The Climate Briefing

Donald Trump's return to the White House poses serious challenges to climate change action and governance, but even before his second term began not nearly enough was being done to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.  In a series of conversations, Anna and Ruth interview thought leaders in the climate world about what the future of climate diplomacy should look like.   Their first guest in this...

Food systems contribute to around a third of global emissions and have a substantial impact on a range of other areas too, including biodiversity and human health. Transforming food systems is critical for meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. But how should this be done in practice? To find out, Anna and Ruth speak to Emma Williams (Head of the Secretariat of the Alliance of Champions for Foo...

Increasingly severe climate change impacts are wreaking destruction across the world, with disastrous implications for human health, wellbeing, livelihoods, culture and security. How to deal with 'loss and damage' caused by climate change was for long a controversial topic within the UN climate negotiations, but at COP27 in 2022 governments agreed to establish a dedicated fund to assist developing...

Critical raw materials - like rare earths, cobalt and lithium - play a central role in the energy transition and profoundly influence geopolitical dynamics. Their extraction may also amplify conflict and fragility risks in host countries. In this episode of the Climate Briefing, Ruth and Anna speak to Olivia Lazard (Fellow at Carnegie Europe) and Sophia Kalantzakos (Global Distinguished Professor,...

Brazil is presiding over the next UN climate change conference, COP30. In this episode, Anna and Ruth are joined by the Chief Executive Officer of COP30, Ana Toni, to discuss what the aims of the conference are, what Brazil's COP30 diplomatic strategy looks like, and what the UNFCCC's post-negotiation phase' means.

China is the world's largest emitter and dominates the production of low-carbon technologies worldwide. It thus plays a key role in global efforts to address the climate crisis.   How has China obtained its leading position in the production of green technologies? What role does China play in international climate negotiations? How important has the US-China relationship been in global efforts to...

Former US Climate Envoy Todd Stern and Director of Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre Ana Yang join hosts Ruth Townend and Anna Aberg to talk about prospects for climate action in 2025. Following Trump's inauguration, what are the likely consequences for climate diplomacy, and how will Brazil balance domestic demands against international obligations as COP30 and BRICS president this y...

Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre reassembles to discuss the outcomes of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, what this means for climate finance and multilateralism, and how Ben's Christmas jumper sums up the interconnected challenges developed countries face in balancing global resilience with domestic obligations. With Chris Aylett, Richard King and Ruth Townend, and special guest host Ben H...

As COP29 kicks off in Baku, Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre assembles on the airwaves. The team talk Azerbaijan's climate leadership, World Leader vibes, prospects for the conference, and why working on climate change makes you a terrible dinner party guest. Special guest hosted by Climate Briefing Alumnus, Ben Horton. 

Coming fresh from a discussion of how private finance might close the climate finance gap, Ruth Townend is joined by Dr Nicola Ranger , Director of the Resilient Planet Finance Lab at Oxford University, and Professor Patrick Bolton , professor of finance and economics at Imperial College London. In the run up to COP29, we explore how public international finance might be deployed to most effective...

Migration is top of mind and front of rhetoric in many countries, particularly as elections approach and geopolitical trends of increasing polarisation take hold. Ruth Townend is joined by  Professor Ian Goldin, author of ' The Shortest History of Migration ', and by Shelterbox CEO Sanj Srikanthan to discuss personal histories of migration, global trends, and the future of migration in the face of...

With a UK a general election rapidly approaching, as announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the pouring rain, it seems that the commitment of both main parties to tackling climate change is looking almost as bedraggled as the prime minister himself. Ruth Townend is joined by Rachel Brisley , Ipsos's Head of Energy and Environment and  Olivia O'Sullivan , the director of Chatham House's UK in t...

Ruth Townend is joined by Antony Froggatt , Deputy Director and Glada Lahn , Senior Research Fellow, both of the Chatham House Environment and Society Centre to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition in key under-attended-to sectors, including non-energy-uses of fossil fuels. The podcast builds upon a series of four Chatham House roundtables kindly supported by AIG. The...

Climate finance is vital to tackling climate change and decarbonising economies. Past pledges, however, have often failed to deliver, especially for developing countries. In the lead-up to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, climate finance will be a major topic. Ruth Townend is joined by Jamie Fergusson , global director for Climate Business for International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Gr...

Coming fresh from the Chatham House Energy Transitions Conference, Ruth Townend is joined in the studio by IPCC lead author on demand, Professor Felix Creutzig , Dr Christina Demski , Deputy Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation, and Toby Park , Principle Advisor and Head of Energy, Environment and Sustainability at the Behavioural Insights Team. Together they discuss...

Ruth Townend is joined in the studio by Gwynne Dyer, author of Climate Wars, and Chatham House's own Dr Daniel Quiggin to talk about climate solutions from the magical to the mundane. For his forthcoming book Intervention Earth, Dyer has spoken with more than 50 thinkers, innovators and engineers about how we might cool the planet and avoid catastrophe. Dyer, Quiggin and Townend explore the potent...

In the second of two COP28 takeover episodes, Research Fellow Ruth Townend gathers Chatham House teammates to discuss how the conference went, with a particular focus on the politics and geopolitics that shaped the conference outcome. Ruth reflects on the global stocktake and loss and damage, while Antony Froggatt and Bernice Lee reflect on how different actors shaped the outcomes, as well as the...

In the first of two COP28 takeover episodes, Research Fellow Ruth Townend gathers Chatham House Environment and Society Centre teammates to discuss how the conference might go, and what they will be looking out for when they travel to Dubai. This episode is released a week before the start of the conference. Professor Tim Benton discusses agriculture, food, land use and nature. Antony Froggatt tal...

Antony Froggatt is joined in the studio by Ed Mountfield who is Vice President of the World Bank in charge of Operational Policy and Country Service. Finance remains one of the most important and contentious issues in the international climate change negotiations. As COP28 approaches, Antony discusses with Ed the World Bank's ongoing reform initiatives and delves into the degree to which climate c...

Indigenous peoples make up 5 per cent of the world's population and are responsible for the careful stewardship of land home to much of our planet's biodiversity. International negotiations have recently begun to recognize the important role that indigenous communities have always played for safeguarding the climate and environment. In this episode, we explore how headway has been made on recogniz...

In the race to create a net-zero, sustainable world, activities like mining and farming can clash with the lives of people in forests and rural areas. As the international community ponders over solutions for responsible resource management, Ghana's experiences offer invaluable lessons. In this first episode of a two-part special of the Climate Briefing, Henry Throp takes us through a journey of d...

Climate change poses increasingly severe security challenges. What does this mean for defence forces? To find out, Anna speaks to Tobias Ellwood (Chair of the House of Common's Defence Committee) and Anum Farhan (Chatham House). The episode is published on the same day the Defence Committee is releasing its report 'Defence and Climate Change', which is available here: https://publications.parliame...

The geoeconomics of climate change are shifting. The US and the EU are among those launching major packages to gain a competitive advantage as economies transition.  In this episode of the Climate Briefing, Antony speaks to Jane Nakano (Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS) and Suzana Carp (Cleantech for Europe) about how the US and the EU are positioning themselves in the new era...

Ambassador Patricia Espinosa Cantellano served as executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between July 2016 and July 2022.  In this role, she headed the UN entity tasked with supporting the global response to climate change. In this episode of the Climate Briefing, Ambassador Cantellano talks about the major developments in international climate politics durin...

A conversation with Vanatu's climate change minister about building a coalition within the United Nations (UN) to request an advisory opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An advisory opinion could help provide clarity on how existing international laws can be applied to strengthen action on climate change, protect people and the environment, and save the Paris A...