Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast

What happens when the world’s most powerful country walks away from the system it helped to build?This week, we examine the United States’ decision to withdraw not only from the Paris Agreement, but from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change itself - alongside dozens of other international bodies. Headlines declared the end of multilateral climate cooperation. But is that really what this moment represents?Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson unpack what has actually been announced - and what it does (and doesn’t) change in practice.They are joined by Sue Biniaz, former US Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change and one of the quiet architects of decades of climate diplomacy. Sue brings rare insight into whether a US president can legally withdraw from a Senate-ratified treaty, the surprising pathways by which a future administration could rejoin, and what influence the US may still wield as a non-party.Could the absence of the US voice, paradoxically, unlock progress elsewhere? And in a fractured world, where does collective climate leadership now come from?Learn more:🎥 Watch our hosts’ immediate response to the US UNFCCC withdrawal announcement, recorded the day after news broke📰 Read the New York Times profile of Sue Biniaz by Lisa Friedman: Meet the Closer Who Finds the Right Words When Climate Talks Hit a Wall📄 Dive into the Just Security article penned by Sue Biniaz and Jean Galbraith on treaty withdrawal and re-entry 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeJoin the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr get in touch with us via this form.Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning: Caitlin HanrahanAssistant Producer: Caillin McDaidExec Producer: Ellie CliffordThis is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

The year has barely begun, and already the fault lines of global power are on full display.Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson take stock of a moment that feels both shocking and revealing. The US abduction of Venezuela’s president raises urgent questions about sovereignty, international law, and the enduring grip of fossil fuels on geopolitics - even as the energy transition accelerates. But what’s really driving events in Venezuela? And how can we tease apart the political theatre from the realities of oil markets, military power, and domestic US politics.Later, we ask: what are the big themes, underlying trends and climate stories already shaping the new year? From the possible rise of left-wing populism, to the intensifying battle over who will become the next UN Secretary-General.As 2026 begins, the question is not just what kind of year lies ahead for climate action, but what kind of global order will shape it.Learn more:🛢️ Deep dive into the stats from the US Energy Information Administration on Venezuelan oil production🌐 Read more about the appointment process of the UN Secretary-General.🎧 Listen back to our holiday episodes, Why Beauty Matters in the Climate Crisis and Beginning the Year with Ancestral Wisdom 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeJoin the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr get in touch with us via this form.Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning: Caitlin HanrahanExec Producer: Ellie CliffordThis is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

As billions around the world mark the beginning of a new year, many are pausing to ask the same questions: what do we carry forward, and what do we leave behind, as we cross from the old into the new? And as headlines fill with predictions about the rise of artificial intelligence, could a different kind of AI - ‘ancestral intelligence’ - offer insights equal to the depth of the climate and biodiversity crises we now face?This year’s COP saw Indigenous and First Nations Peoples better represented than ever before; but it also showed how far there is still to go to include them in meaningful dialogue. In a conversation recorded at COP30, Christiana Figueres sits down with two Indigenous leaders from different continents and traditions: Mindahi Bastida, from the Otomí-Toltec peoples of Mexico, and Atawévi Akôyi Oussou Lio, Prince of the Tolinou people of Benin. Together, they explore a relationship with the living world grounded in belonging rather than dominance, continuity rather than short-termism, and reciprocity rather than extraction.Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson then join Christiana to reflect on what it means to carry this wisdom into the year ahead. And if the challenges before us are not only technical and political, but also cultural and spiritual, how might that reshape the way we act, decide, and lead in 2026 and beyond?🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeJoin the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr get in touch with us via this form. Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning: Caitlin HanrahanAssistant Producer: Caillin McDaidExec Producer: Ellie CliffordThis is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

At a moment when the world feels noisier, faster, and more demanding than ever, what role can beauty play in helping us slow down, reconnect, and remember what matters?As the year draws to a close, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson step back from targets, timelines and political headwinds to explore how craft, design and the quiet appreciation for our objects and spaces can shape both the worlds we live in, and the futures we are trying to build.Tom is joined in Bath by designer and artist Patrick Williams, founder of the design studio and workshop Berdoulat, whose work is rooted in traditional craft, natural materials and a deep sensitivity to place. Together they reflect on what happens when efficiency crowds out care, when buildings and objects lose their connection to human bodies and natural rhythms, and why the climate crisis may also be a crisis of beauty.As we reflect on a challenging year for climate action, we also offer an invitation for the days ahead: to slow down, to notice what restores us, and to remember that meaningful change is sustained not just by effort, but by care, beauty and joy.Learn more:📖 Find out more about Patrick’s upcoming book release, The House Rules 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeJoin the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr get in touch with us via this form. Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning: Caitlin HanrahanExec Producer: Ellie CliffordThis is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

At the very moment we need clarity and trust, information integrity is being polluted. Disinformation is profitable and the impact on truth is dangerous. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the discourse around climate.This week, Outrage + Optimism steps into the murky, fast-moving world of climate disinformation. Not simply misunderstanding and confusion, but the deliberate shaping of narratives to delay action, fracture trust, and profit from doubt.Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore why disinformation is accelerating just as the climate stakes are rising, how it feeds on human psychology, and why the erosion of shared facts may be one of the greatest barriers to collective climate action.Paul brings us a conversation from COP30 with Jake Dubbins, a leading voice at the intersection of advertising, climate and human rights. Together they unpack how fossil fuel advertising, opaque algorithms and the attention economy are shaping what we see, what spreads, and what stalls climate action. And they examine the newly launched Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, a first-of-its-kind effort at the international level.But can governments, platforms and advertisers clean up a poisoned information space without sliding into censorship? And where should the line really be drawn between free expression and preventing harm?Learn more:🛡️ Read the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change📊 Explore the OECD report on disinformation and misinformation🔍 Find out about the Conscious Advertising Network and Climate Action Against Disinformation🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeJoin the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr get in touch with us via this form. Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning: Caitlin HanrahanAssistant Producer: Caillin McDaidExec Producer: Ellie CliffordThis is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

Ten years ago, a gavel dropped in a conference hall north of Paris. It was the moment the world agreed on a strategic plan for one of the most consequential transformations in human history. But, a decade later, what has the Paris Agreement truly delivered?Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson pull back the curtain on the moment that changed global climate politics. The emotional reality of that night, the fragile trust built after the failure of Copenhagen, and the architecture of cooperation that still shapes the world today.Looking back, they ask: was it diplomacy’s greatest breakthrough, or the beginning of a myth we still rely on? Can an agreement built on voluntary commitments survive as the world becomes increasingly fragmented? Is the Paris Agreement still our best chance at limiting the impacts of climate change - or simply the only chance we have?Learn more:▶️ Watch Christiana’s Ted Talk 💌 Read Christiana’s Open Letter of Gratitude🌱 Read The Future We Choose, by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac🌍 Dive into the Profiles of Paris - including contributions from Tom, Paul, and many former guests of the podcast🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeJoin the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimismLinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr get in touch with us via this form. Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning: Caitlin HanrahanExec Producer: Ellie CliffordThis is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.