Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast

This week we get into Republicans and climate change, faith and climate change, and some exciting news in climate philanthropy! And our guest for this episode is President & CEO of Occidental Petroleum, Vicki Hollub. Not only is she the first and currently only female CEO of a major oil and gas company, but Occidental - or Oxy as the company is fondly known - is the first US oil and gas major to a...

Welcome to the first episode of our new Race To Zero series! With COP26 as the vital milestone for climate action in November 2021, the promises and pledges made by governments must be converted into meaningful action beginning today. We know the EU, the UK and many other countries have net zero pledges but can they achieve them without a global collective effort?  And it’s not just up to governme...

With a deep freeze in Texas leaving a wake of devastation, a UN Security Council Meeting weakly addressing climate change as the planet’s “gravest threat”, and massive investment for offshore wind in Denmark to produce green ammonia, there’s no shortage of things to be outraged by or optimistic about this week! We are at a new political moment where we are seeing the ambition for a cleaner world,...

On Friday, The United States will officially be back in the Paris Climate Agreement! *cue appropriate volume of fanfare* And while in a week where Dallas, Texas is colder than Anchorage, Alaska - our co-host Paul Dickinson takes us on a short list of topics discussing the social cost of carbon recently updated by Joseph Stiglitz and Lord Nicholas Stern to match the severity of the climate crisis,...

According to new research by a team of U.S. and U.K. scientists published in Environmental Research , Fossil fuels alone are responsible for more than 8 million premature deaths annually. That’s 1 out of 5 deaths. Let that sink in for a moment. 1 out of 5. This figure underscores a fact absent from much public debate and discussion about climate change. While the fight to stop greenhouse gas pollu...

This is our fourth and final episode of an Outrage + Optimism investigative series on The Future of Transport. In 2019, UN Secretary General stated that “cities are where the climate battle will largely be won or lost” and he couldn’t be more right. With seven out of ten people expected to live in urban areas by 2050, and cities currently consuming ⅔ of the world’s energy, the need to transition o...

Welcome to Season 3! With a renewed sense of optimism felt around the world with the inauguration of President Joe Biden in the United States this month, our collective sigh of relief is quickly met with the sobering reality of the moment - Nature’s systems are collapsing and we are running out of time to stop irreversible changes to our planet. The science is clear. If we do not rapidly cut globa...

Today we witness history, the 59th United States Presidential Inauguration. And a long time coming, right? It’s been 4 years of destructive and incompetent leadership on climate from the United States federal government, but today the U.S. is BACK. Not only formally back in the Paris Climate Agreement, but back at the table with leadership and new positions in the White House creating the policy,...

This is our third episode of an Outrage + Optimism investigative series on The Future of Transport. With 2020 barely in the rearview mirror, the pandemic rages on across the globe, new variants bringing concern and unified collective action to the forefront as a rapidly developed vaccine begins being administered as we speed into 2021. That same resolve needs to be applied to climate change and th...

A special bonus episode for a little inspiration as 2021 begins! Christiana Figueres and the Outrage + Optimism gang chat with Andrew Higham, Chief Executive of Mission 2020 as its mission comes to a close. Mission 2020 was born out of the Paris Agreement to harness the momentum it brought about to ensure the urgency of the global climate conversation would be followed up by ambitious and daring a...

With the first year in the most decisive decade in history coming to a close, we wrap up Season 2 of Outrage and Optimism by being visited by 3 Christmas Ghos...ahem...Scientists. ...That’s a Charles Dickens joke. But all joking aside, you are in for a real treat this episode. The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures have taken place every Christmas since 1825 in the UK. Started as a way to educat...

The Climate Ambition Summit this week announced some of the most ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions we have seen to date. And so with the European Commission announcing it’s target of 55% GHG reductions by 2030, the world has optimistically moved even closer to limiting warming to only 1.5C. So, what set of actual policies, financing, social protections and market incentives will guide...

Show notes: The Paris Effect   On December 12th, 2015 the landmark Paris Agreement was adopted by 195 countries as the first unanimously agreed climate change treaty. It has become a symbol of collaboration, a spirit of shared interest merging harmoniously with enlightened self-interest. This weekend is the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement’s adoption and, as we near the end of an extremely c...

Around the world In 2020, we saw an unprecedented rise in activism surrounding Black Lives Matter and the call for racial and social justice. But if there’s one enormous takeaway for those marching for the climate, it is that our fight for climate justice is inextricably linked to our fight for racial justice. BIPOC have suffered, are suffering, and will continue to disproportionately suffer the h...

This is our second episode of an Outrage + Optimism investigative series on The Future of Transport. There’s no denying that for over a century, fossil fuels have played a key role in humanity’s progress. But at a cost. They account for two-thirds of global greenhouse-gas emissions, and the pollution from burning them kills more than 4 million people a year. So in a year where cars sat unused, and...

After 4 intolerable years of you-know-who in the US, this week there seems to be a brief moment of calm. But while many of us are catching our breath, the world is transforming how it will conduct business as usual by pressing the proverbial ‘reset’ button on what appears to be “everything we do and how we do it.” - to quote Lindsay Levin. And this is the perfect moment to reset everything, right?...

With young voter turnout in the US election the highest it has been in 40 years, President-Elect Joe Biden is heading to the White House with a mandate to address the climate crisis head on, following on his promises he made during his campaign. So along with the shock of having a President that acknowledges the climate crisis poses some absolutely crucial questions: What do we do with someone in...

The US election winner has all but been formally declared, with Joe Biden on the cusp of electoral victory. But after all the votes are counted, we see that there was record turnout for both Democrats and Republicans. What mandate does a Biden administration have to lead again globally on climate action? This week we talk with two experts with first hand experience in US climate policy. Ben Rhodes...

Election Day is next Tuesday, November 3rd. It cannot be ignored - How the US will vote next week will have global consequences. What does the outcome look like as we see it just before Election Day, and how on Earth did we get here to this one single decision that will shape what feels like everything for generations to come? In our search for understanding (and peace of mind) we pose all of our...

This week on Outrage + Optimism, Prince William is here!   With just under 10 years to cut global emissions by 50%, the future of our planet depends on a raising of ambition we have not seen since JFK’s Moonshot. A conservationist at heart and in practice, Prince William is on the hunt to find and finance the solutions that will get us there.   Enter The Earthshot Prize - Five, one million-pound p...

This is the first of an Outrage + Optimism investigative series on The Future of Transport. Today our cars, planes, trains and ships cause nearly 30% of global carbon pollution. We think the pioneering spirit that got these industries and forms of transport underway more than 120 years ago will have to be reinvigorated to get to a transportation sector that is fit for a low carbon future.   This f...

On the eve of TED Countdown, Christiana and Tom sit down for an in-depth conversation with TED's Chris Anderson and Lindsay Levin, CEO of Leaders' Quest, detailing an exclusive sneak-preview of what we can look forward to during the epic virtual climate event scheduled for Saturday, 10.10.20 at 11 AM ET You can find all the details and livestream the event at Countdown. TED.com  as well as on TED'...

Plenty of outrage this week after the first U.S. Presidential Debate and disappointing news about the biodiversity pledge. But a conversation with Ted Danson offers hope and insight from his remarkable life and commitment to the worlds oceans.  When Ted met environmental lawyer Bob Sulnick he become involved in a movement to prevent digging for oil wells in Santa Monica. Buoyed up by the victory,...

New York Climate Week is where leaders from  finance, business, cities and regional government  gather to galvanise climate action alongside the UN General Assembly every September. This year was no different, with all events in virtual form both at the UN and outside it. In the lead up to the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement later this year, the point where governments promised to update...

As the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Achim Steiner has a relentless collaborative spirit. The conversation covers the relationship between the environment and economic development as big news comes this week from China.  --- Our special musical guest this week is She Drew The Gun: Website | Twitter | Youtube | Instagram --- Keep up with Christiana here: Instagram | Twi...