurance as a warning bell. She explains why protecting lives, infrastructure and investments means getting ahead of disasters, not just reacting to them. Barnes underscores investing in resilience, both through adaptation and smarter tools, before those safety nets disappear entirely.

Jacqueline Novogratz speaks at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Humphrey Gateri / TED)

Electricity is empowerment. From enduring climate shocks to preserving medicine, the infrastructure we build today will shape who thrives tomorrow. Impact investor Jacqueline Novogratz shows how electrifying the hardest-to-reach places on Earth is more than a climate solution — it’s a moral test of our courage and imagination, one we can pass by mobilizing the right kind of capital. Electricity powers a lot, including your refrigerator, which is connected to an entire network of thermal control called the “cold chain.” Writer and researcher Nicola Twilley urges us to recognize the hidden force of the refrigeration systems quietly sustaining our food, health and supply networks — quite literally, the cold that keeps life going.

Harjeet Singh speaks at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Photo: Callie Giovanna / TED)

We can’t fight climate change with one-size-fits-all solutions. Policy expert Harjeet Singh argues that development must mean adaptation, tailoring responses to fit local realities, not global ideals. From Indian farmers braving deadly heat waves with solar-powered pumps to floating farms in flood-prone Bangladesh, real solutions are already saving lives and livelihoods. But adaptation can’t happen in isolation; it requires development, resources and justice. Climate tech leader Hao Xu turns our attention to accelerating innovation. As vice president of sustainable social value at Tencent, he explains that we already have the science to turn CO₂ into fuel, plastic, even jet fuel. The challenge now is scaling both engineering and business. Xu makes the case for making low-carbon businesses profitable and accelerate climate action through bold, tech-driven solutions.

Isabella Tree speaks at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Photo: Callie Giovanna / TED)

Conservation, everywhere and anywhere. Leading Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, AI visionary Juan M. Lavista Ferres introduces SPARROW: Solar-Powered Acoustic and Remote Recording Observation Watch. This simple yet powerful open-source technology transforms how conservationists collect, transmit and analyze biodiversity data, turning months of delay into real-time insights critical for saving species and ecosystems now. Environmentalist Isabella Tree shows that rewilding isn’t reserved for grand parks; it can begin in your own garden. She shares how letting animals roam free on her farmland brought the land back to life — reviving ecosystems, boosting biodiversity and even capturing carbon, all in just a few years. Tree leaves us with some practical tips for rewilding at home: disturb the Earth, mimic animal behavior, welcome wetlands and leave dead things be — encouraging us all to let green spaces grow wild.

Ghetto Classics Dance performs at Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Humphrey Gateri / TED)

Steve Howard talks about IKEA’s super-sized sustainability strategies at TEDGlobal 2013. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

The IKEA Monkey. Last year, a monkey wearing a coat was found wandering the aisles of an IKEA in Toronto. The people of the Internet jumped on board, creating an Ikea Monkey Twitter account, photoshopping the monkey into tons of photos, and tweeting with the hashtag #IkeaMonkey. On December 10, 2012, Canadian journalist Tom Podolec tweeted, “#IkeaMonkey is a Rhesus Macaque Monkey Approx. 7 months old. In good health; stressed. Jacket is wool and said to be his favourite.” The monkey’s owners were fined for having a prohibited animal.

The IKEA Song. What happens when you write a song about wooing a lady in an IKEA store? This video from singer/songwriter Brad Go.

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Hot Malm. The best way to describe Hot Malm is as an “IKEA-themed porn parody site.” A pair of twin beds is captioned “Twin Blonde Malms,” a shot of a bed’s headboard reads “Hot Malm from Behind,” and “Check out the Pussy on this Hot Malm” refers to a cat on a bed. (MALM, remember, is an IKEA bedroom series.) Bonus: the Ikea Monkey sits in a corner of the website, with a speech bubble: “Feeling lonely? Click here now!”

“Fireflies” Parody in Ikea. And then there’s this, which a description would ruin, so…

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If Ikea Made Instructions for Everything. A 2010 College Humor piece illustrates IKEA-style directions for creating a “HÖUSS,” “TRÜSST,” a “HÄDRÖNN CJÖLIDDER,” and more.

Herding Cats. IKEA itself can rival the cleverest parodists: in a 2010 experiment, the store released 100 cats into a UK store. Watch to the end—slow-mo shots of cats in IKEA are surprisingly moving.

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Room 23. This quite remarkable four-minute short film, created in 48 hours as part of a contest in the Netherlands, imagines the lives of IKEA catalog models.

A store full of drama. And finally, we have to give it up to artist Guy Ben Ner. He shot this drama in IKEA  (sans permission) … with his real family.

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Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Steve Howard has spent his life working toward sustainability. So on the TEDGlobal 2013 stage, he explains why he wanted to work for, of all places, Ikea.

Howard, who now holds the delightful title of Chief Sustainability Officer at the Scandinavian furniture behemoth, says that the company is dedicated to sustainability because of three numbers:

• 3. The number of people, in billions, who will be coming out of poverty by 2030 and joining the global middle class as consumers.
• 6. The number of degrees centigrade that we’re headed toward in global warming. We are currently at less than one degree.
• 12. The number of cities in the world that had a million people two generations ago. Now, there are 500 cities with a population of a million people or more.

Says Howard, “Sustainability has gone from a nice-to-do to a must-do.”

The vast majority of people care deeply about sustainability, but are used to products that are good for Planet Earth being, well, not that good. Think of that expensive, rough recycled toilet paper.  Howard urges companies to focus on creating beautiful, affordable and, of course, functional sustainable products.

One area where Ikea is making strides is in the light bulb department. Ikea is committed to, by 2016, stocking only LED bulbs, which use 85% less electricity than incandescent bulbs. “LEDs are the next best thing to daylight,” says Howard, saying that these bulbs can last for up to 20 years.

Ikea is also focusing in on materials, from what’s used to make their products to the food they serve in the cafeteria. By 2015, Ikea plans to use 100% better cotton. At the same time, they’re working toward responsible forestry, with 35 million hectares of forests certified so far.

Photo: James Duncan Davidson

In their 300 stores around the world, Ikea is aiming for energy independence, thanks to 300,000 solar panels in addition to wind farms.

“By 2020, we will produce more renewable energy than we use,” says Howard. “Renewable energy is a good thing for the CFO, not just the sustainability guy.”

Overall on the TED stage, Howard urges companies to think more about sustainability — and for consumers to reward those that do.

“Vote with your wallets. Be a discerning consumer — search out the companies that are acting on this,” says Howard. “If we get it right, we can make sustainability affordable for many people and not just a luxury for the few.”

Steve Howard’s talk is now available for viewing. Watch it on TED.com »

Here are the speakers who took the stage in this first session of TEDGlobal 2013. Click on their name to read a recap of their talk:

Musician John Kenny is the first person in hundreds of years to play the carnyx. What on earth’s a carnyx? Why, an ancient bronze Celtic horn, of course!

A longtime politician and the former Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou is here to share his perspective on the Greek debt crisis.

Steve Howard leads the sustainability effort at Ikea, helping the low-price-furniture giant to bring sustainable products to millions of people.

In the new book “Feral,” George Monbiot argues in favor of the large-scale restoration of ecosystems.

Described as “Canada’s next classical guitar superstar,” Tariq Harb is here to show why his mastery of melody and emotion have shot him into the upper ranks of classical guitarists.

Feminist activist, Manal al-Sharif advocates for women’s right to drive, male guardianship annulment, and family protection in Saudi Arabia.

And as if all that wasn’t enough, we’ll close the first session with Princeton professor and former policy advisor, Anne-Marie Slaughter, here to talk about women and the myths around work-life balance.