Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast

This week, we take an unflinching look at the impacts of the recent extreme global weather events as they provide a grim backdrop to the G20 meeting in Naples, the informal meeting of ministers representing 51 countries in London at the weekend, and the IPCC summary report by Working Group 1. This highly anticipated report is set to provide the up-to-the-moment science on future warming and future...

This week, The Circular Economy! Currently our economy operates in a linear way. Take, Make, Dispose. It’s based on the industrial revolution, and we know this way of doing things has limits. Some of those limits we are reaching even today. But there’s a different economy we could create. The Circular Economy. This week we explore the ‘Circular Economy’ with #1 Circular Economy advocate, Dame Elle...

In a week that has seen record temperatures occurring throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada, a major hurricane that hit Barbados - the first in 60 years - and one of the warmest winters on record down south in New Zealand, this episode looks at the urgent call to action coming from the younger generation. Their call for transformational change applies not only to climate...

The Race to Resilience is on! This week has seen another extremely harsh wildfire season and searing temperatures in the global North, Tropical Storm Elsa ripped through the Caribbean, becoming the first hurricane to hit Barbados in 60 years, and way down in the south of the planet, New Zealand has its hottest winter.  It is absolutely vital that the Race to Zero (emissions) and an equally importa...

This week, something different. An exclusive interview with Shell CEO, Ben van Beurden. In May 2021, the District Court in The Hague delivered its landmark ruling in the climate change case filed against Royal Dutch Shell (“Shell”). In her ruling on the case, Judge Larisa Alwin ordered Shell to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. The court found that Shell’s existing...

Welcome to Volume 3 of The Stubborn Optimist’s Playlist!   Every week on the podcast we feature a musical artist who is thoughtful about the role of art and artists in the climate crisis and this week, we bring you a collection of those artists in playlist form as an extended listening experience.   Enjoy the music!   ___ The Stubborn Optimist’s Playlist Vol. 3:   (1:28) Aaron Frazer - Bad News Fa...

This week, a live recording of our event “Breaking Boundaries, Post Growth & The Future We Choose” with special guests Johan Rockström and Tim Jackson. A little bit about our guests: Johan Rockström is the Director of Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research & Author of Breaking Boundaries , which is both a book and a powerful Netflix documentary . Tim Jackson is the Director of The Centre for...

This week, we take a look at the latest pledges to arise from the G7 heads of government, who met over the weekend in Cornwall. Are these announcements indicative that the seven biggest western economies are really showing up to achieve a 1.5 world? Can this close the Gigatons gap in the run up to COP26? Can the Group of Seven offer developing countries funding alternatives to Beijing’s so-called...

With the G7 Summit happening in just a few days, things are looking good for it being a big moment for climate. Foreign Ministers have noted the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable, Health Ministers have made the link between health and the environment, Finance Ministers have supported mandating climate related disclosures...the momentum is real. But we’ve been here before with the sam...

This week, a bonus! Our own Christiana Figueres spoke at the Net Zero Pensions Summit, hosted by Richard Curtis, the famous filmmaker and co-founder of Make My Money Matter, an organization elevating the voices of citizens to demand that pension funds invest in line with the values of their members. In this episode you’ll hear from: Richard Curtis Filmmaker | Co-Founder of Make My Money Matter   A...

This week, we talk about the absolute shake up of a week Big Oil had, and a Music Climate Revolution that starts TODAY.  First up, a shareholder vote to add three new members to the Exxon board succeeded as part of a strategy by activist hedge fund Engine No. 1 to address the twin concerns of climate change and Exxon’s poor financial performance. One of the new board members is our good friend, An...

On the back of the IEA report last week that shook the oil and gas industry, the G7 this week pledged not only to limit global warming to 1.5C, but to stop all new financing for overseas coal projects by the end of this year! An absolute breakthrough for the climate. We get into the geopolitics behind the G7 announcement and what it’s going to take to close the remaining 20+ GtCO2 gap left even af...

This week on the show we discuss the latest IEA Report, “Net Zero by 2050” which charts a path for the energy sector to achieve a 1.5 degree world, and specifically naming the 400 milestones that will get us there. It’s an incredible marker in this decisive decade because the IEA is the gold standard for energy policy around the globe (particularly for Oil and Gas), and in this report they explici...

This week, the Nature Agenda. A forest the size of France has regrown since 2000 and The Biden administration introduced its “America the Beautiful” plan . In it, they plan to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s land and water by 2030, calling it the country’s first-ever national conservation goal. Long overdue, but on the table.   Speaking of nature, later in the episode we discuss the role phila...

Outrage + Optimism is celebrating 100 episodes!   In this episode, we reminisce about our humble beginnings as a podcast and celebrate some memories made along the way. Not only are we celebrating 100 episodes but we also are turning 2 as a podcast! Yes!   So pour yourself a drink, light a candle, and join us for a moment together as we glance back and focus forward.   And! Dreams do come true bec...

Welcome to the third episode of our Race To Zero series!   In this episode, we show you the money. Finance is an absolutely crucial factor in accelerating our world towards a Net-Zero future, and with less than 9 years left to halve our global emissions and current investments and markets spiraling towards catastrophic risk, it’s going to take every financial lever we have to shift the global econ...

With the Biden U.S. Climate Summit barely in the rearview mirror, our hosts Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson unpack what this moment means for global leadership, ambition, and the gaps in the road ahead for the climate movement. The new U.S. NDC of 50% GHG reductions by 2030 sets the stage for the rest of the decade, so what is next?   And our interview this week is with...

Happy 51st Earth Day, everyone!   Today marks the first U.S. Earth Day Summit convened by President Joe Biden with the aim to strengthen climate ambition among invited world leaders ahead of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in November.   And while the global community anticipates the details of the U.S’s own NDC announcement expected shortly before or at the summit itself, we speak to John Kerry in h...

With France banning short haul flights, John Kerry on his way to China and South Korea to talk climate just days ahead of The US Climate Summit, and The American Legislative Exchange Council (not so) secretly planning to fight Biden on climate, this episode is jam packed with things to discuss!   And speaking of things to discuss, have you heard of the word “Ecocide”? It’s a term describing someth...

This week, the climate solutions are here, and they’re neatly labeled.   You may have heard of Bertrand Piccard, the explorer, balloonist, and ‘inspioneer’ who was the first to circumnavigate the globe in a solar powered aircraft in 2016. Well, since then, he’s been on a mission to support climate friendly technologies. With his Solar Impulse Foundation, he is close to having found, assessed and l...

Welcome to Volume 2 of The Stubborn Optimist’s Playlist!   Every week on the podcast we feature a musical artist who is thoughtful about the role of art and artists in the climate crisis. This week we bring you a collection of those artists in playlist form as an extended listening experience.   So without further ado, Vol. 2.   Enjoy the music! ___   The Stubborn Optimist’s Playlist Vol. 2:   (0:...

Welcome to the very first Volume of The Stubborn Optimist’s Playlist!   Every week on the podcast we feature an artist who is thoughtful about the role of art and artists in the climate crisis. This week, we celebrate all the artists we have had on the show so far with 2 separate volumes for your listening enjoyment!   So without further ado, Vol. 1.   Enjoy the music!   ___   The Stubborn Optimis...

With CO2 in the atmosphere now reaching levels 50% higher than when humanity began large-scale burning of fossil fuels during the industrial revolution, time is running out and some ecosystems are on the brink of collapse. In light of this, some scientists and engineers are asking the question, can we act in time to save them? What do we do if we cannot reduce emissions in time? What tools will we...

A bonus episode for you this week! With science demanding that in order to stay below 1.5C we must reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the absolute latest, how do we get there? We know we can’t keep emitting as we currently are and just offset to balance it out. We need radical cuts and that means a complete reshaping of the global economy and most business models. Arguably, anyon...

This is the second episode in our Race To Zero series! All evidence points to the tipping point for electrification of road transport, and the end of the internal combustion engine. But will this happen fast enough?  One of the key pillars of the Race to Zero is to accelerate the adoption of Zero Emissions Vehicles. Today, transport accounts for about 16% of global emissions, but is a much higher...