2025 has been a doozy in so many ways. And climate news has been no exception. Climate One hosts Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar look back at what the year has meant for climate progress: the good, the bad, the ugly — and the joyful.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2025 will go down as one of the top three warmest years in the 176-year observational record. Climate-change-fueled extreme weather continues to wreak havoc on communities across the world. And yet, it’s not all bad news.  As Bill McKibben points out, we now live on a planet where the cheapest form of energy basically comes from pointing a piece of glass at the sun. And globally, renewable energy surpassed coal for the first time ever.

Despite the federal government’s attacks on climate science and policy, local climate action is still happening across the country and globe, and each of us holds power to make change.

Guests:

Adrienne Heinz, Clinical Research Psychologist, Stanford University School of Medicine

Roxanne Brown, Vice President at Large, United Steelworkers

Pattie Gonia, Drag Queen and environmentalist
For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

Highlights:

00:00 - Intro

02:00 – 2025 has been the year of AI

04:30 – Trump admin attack on science, climate and environmental regs and rules

06:45 – Good news on renewables and the rise of China as an electrostate

08:30 – New York implements congestion pricing

10:00 – US has removed itself from global climate negotiations

12:45 – Remembering Jane Goodall

15:30 – Adrienne Heinz on how to support yourself and others after a weather disaster

25:30 – Roxanne Brown on how Trump’s pullback of IRA, BIL and CHIPS acts have hurt American workers and industry

34:00 – Growing threat of disinformation in climate conversations

36:30 – Pattie Gonia on how drag performance fits in with their climate and environmental activism

51:00 – How joy is strategic

53:30 – A look ahead at 2026

*****

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Project Drawdown is the world’s leading science-based guide to climate solutions. According to Jonathan Foley, Project Drawdown’s Executive Director, they aim to be the Consumer Reports for climate change. “We synthesize every paper ever written in science, engineering, technical, economic literature, all the data, and bring it together and say, ‘Hey, does this actually work? And if so, how much would it cost? And how long would we have to wait for it?’” 

Foley is not just an expert on the intricacies of hundreds of potential climate solutions; he’s also the winner of the 2025 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Science Communication, and an expert at explaining complex ideas in easily digestible terms. As he said on a past Climate One episode, “The great news about addressing climate change is we also build a better world in the process. Imagine going to the doctor and they're like, ‘Wow, you're really sick and I'm gonna give you this medicine, and its side effects are, you're gonna feel better.’ Climate solutions are like that.”

Episode Guests:

Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown

Eliza Nemser, Executive Director, Climate Changemakers

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

02:11 Jonathan Foley on Stephen Schneider

06:33 Jonathan Foley on balancing science and communication

13:09 Jonathan Foley on Project Drawdown

20:08 Jonathan Foley on less effective climate solutions

23:27 Jonathan Foley on the food industries effect on climate

26:22 Jonathan Foley on being attacked for speaking out about beef

34:20 Jonathan Foley on the need to stop doing “stupid” stuff

40:31 Greg Dalton on meeting Stephen Schneider

41:25 Greg Dalton on creating the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Science Communication

45:52 Greg Dalton on Stephen Schneider’s legacy

47:14 Eliza Nemser on her journey to climate activism

49:12 Eliza Nemser on effective volunteerism 

53:23 Eliza Nemser on finding your place in climate action

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It’s been ten years since Pope Francis issued his landmark encyclical on climate and caring for our common home, Laudato Si’. With the election of the new Pope Leo XIV, many are hopeful he will follow in Francis' path. 

Three-quarters of the global population follow a major religion. And the Catholic Church is far from alone among religious institutions in its directives to care for creation. A few years after Laudato Si, Muslim leaders issued Al-Mizan, which restates principles from the Quran on protecting nature in terms of meeting current challenges. Organizations like Interfaith Power and Light, the Jewish group Dayenu, the Hindu Bhumi Project, and the Buddhist Climate Action Network demonstrate the universality of creation care as central to religions worldwide. 

Especially at a time when governments are failing to take meaningful action on climate progress, can faith traditions provide new paths forward?

Guests:

Celia Deane-Drummond, Director, Laudato Si' Research Institute; Senior Research Fellow in Theology at Campion Hall, University of Oxford

Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Founder & CEO, Dayenu 

Iyad Abumoghli, Founder, Former Director, Faith for Earth Coalition, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Founder and Chair, Al-Mizan

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Highlights: 

00:00 – Intro

00:10 – Quick update on COP30 conclusions

03:40 – Celia Deane-Drummond explains importance of Laudato Si’

08:15 – Will Pope Leo continue Pope Leo’s environmental legacy?

11:00 – Role of religion and ethics in climate conversations

17:45 – Rabbi Jennie Rosenn explains Jewish concept of Dayenu

20:30 – What religious leaders can do that political leaders can’t

26:30 – Rosenn on deregulatory agenda of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin 

37:45 – Iyad Abumoghli on how religion shapes human actions

40:30 – Al-Mizan’s origins and approach

51:00 – Faith and political leaders meeting to discuss the role of faith and values in facing climate change and climate justice

54:40 – Climate One More Thing

********

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The climate doesn’t care where emissions cuts come from; what matters is that the world transitions to renewable energy quickly and cheaply. If it’s significantly cheaper to install solar panels in India than on a rooftop in California, then isn’t that where they should be built? Similarly, transferring money directly to local people with the greatest stake in preserving their land can have outsized impact in conservation. Where does a climate dollar go furthest? 

Guests:

Kinari Webb, Founder, Health in Harmony

Premal Shah, Founder, kiva.org, renewables.org 

Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

04:30 – Origins of Kinari Webb’s nonprofit Health in Harmony

09:00 – Rainforests as lungs and heart of the planet

12:00 – Radical listening to communities about what they need

15:00 – Positive outcomes from responding to community needs directly

18:00 – Webb’s near-death experience from a jellyfish sting

22:00 – Rainforest conservation as a giant climate lever

29:00 – Premal Shah describes how he came to create Kiva.org

32:00 – How Kiva.org works

35:30 – Thought experiment from moral philosopher Peter Singer

38:40 – Kiva tries to reframe stories of poverty as stories of entrepreneurship

41:00 – Applying crowdfunded microfinance model to renewable energy

46:00 – Idea of “effective altruism”

49:30 – Nathaniel Stinnett: we’ve been taught to blame ourselves for the climate crisis

53:00 – How to shift public actions to make climate more political 

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Joe Manchin grew up in the coal fields of West Virginia, the grandson of a miner and the son of a small-town grocer. His worldview was shaped by a place where energy isn’t an abstract policy debate; it’s the identity of the community and vital for economic survival. Manchin was portrayed as a bit of a villain in liberal circles for his role in blocking or slowing down Biden-era policy goals, including climate policy. Yet he was also the architect of the biggest climate legislation the country has ever enacted: the Inflation Reduction Act.

Now, in the midst of the Trump administration dismantling climate policy and basic political norms, Manchin is calling for a return to compromise and “common sense.” 

Episode Guests: 

Joe Manchin, Former US Senator, West Virginia 

Thomas Ramey, Commercial and Nonprofit Solar Evaluator, Solar Holler

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

Highlights: 

00:00 - Intro

05:27 - Joe Manchin on his first senate run 

10:42 - Joe Manchin on Build Back Better

19:26 - Joe Manchin on how the Inflation Reduction Act was written 

22:51 - Joe Manchin on the dismantling of the IRA

27:21 - Joe Manchin on the effects of climate 

31:02 - Joe Manchin on West Virginia’s transition to clean energy 

37:10 - Joe Manchin on the state of the country 

38:10 - Joe Manchin on how to make the country better 

42:56 - Joe Manchin on working together 

44:20 - Thomas Ramey on growing up in West Virginia

50:08 - Thomas Ramey on how he talks about solar energy

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The UN climate convention known as COP30 is now underway in Brazil. As the nations of the world gather to discuss their efforts to rein in climate disruption, the facts are clear: we’re not doing enough, fast enough, to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Climate-fueled disasters are increasingly impacting nearly every part of the world.

And in Belém, Brazil, near the heart of the Amazon rainforest where the conference is being held, organizers have promised that Indigenous voices will play a bigger role than in the past. They’ve also billed this as an “implementation COP” where past promises will be turned into action. What practical steps can we hope countries achieve in this year’s negotiations?

Episode Guests:

Ilana Seid, Permanent Representative of Palau to the United Nations; Chair, Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

Davi Neustein, Sustainability Consultant; Advisor to Marcelo Behar, COP30 Special Envoy 

Deborah Sanchez, Director, CLARIFI (Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative), Rights and Resources Initiative
For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Highlights:

00:00 - Intro

00:30 – Voters responding to energy and affordability in most recent election

02:00 – COP30 is happening in Brazil, opening remarks by UN leaders

07:00 – Major items on the COP30 agenda

10:30 – Davi Neustein on deliberate choice to hold COP30 in Belém

14:00 – Brazil can speak to Global South and Global North

19:00 – Neustein’s hopes for the COP30 action agenda

21:30 – Weeks before COP, Brazil approved new oil drilling in Amazon

27:00 – Ilana Seid shares climate impacts to her home nation of Palau

29:30 – What an “implementation” COP means

35:30 – Is there a need for a new narrative around climate change?

42:00 – Deborah Sanchez shares story of securing land rights for her community

47:00 – Example of a project funded through CLARIFI (Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative)

51:00 – How COP goal of elevating Indigenous voices is working out in reality

55:00 – What can we learn from the Amazon and how its managed

56:30 – Climate One More Thing

*****

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Fossil-fueled climate disruption is driving political instability around the world. The relationship between climate disasters and conflict are well-established — and also complicated. Even in war-torn regions like Israel and Palestine, people work across political and ethnic divides to address humanitarian and climate crises. The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies has helped bring together Israelis, Palestinians, Moroccans, and Jordanians to study and tackle shared environmental challenges. How does climate disruption reshape cross-border relations? And can climate cooperation become a force for peace?

Episode Guests: 

Peter Schwartzstein, Environmental Journalist; Climate Security Researcher

Fareed Mahameed, Assistant Director, Center for Transboundary Water Management, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

Liana Berlin-Fischler, Associate Director, Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Highlights: 

12:42 Peter Schwartzstein on seeing the link between climate and violence

21:02 Peter Schwartzstein on the importance of governance 

22:56 Peter Schwartzstein on better governance examples

27:17 Peter Schwartzstein on the danger of climate induced violence in the US

31:13 Peter Schwartzstein on new paths for cooperation 

36:49 Liana Berlin-Fischler on moving to Israel 

37:59 Fareed Mahameed on “fixing the world”

42:16 Fareed Mahameed on being compelled to help 

47:05 Fareed Mahameed on figuring out what a community needs most 

51:30 Liana Berlin-Fischler on the Jumpstarting Hope in Gaza project

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Human-caused climate change is fueling extreme floods, wildfires, rising seas, and record-breaking heat all around the world. At the same time, some of the most senior U.S. government officials and other powerful actors are actively defunding climate programs, dismantling research institutions, erasing decades of environmental data, and launching direct attacks on climate professionals.

This week’s episode is about what it’s like to be a climate scientist, researcher, or environmental professional trying to do meaningful work in a country with a government that increasingly doesn’t want it. Many have faced harassment, threats, or dismissal — or live in fear that their funding will be frozen or cut. How does it feel to do climate work not just in an era of climate denial, but of deliberate climate erasure? 

Episode Guests:

Rachel Rothschild,  Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Law School

Brent Efron, Senior Manager for Permitting Innovation, Environmental Policy Innovation Center

J. Timmons Roberts, Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology, Brown University

**For show notes and related links, visit ⁠climateone.org/podcasts.⁠

Highlights: 

00:00 – Intro

03:00 – Brent Efron on how he got into climate work

05:30 – Efron relates a casual date he had in DC

08:00 – Efron is contacted by Project Veritas, who plans to release a video they recorded of his comments about his work at the EPA during the date

11:00 – Hate and public backlash following his remarks, as well as the EPA

13:00 – Efron is contacted by EPA investigators and the FBI

17:30 – His new job in climate policy and how it feels to be doing that work again

21:30 – Rachel Rothschild explains climate superfund laws

25:00 – An organization uses FOIA to request Rothschild’s emails with environmental groups, then filed a lawsuit

32:00 – Personal and professional toll it has taken on her

37:00 – Needing to have threat monitoring

41:00 – How she thinks about her work as a teacher

42:30 – J. Timmons Roberts explains his work on links between offshore wind opposition groups and entities tied to fossil fuel interests

48:00 – Marzulla Law sends a letter to Brown University demanding Roberts’ work be redacted

52:30 – Universities in vulnerable position right now

58:45 – Why uncovering climate obstruction work is so important

59:45 – Climate One More Thing

***

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So much of the conversation about the climate crisis focuses on prevention. But no matter how well we succeed on that front, climate-induced disasters are already causing hundreds of billions of dollars of damage worldwide every year — not to mention destroying livelihoods and causing deaths. We're seeing those impacts today, and we need to be ready.

Adaptation does not mean giving up on trying to rein in heat-trapping pollution; it’s facing reality. The way we adapt can be creative and empowering. But what does that kind of adaptation look like? 

Episode Guests:  

Susannah Fisher, Principal Research Fellow, University College London; Author of "Sink or Swim"

Nick Mott, Multimedia Journalist; Author of “This Is Wildfire” 

Tanya Gulliver-Garcia, Director of Educational Impact, Center for Disaster Philanthropy

This episode features a field piece by David Condos, who originally reported the story for KUER in Salt Lake City, Utah.

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/adaptation-when-prevention-isnt-enough.

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

4:06 Susannah Fisher on her findings as a research student

7:43 Susannah Fisher on transformational changes

11:52 Susannah Fisher on the realities of climate migration

17:41 Susannah Fisher on the future of adaptation

22:47 Susannah Fisher on international cooperation

27:01 Susannah Fisher on surprising connections

30:35 Nick Mott on who is responsible for protecting your house

33:09 Nick Mott on the next level steps for protecting from wildfire

39:58 Field piece by David Condos on reusing sewage water

44:38 Tanya Gulliver-Garcia on what mutual aid is

48:20 Tanya Gulliver-Garcia on a mutual aid response to climate disasters

53:35 Climate One More Thing

***

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We know what needs to be done to ward off the worst impacts of global climate disruption: rein in heat-trapping pollution, reverse deforestation, build resilient systems. But how we do those things is the trick. Every second counts. The sooner we act, the more lives saved, the more jobs protected and the more futures secured. 

So how do we orchestrate the vast change we need in a short amount of time? World Resources Institute President Ani Dasgupta gives his honest take on the lack of progress since the Paris Agreement was signed 10 years ago — and maps a path forward.

Guests:

Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, World Resources Institute (WRI); Author, “The New Global Possible”

Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown

Nikhil Swaminathan, CEO, Grist

Highlights: 

00:00 – Intro

01:46 – Importance of the Paris Accords in terms of multilateralism

04:00 – Backlash to climate action 

07:00 – The market is producing the technology we need, but we also need to deploy them at scale

12:00 – How do we get companies producing the bulk of emissions to change course?

16:00 – Addressing climate disruption is a societal choice about what we value

20:40 – Why COP is essential and also disappointing and maddening

23:30 – Unpacking climate finance and why it’s so important

27:30 – Addressing justice isn’t a choice but an imperative when it comes to climate

31:00 – How to keep focused and remain optimistic in this current moment

37:00 – We have everything we need right now to solve climate change

41:00 – Project Drawdown’s analysis of what climate tools do and don’t work

45:00 – So many missed climate opportunities

52:00 – Tradeoffs of tools like batteries 

58:00 – Climate One More Thing

*****

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Today, we have a special episode to share with you from TED’s brand new podcast, Speed & Scale. Speed & Scale was created to help combat the doom and gloom that comes when thinking and learning about climate change. The hosts Anjali Grover and Ryan Panchadsaram interview experts from around the world on the measurable changes they’re making to combat the climate crisis and create a better future for the planet – and for those of us living on it. 

In this episode, Ryan and Anjali reflect on what to do about fossil gas, and they are joined by some incredible people coming up with bold solutions. The kind of solutions that save billions of dollars for energy companies – and consumers. Check out more episodes of the TED podcast Speed & Scale wherever you get your podcasts.

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