Hello and welcome to Outrageant Optimism. I'm Tom Rificanak. I'm Cristiana Fierris.

I'm Paul Dickinson and I'm Nigel Topping. Yeah, Nigel, welcome back.

Okay, this week we have special guest, friend of the podcast, Nigel Topping, who is back for the whole episode to talk with us about the global stocktake, the African climate summit, the G20, the IEA finding that we will pick fossil fuels this decade and to look forward to UN General Assembly week next week.

Plus, we have music from New Deco Ensemble. Thanks for being here.

Nigel, it's been far too long. Welcome back to podcast, you and Nigel, we miss you. We miss you. We're so glad you're here.

You'll always be our champion, even if you're not the champion anymore. You'll always be our champion. Yes, well put, well put.

It's very nice to hear you say that though. It's September and I have been waiting to the call up for nine months.

Oh, come on. We've been waiting for the moment of peak insight where we could have no one but you Nigel and this is the moment.

So first of all, we're going to get into this so much going on where they have to crack through it fairly rapidly. But first of all, how are you doing?

It's been a little while since you stepped down now. What are you up to? How does the world look now that you are outside of this crazy system that we're all familiar with?

And sort of participating in it, looking back at it, figuring out what's next?

Surprisingly, I'm very busy. I've got a might be a bit more relaxed now.

Of course, the amount of work that I'm not going down. Who said stepping down? It's more like stepping up and in.

I'm less organized now because I haven't had a whole machine to organize me. So but a way that gives me a bit more space to think.

And I'm really working on two things. One, and we're getting to this when we talk about the stock take in the IA is like, actually trying to wake people up to the reality that in many sectors, we are transitioning much faster.

People thought was possible. This exponential trend transformation is happening. And the other thing I'm really working on is how do we mobilize finance in emerging markets?

So the African climate summit is very relevant next. That's where I'm less positive, more concerned.

And then at home, I've now become a member of the Climate Change Committee as well as being on the board of the UK Infrastructure Bank.

So I'm trying to keep the UK driving forward.

Okay, against some significant headwinds at the moment, of course.

That's the question. What was the climate change committee for people outside of our little islands in Northern Europe?

We won't know what it is, Nigel. What's the climate change?

...