Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast

This week, our hosts Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson sit down for an exclusive interview with Paul Simpson as he exits his role as CEO of CDP after co-founding the organization over 20 years ago. CDP began in a basement with a few committed individuals to bring about a livable future through the disclosing of environmental data from companies around the globe. While it may have had humble beg...

ESG is in hot water - Is it just simmering or is it spoiling? When Elon Musk tweets “ESG is a scam ” that “has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.” and a day later, an HSBC executive says that “ climate change isn’t a financial risk that we need to worry about ,” and then after that Former Vice President Mike Pence writes an opinion in WSJ that “ESG is elevating left-wing goals over...

Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet is the title of George Monbiot’s new book and an essential challenge that we explore in this Future of Food episode, with the help of George and three other guests committed to transforming our food system. As the current global food crisis continues to push more and more people to the brink of starvation, join us as we take a deep dive int...

Scientists are reporting that there is now more carbon dioxide in the air than ever before, and with OPEC recently agreeing to accelerate oil production following pressure from the Biden administration to stabilize global markets, what gives? And with cracks showing in the EU as energy prices start to bite, is there a way through this crisis that keeps us on track with the goals of the Paris Agree...

Today, a special bonus episode in your feed from British model, actress, climate activist and podcaster, Lily Cole. In this episode of ‘Who Cares Wins’, Host Lily Cole interviews Christiana Figueres on how to maintain daily optimism, why more women in leadership will deliver a better world, and how systemic change and a livable future can begin with me and you.   Enjoy the episode!   Click Here to...

Reactions to the now infamous presentation of the suspended HSBC Head of Responsible Investing, Stuart Kirk, is still a source of considerable outrage here at Outrage + Optimism.  Kirk’s presentation entitled "Why investors need not worry about climate risk" peddled such dangerous climate disinformation that it prompted Christiana to refer to it in her brilliant op-ed in Investor Week as one of th...

Finally, some optimism for future generations! First, in Australia, the massive success of the so-called ‘teal’ female candidates, who are not aligned to either of the major political parties, but have essentially swept to power across a number of states. This, along with long-awaited Labour victories…Does this mean the climate wars are over in Australia? We dialed up Dean Bialek, lead negotiator...

In this episode, we talk about the impacts of living through a global energy crisis while living through a climate crisis. Inflation is running at 10% in most major economies, the highest in decades. This is driven primarily by the cost of food and energy. And while most of us are aware of higher prices at the pump and on energy bills, today we focus on the hardest place it is hitting: Africa. Sin...

Cities are where we will lose or win the climate change battle. Chapter 8 of the IPCC report on mitigation reported that more than half of the global population now lives in cities, and that proportion is expected to grow to about two-thirds by 2050. That is a lot of people. And that’s a lot of emissions. As of 2020, urban areas are the source of about 67-72% of emissions with about 100 of the hig...

Does Putin’s invasion mark the end of the Fossil Fuel Era? In this week’s episode we look at how the Russian invasion in Ukraine and subsequent energy crises are impacting energy deals between developed and developing countries ahead of COP27. We also subject our guest, Kingsmill Bond of RMI, to a round of Paul’s new painfully-condescending evil oil baron persona as we put his optimistic assertion...

What on Earth is happening in the US on climate policy? This week, a look at US federal climate policy ahead of the US midterm elections. We explore the scarily-small-and-measured-in-weeks amount of time we have to pass meaningful climate legislation before the US midterm elections, and where the optimism is in Senate blocked legislation, a so-called ‘Conservative’ leaning Supreme Court, and a Pre...

Australia is turning up the volume on environmentalism for the world to hear! If you turned on your favorite music radio station, would you know we’re in a crisis? Only 1% of songs in National Australian premier radio station Triple J’s Hottest 100 (2.5M+ votes) over the last 5 years directly referenced environmental issues…and that’s following mass bleaching of The Great Barrier Reef, The devasta...

As many around the world turn inward this week, we bring you a special episode featuring Christiana Figueres from ‘The Way Out Is In’ podcast. Many of us are looking for a way out of the crises we face. Climate, biodiversity, ecological, nature, health, wealth inequality…not to mention the deeply personal, familial, and interpersonal. A quick log in to twitter, checking the news, or reading the la...

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - MLK (1963)   This week, we reject our flawed, siloed thinking and embrace the oneness of social justice and environmentalism as a singular, inclusive movement. In the Summer of 2020, our guest, Leah Thomas, coined the term “Intersectional Environmentalism” with a graphic she shared to Instagram that read, “Environmentalists For Black Lives...

The World’s scientists have come together on behalf of the web of life to deliver the most comprehensive review of how we can mitigate the effects of climate change.  So what’s in this latest IPCC report? The latest from Working Group III covers a broad spectrum of topics: from mitigation pathways and in-depth sectoral analysis to finance, international cooperation, net-zero and carbon dioxide rem...

What do you get when you swap the office for a classroom and our hosts for school pupils? An incredibly special episode, we hope you’ll agree. Yes, that’s right – this week’s conversation is brought to you from Totnes Progressive School, where the children were joined by an extraordinary guest: Dr Jane Goodall DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and United Nations Messenger of Peace. With t...

For years in the Global North, our dialogue around climate change has been focused on the idea that it is a looming disaster with consequences that would happen in the future if we did not take immediate action. The recent years of extreme weather events where we saw flooding in Germany and London and heat waves and storms across Europe and the United States, brought the reality home that climate...

As the news from Ukraine unfolds quickly, detailing the tragedy Ukrainian citizens are living through, our hosts Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson cut straight to the roots of what is fueling this conflict - Our global addiction to fossil fuels.    What is our response as a global community to this crisis and many other current violent crises when many will argue climate a...

Welcome back to our series on the Future of Food! In this episode, we’ll explore the significance of adaptive transformation in global food systems.  How do farming and consumption play into creating an inclusive, just, and beautiful future?  From empowering women farmers in Africa, to telling the story behind every piece of organic produce, from considering food value over food price, to what to...

All eyes are on Ukraine as we watch the horrific events unfold as a result of Russian aggression. Are we sliding toward a global catastrophe or seeing the birth of a new political order? How will we know which one awaits us? This week, we speak to former UK Foriegn Ministers David Miliband and the Rt Hon Lord William Hague. We pitch to them this question of, “how will we know which one awaits us?”...

The latest IPCC Report from Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability comes at an unprecedented moment in human history. A moment too late to avoid all effects of climate change baked into an already 1.1C warmer world, and a moment not too late to adapt humanity and all species to our increasingly important target of only 1.5C of warming. In a strikingly clear connection this repo...

“It doesn’t matter what your economy is. It’s just a matter of deciding of protecting your areas and committing to it.” Last week it was reported that the world’s governments are currently subsidizing our own destruction to the tune of $1.8 Trillion a year …yeah. Not good. What does it look like to turn these subsidies around to promote nature, clean energy, and equitable access to energy across c...

It took 40-50% of GDP to win WWII, 15% to manage COVID in 2020, so what can 2% do? Historian, philosopher, bestselling author (and newly welcomed activist!), Yuval Noah Harari joins us to highlight how investing just 2% of global GDP into developing eco-friendly technologies and infrastructure every year could avert “the apocalypse” as he puts it. His clear, down-to-the-essence thinking shines a b...

Today, an earth-shattering comet of an episode as Christiana, Tom and Paul talk to the phenomenally talented Adam McKay about his 4 time Oscar nominated film Don’t Look Up! Writing and directing a comedy film about climate change is not a challenge for the faint hearted. Not only did Adam McKay take this challenge on, in doing so he created a tour-de-force which dominated global news feeds after i...

How do we know what we’re doing is really helping? What should we do now that the world is changing? A slow, intentional beginning to a new year after a racing finish to the last one raises some big questions for all of us in the climate space. This week, Christiana, Tom, and Paul set out the big topics for the year leading up to COP27. Yes, another one. Shifting long term pledges to short term de...