Ani Dasgupta on Moving From Promises to Progress

Climate One

News, Social Sciences, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 ***** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:10.4	We know what needs to be done to ward off the worst impacts of global climate disruption.
1:15.9	Rain in heat-trapping pollution, reverse deforestation, build resilient systems.
1:22.0	But how we do those things is the trick.
1:24.4	And we are in a race against time.
1:26.7	Emissions are still rising, and so are global
1:29.2	temperatures. But on the other hand, the sooner we act, the more lives saved, the more jobs
1:34.1	protected, and the more futures secured. That said, honestly, in this moment, it's really
1:40.8	easy to feel like progress is extremely difficult. Yes, I feel that too.
1:46.4	But many big thinkers are still optimistic about our future.
1:50.6	They're realistic, but also optimistic.
1:53.3	Right.
	...

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