Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast

This November, Brazil will host COP30 in Belém, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, in what is bound to be a moment packed with symbolism, high expectations, and global significance. This week, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson explore what’s at stake, what Brazil wants to achieve, and whether the world is ready to move from ambition to implementation. Back from his rece...

How far would you go to protect your home? In this week’s special episode, Christiana Figueres brings us a deeply personal and political dispatch from Vanuatu - a country on the frontlines of the climate crisis and at the heart of one of the most significant climate justice initiatives of our time. In conversations with voices from government ( Minister Ralph Regenvanu ), climate diplomacy ( Chris...

As the US federal government drifts further into anti-climate rhetoric and abandons its national and international commitments, can non-state actors hold the line? With Christiana Figueres away in Vanuatu, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson take the reins to explore how climate progress is increasingly being driven by - or being left to - businesses and non-profits. They unpack the mounting chal...

On April 28th, millions of people across Spain, Portugal and beyond were plunged into darkness in one of Europe’s most severe blackouts in decades. Was it a cyberattack? A renewables failure? Or might things be a little more complex? This week, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres, and Paul Dickinson dig into what we know, what we don’t, and ask what this blackout really tells us about the trans...

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says that net zero is politically unachievable without radical rethinking: a shift away from reducing consumption and toward technologies that can remove carbon both at the source and from the atmosphere. So, are carbon capture and carbon removal really viable - and more palatable - alternatives to a rapid fossil fuel phaseout? And is our net zero strategy faili...

Australia heads to the polls this weekend - with climate firmly on the ballot. Is the country ready to lose its reputation as the battleground of the climate wars? And are we about to see a lasting shift in a nation that has for years been torn between its sunlight and its coal? As a pivotal election looms, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson examine what’s at stake for one o...

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end for fossil fuels? This Earth Day, Outrage + Optimism explores a seismic shift in global energy: the possibility that major oil and gas companies are entering a self-managed decline. Have fossil fuel companies been overvalued for decades? And are they now quietly winding themselves down?  For years, analysts and campaigners have questioned why these c...

In the wake of this morning’s sad announcement about the death of Pope Francis, Christiana Figueres reflects on his important legacy as a champion for environmental and justice causes, and shares some of the late Pope’s own words, reflecting on the landmark Paris Agreement. Learn more  🌍 Pope Francis’s words in Profiles of Paris 📜 Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Commo...

As the US retreats from international climate leadership and looks increasingly inwards, can China step up and steer the global energy transition? And if it can, what shape will that transition take? In the latest of our country deep-dives, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore China’s pivotal and complex role in decarbonising our world. At home, the nation is a technol...

What happens when the US tears up the rulebook on global trade? And what does that mean for the planet? Plus: what on earth is happening in Greenland? And does it really signal an unlikely MAGA embrace of climate science? In this urgent and wide-ranging episode, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore the fallout from Trump’s new global tariffs, reflect on the environment...

How have fossil fuel lobbyists become so embedded in the COP system, and how can we disrupt their involvement in domestic and international politics? This is our second episode inspired by the RSC and Good Chance Theatre’s production of Kyoto. In this episode, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore the history of this often unseen influence, ask why fossil fuel lobbyists...

What did it take to get nearly 200 nations to agree on tackling climate change in 1997? And what have we learned in the decades since? In this episode, we reflect on the drama, the impact and the legacy of the Kyoto Protocol, and go behind the scenes of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s powerful and acclaimed production of Kyoto , currently playing in London’s West End. After watching a performance...

Is Canada a climate leader or a fossil-fueled dinosaur? And what will the recent ascension of Mark Carney as Prime Minister mean for the country’s climate agenda - both domestically and on the world stage? In the second of our country deep-dives, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac speak with Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former Minister of Environment and Climate Change, to discuss the mixed...

How can the law be used to champion human rights, drive progress and fight for climate justice? Paul Dickinson is joined by Laura Clarke, CEO of ClientEarth, the non-profit lawyers for the planet working to protect life on Earth.  Laura shares how ClientEarth has successfully challenged corporate greenwashing, from the Dutch courts ruling against airline KLM for misleading customers , to...

Are women the key to solving the climate crisis? Why are they - and children - so disproportionately affected by the issue? And how can men step up to support change?  To mark International Women’s Day, Christiana Figueres is joined by top climate scientist Dr Katharine Hayhoe.  As well as being Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair at Texas Tech University, Katharine is an influenti...

Development programmes across the world are still reeling from the swingeing cuts to USAID, whilst other western nations such as the UK and Germany have announced plans to scale back their own aid commitments. With Mike Bloomberg agreeing to fill the gap in climate funding left by the US's withdrawal from Paris, is it up to wealthy philanthropists to fill the hole of state funding? Is it realistic...

How does a nation transform its forest coverage from 21% to 60% in half a century? What are the policies that can place nature at the very heart of political thinking? And why does Christiana Figueres see a picture of her dad when she visits an ATM?   Christiana is joined in her home country by co-hosts Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson as they explore Costa Rica’s remarkable history and c...

What is the future of climate action? Having previously interrogated the failures of multilateralism in the years since the Paris Agreement was signed, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson look to the future and the alternative ‘levers of change’ that will tackle the climate crisis.  These avenues are needed now more than ever after a whirlwind of executive orders and pol...

Christiana Figueres, the driving force behind the groundbreaking Paris Climate Agreement, reflects on the high-stakes negotiations that reshaped the global fight against climate change in the year that marks its ten-year anniversary. With the fate of the planet hanging in the balance, she reveals the relentless pushback from the fossil fuel lobby, and the ever-shifting geopolitical tensions that t...

What’s an NDC? What does El Niño tell us about global temperatures this year? And why could a landmark ICJ ruling unlock a wave of climate legal cases? Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson break down the climate acronyms and buzzwords you need to know in 2025. With a crucial year ahead for climate action, this podcast is your essential guide to the key terms shaping global di...

What will a Trump presidency mean for the climate movement? Hours after Trump takes office for the second time, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson regroup to take stock and share their reactions to the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. Guest Greg Bertelsen, chief executive of the Climate Leadership Council, offers his perspective on positive ways in which to en...

The devastating fires in LA have dominated the headlines in a dramatic start to 2025. Christiana Figueres,Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson discuss their link with climate, as the newly-released Copernicus report confirms the world has exceeded 1.5 degrees of warming.  And, in the year that marks halfway in the decisive decade for world emissions, our hosts are here with your definitive gu...

Outrage + Optimism is for anyone who is not ready to give up on making the world a better place. Feeling exhausted at the thought of keeping up with climate news ahead of this pivotal year? Join Christiana, Tom and Paul in their weekly conversations to make sense of it all, bringing you expert insight, analysis and inspiring conversations with some of the world’s most visionary thinkers and influe...

How can you reduce the environmental impact of your cat or dog? What’s the best way to prepare for climate breakdown? And how should you talk to children about climate? Christiana, Paul and Tom wrap up the year by answering an eclectic and insightful selection of your questions.    Plus: they digest the fourth and final COP of the year, known as the Desertification COP, which took place in Decembe...

Ben Rhodes—writer, political commentator, and former Deputy National Security Advisor under President Obama—joins the host team to dissect the challenges of a Trump 2.0 administration. Rhodes issues a bold call for a new "climate populist" strategy, to redirect the populist right-wing outrage over climate action toward exposing the oil and gas industry's stranglehold on climate negotiations, as se...