Venezuela, Fossil Fuels, and the Year Ahead

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, hosts Tom Rivett Carnac and Paul Dickinson delve into the rapidly emerging - and faintly surreal - world of solar geoengineering. Politico journalist Karl Mathiesen joins us to unpack his investigation into Stardust, a VC-backed startup claiming it’s ready to spray particles into the stratosphere. Karl explains why this technology is suddenly attracting serious money, why scientists still have major questions about safety and side effects, and how in some places, the global regulatory landscape is almost nonexistent.And from technological disruption to political stability, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, reflects on the leadership we need. She’s unflinchingly honest about why so many politicians still choose “fear and blame” over long-term action, and why climate remains New Zealand’s “nuclear-free moment.” A test of political character as much as policy. Her argument is hopeful: people, she insists, are ahead of their politics.As we march towards the end of 2025, these conversations map the terrain of 2026: technologies racing ahead, governance lagging behind, and a public increasingly hungry for leaders willing to act with integrity. If you want to understand where the climate fight is really heading this episode is essential.Learn more:📚Read The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming👂Listen to our episode with Ricken Patel🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeFollow us on social media for behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos: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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Outrage + Optimism, we’re taking a breath.After two intense weeks of daily updates from COP30 in Belém, we’re returning to weekly programming with something different - a slower, deeper, more reflective conversation that felt too valuable to cut.While in the Blue Zone, we sat down with Kim Stanley Robinson, the acclaimed author of The Ministry for the Future, 2312, The Mars trilogy, and the Science in the Capital series. His writing has been read by negotiators, ministers, campaigners, and many of you.In our conversation, Kim Stanley Robinson reflects on why The Ministry for the Future begins with such a devastating opening chapter, a “punch in the gut” designed to reveal the human limits of adaptation. He introduces the idea of “pre-traumatic syndrome,” the unsettling clarity that comes from imagining a catastrophe before it happens, and how this can motivate us rather than paralyse us. We explore storytelling as a cultural tool for moving from despair to determination, and why each of us needs a a unifying purpose that gives shape to our actions in a chaotic world.At a COP defined by urgency, exhaustion, and flashes of courage, this wide-ranging conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson felt like a necessary exhale, a moment to step back and reflect on why we do this work, and what kind of future we’re choosing to build.We’re airing the conversation almost exactly as it happened.🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipeFollow us on social media for behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos:Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr get in touch with us via this form. Series Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning Producer: Caitlin HanrahanEdited by: Miles MartignoniExec Producer: Ellie CliffordThis is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is our final episode of Inside COP. For two weeks we’ve tried to bring you as close as possible to the heart of COP30 - the pace, the pressure, the progress, and the perspectives of those working inside and around the process.The closing plenary on Saturday began amid unexpected tension. Already running a day behind schedule, the Presidency moved to adopt the final text, but proceedings were paused following questions over whether all interventions had been properly registered. What followed were hours of clarification, consultation and procedural back-and-forth, underscoring concerns among many developing countries who had negotiated through the night to secure their priorities.In this episode, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson examine how the final day unfolded, what was agreed, and what it might mean.But this COP was never just about negotiation. Beyond the formal process, we explore what COP30 revealed about wider trends: shifting clean-energy economics, accelerating deployment across regions, and emerging signs of how the decline of fossil fuels is beginning to influence global decision-making.🎤 What do you want to hear on Outrage + Optimism? Ask us on SpeakPipe or on our socials where you can also see more behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos:Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr via this form.Lead Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning Producer: Caitlin HanrahanEdited by: Miles MartignoniExec Producer: Ellie CliffordWith thanks to Groundswell and Global Optimism.This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We recorded this episode across Friday afternoon and deep into the evening inside the Blue Zone at COP30. At the time of publishing, there is still no final deal. The negotiations are ongoing, positions are shifting, and the outcome remains uncertain. We know that by the time you listen, some of what we heard today may already have changed, but we decided there was value in sharing the day with you. This episode is meant as a time capsule.We wanted to bring you inside the atmosphere of a COP Friday: the outrage, the optimism, the urgency, and the sheer human effort that goes into trying to land a deal. Rather than wait for the dust to settle, we spoke to the people living this moment. City leaders. Climate diplomats. Ministers from the front lines. Seasoned negotiators who’ve been in this process for decades. Activists still fighting for the best possible outcome for the planet. Their perspectives were captured as they were living this day, not in hindsight.This episode captures the feeling of a COP Friday: the confusion, the determination, the fear of losing ambition, and the belief, still alive in many corners, that progress is possible if countries choose it.With thanks to those who spoke with us:⁠Eric Garcetti, former US Ambassador to India and former mayor of LA Mark Watts, CEO of C40⁠Matt Webb, Associate Director for Global Clean Power Diplomacy, E3GGustavo Pinheiro, Senior Associate, E3G⁠Irene Velez Torres, Colombian Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development and head of the Colombian delegation⁠Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Ghanian Negotiator and incoming head of Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN)Giovanni Maurice Pradipta, Foundation for Sustainability 🎤 What do you want to hear on Inside COP? Ask us on SpeakPipe or on our socials where you can also see more behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos:Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr via this form.Produced and edited by: Caitlin Hanrahan and Ben Weaver-HincksAdditional editing by: Miles MartignoniExec Producer: Ellie CliffordWith thanks to Groundswell and Global Optimism.This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Friday morning in Belém and COP30 is moving fast. After yesterday’s fire and the overnight closure of the venue, the Brazilian Presidency worked through the night and released a new draft text early this morning. It has immediately triggered significant pushback.In this emergency episode the team talks through what changed overnight, and why so many countries are unhappy. Christiana Figueres highlights how the new text removes the roadmaps for transitioning away from fossil fuels and for halting deforestation, and why that has triggered such a strong response.The mood on the ground has shifted. Delegates are back after the disruption yesterday, rested just enough to be energised, and preparing to make their views known in plenary. The Presidency now has to listen, absorb, and decide how far it can move.This is our Friday morning take on a rapidly changing situation, the snapshot before whatever comes next. Follow us on social media across the day for real time updates from Belém.Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismLearn more:📣 Read the latest draft of the Political Package🧩 Use this helpful cheatsheet on how to read a COP text🌍 Check out the official COP30 website for background and announcements🎤 What do you want to hear on Inside COP? Ask us on SpeakPipe or on our socials where you can also see more behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos:Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimismOr via this form.Lead Producer: Ben Weaver-HincksPlanning Producer: Caitlin HanrahanEdited by: Miles MartignoniExec Producer: Ellie CliffordWith thanks to Groundswell and Global Optimism.This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.