This third panel discussion on Day 1 of the two-day COP30 event, Delivery on Human Needs in the 21st Century, explores next generation climate frameworks and tools that focus on solutions and flourishing lives rather than only cutting emissions. Moderator Dennis Pamlin frames Brazil and other actors as potential global solution providers, not just emitters, and critiques “fossil-free typewriter” thinking that tweaks old systems instead of enabling leaps. Speakers present complementary approaches: Seishi Kumagai’s Moonshot Goal 9 on Kokoro technology and “well-going” mental futures; Harris Erye’s brain economy and brain capital lens; technical impact-measurement tools from Rho Impact; Johan Falk’s five-pillar exponential framework for companies; and Adam Bly’s System platform for whole-systems data and knowledge. Together they stress brain health, system substitution, exponential scaling of genuinely beneficial solutions, and re-architecting data and finance so climate action supports mentally healthy, equitable, opportunity-rich societies rather than guilt-driven, narrow carbon accounting.
Speakers
· Kumagai Seiji, Professor, Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University
· Harris Eyre, Executive Director, Brain Capital Alliance
· Seth Sheldon, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Rho Impact
· Johan Falk, Founder, Exponential Roadmap
· Adam Bly, Founder and CEO, System
Chaired by Dennis Pamlin, Executive Director, FL4ALL & Senior Advisor, RISE.
Dennis Pamlin
· Frames Brazil not as a “problem” emitter but as a potential global solution provider delivering sustainable, high-quality lives.
· Emphasises flourishing lives, human needs, brain health and mental pollution, arguing that carbon-neutral but unhealthy products and systems remain harmful.
· Highlights gaps between product substitution and deeper system substitution (e.g. health systems, micromobility and city transformation) and the need for tools to capture tipping points.
· Closes by stressing exponential change can be slow at first, the need to fund system shifts, and the importance of new toolboxes that guide positive futures rather than only reaching “zero”.
Seishi Kumagai
· Introduces Japan’s Moonshot Program Goal 9, aiming to enhance mental well-being by 2050 rooted in a broad mind/heart concept.
· Describes two 2050 targets: high individual mental stability with self-understanding and agency, and societies that harness diversity through empathy-enhancing technologies and global mental support services.
· Explains “well-going” as dynamic, future-oriented happiness that can coexist with present ill-being, arguing societies should pursue both well-being and well-going.
Harris Erye
· Presents the brain economy transition and brain capital – brain health and brain skills – as an economic asset alongside GDP and physical infrastructure.
· Notes global brain capital challenges: large mental/neurological cost burdens, stagnant or declining literacy/numeracy, and the need for creativity, adaptability and green skills.
· Describes “brain lens investing” to make every dollar (public and private) brain-positive, including ideas like brain-aware venture capital, real-estate funds and accounting for workers’ brain capital, and links this to the Flow Mental Pollution tool co-developed with Dennis Pamlin.
Seth Sheldon
· Emphasises forward-looking, multi-dimensional impact assessment: scenarios, baselines, metrics, qualitative assumptions and metadata rather than narrow carbon accounting.
· Reflects on the evolution and partial convergence of frameworks, and on the technical challenge of harmonising data and indicators so ideas translate into action.
· Stresses that tools and taxonomies create a platform for evaluating “increased good,” not just reduced harm, and expresses optimism inspired by the diversity of solutions, APIs and growing attention to co-benefits and accountability.
Johan Falk
· Describes the Exponential Roadmap Initiative’s mission to halve emissions by 2030 via exponential climate action, working with both transformative and disruptive companies.
· Presents the five-pillar exponential framework: cut operational emissions; decarbonise value chains; build and scale solutions; mobilise finance and investment; and influence policy and narratives.
· Argues that companies, especially professional services, should put Pillar 3 (solutions) at the core and set “up-curve” targets for portfolio transformation, not only down-curve targets for emissions.
Adam Bly
· Argues that current architectures (health/climate/economy separated, label-based knowledge) prevent us from seeing whole-system impacts, roots of problems and high-leverage interventions.
· Describes System’s goal of reorganising global knowledge and data as one statistical system/graph, enabling users to see relationships, run models, visualise context and support systems-aware decisions.
· Discusses building System as an open, public-benefit platform and calls for non-traditional capital (governments, large foundations) to back public-interest AI and knowledge infrastructures rather than only profit-driven deployments.
(Audio translations and summaries by ChatGPT 5.1)