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 carbon mitigation strategy was “not concrete and is full of conditions ... that's not enough.” The c...
Jul 03, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 23
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 Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify (5:17) Alfred Nomad - Speaking (6:10) Alfred Nomad - Justic...
Jun 25, 2021•42 min
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 the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey and has recently is...
Jun 24, 2021•51 min•Season 3Ep. 22
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 'Belt and Road' Initiative? Christiana, Tom, and Paul help us sort out this mixed bag of a weekend f...
Jun 17, 2021•59 min•Season 3Ep. 21
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 same words and no action, so what is different this time around? Later on in the episode we speak with ...
Jun 10, 2021•58 min•Season 3Ep. 20
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 Alok Sharma MP COP26 President Designate Mary Robinson Chair of The Elders | Former President of Irelan...
Jun 04, 2021•45 min
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, Andy Karsner! He joins us at the top of the episode for a quick update on what these seats at the table...
Jun 03, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 3Ep. 19
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 after China and the US NDCs. And our guest this week is championing and informing the policy behind cl...
May 27, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 18
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 explicitly detail the urgent and irreversible need for a rapid and comprehensive shift away from fossil fue...
May 20, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 17
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 philanthropy can play in accelerating innovative actions and radical collaboration across movements to meet...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 3Ep. 16
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 because Paul Dickinson is our musical guest this week. You won’t want to miss. — Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The...
May 07, 2021•25 min
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 economy to a sustainable, equitable, and just system. On topics of investment, divestment, engagement, and...
May 06, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 15
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 Fred Krupp, long-serving President of the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF). We discuss one of the most...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 14
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 his role as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, about his recent deployment overseas to meet delegate...
Apr 22, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 13
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 something we all understand and know is wrong - the mass damage and destruction of ecosystems. But, yet it i...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 12
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 labeled 1000 cleantech solutions that have a positive impact on both the environment and the economy. N...
Apr 08, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 11
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: (0:59) James Hersey - My People Twitter | Facebook | Instagram (3:16) Mystery Jets - Wrong Side of The Tracks Twi...
Apr 01, 2021•47 min
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 Optimist’s Playlist Vol. 1: (4:12) Ellie Goulding - Speaking (5:18) She Drew The Gun - Trouble Every Day Twitter | Fa...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 10
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 have to save humanity? This week we talk to Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer-Prize winning author, activ...
Mar 25, 2021•59 min•Season 3Ep. 9
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, anyone could shape their net zero goals differently, unless we can compare these (literally) hundreds of ...
Mar 22, 2021•19 min
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 share of total emissions in industrialized countries. For example in the United States, transport acc...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 8
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 announce their strategy to reach Net Zero across emissions scopes 1,2 and 3. We explore with Vick...
Mar 11, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Season 3Ep. 7
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 governments - history has shown that political actors need the real economy to place wind in their sails. So ...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 6
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, and we are seeing the economics weigh more and more towards phasing out fossil fuels. We’re even see...
Feb 25, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 5
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, as well as a listener question regarding the unregulated growth and steadily growing emissions of bi...
Feb 18, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 4
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 pollution by curtailing fossil fuel use is framed in terms of how it would improve the future, it’s also ...
Feb 11, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 3
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 off of fossil fuel based urban transport has never been more urgent. But how do we solve deadly air p...
Feb 04, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 2
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 global greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% in 2030, we will push our Earth beyond the ‘planetary bou...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 1
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, action, and messaging around climate action. So who better to talk to on this historic day than the ...
Jan 20, 2021•53 min
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 the sectors in most urgent need of decarbonisation. And this week, we dive into the future of sustaina...
Jan 15, 2021•58 min•Season 2Ep. 50
