COP30: Can Brazil deliver a global breakthrough?
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This November, Brazil will host COP30 in Belém, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, in what is bound to be a moment packed with symbolism, high expectations, and global significance. This week, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson explore what’s at stake, what Brazil wants to achieve, and whether the world is ready to move from ambition to implementation.
Back from his recent trip to the country, Tom shares conversations with COP CEO Ana Toni and Gustavo Westmann from the office of the Brazilian Presidency, along with insights and impressions he picked up on the ground - from the growing political momentum to the logistical and diplomatic hurdles still to be overcome. Plus, he introduces the team to the concept of mutirão - this COP’s ambition that the path to climate action be built collectively, and through shared effort, cooperation, and solidarity.
With Brazil readying itself to be the focus of the world’s media later this year, we ask: can COP30 be a breakthrough moment for fossil fuel phaseout, nature protection, and delivery on past promises? Or will it risk becoming another high-profile summit weighed down by old divisions and new distractions?
Learn more
🗺️ Get the latest COP30 updates and insights from the official website
💡 Start exploring the Outrage + Optimism archive by listening to our Lifelines VS Deadlines miniseries, co-hosted by Global Optimism’s Fiona Macklin, whom you heard from at the end of this episode
🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe
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Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks
Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas
This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week we taught... |
| 0:02.0 | This week, after my trip last week to... |
| 0:06.0 | After my trip... |
| 0:08.0 | It's not going well. |
| 0:09.0 | Thanks, Paul. |
| 0:12.0 | Hello and welcome to Outrage and Optimism. |
| 0:14.0 | I'm Tom Riffick-Karnak. |
| 0:15.0 | I'm Christiana Figueres. |
| 0:16.0 | And I'm Paul Dickinson. |
| 0:18.0 | This week we bring you an update on the preparations for COP 30. What's going to |
| 0:21.8 | happen? What's the strategy and how can we get involved? Plus, we speak to Anatoony, CEO of COP30 |
| 0:27.4 | and Gustavo Vreshman, special advisor in the office of President Lula. Thanks for being here. |
| 0:36.0 | So friends, lovely to be back with you. I have to say, first of all, before we start, you did a |
| 0:40.6 | beautiful episode last week. I learned so much about Vanuatu and I was deeply jealous of your |
| 0:46.2 | exciting travels, Christiana, and how you got to experience this amazing place. So if there are |
| 0:50.1 | any listeners out there who have not listened to last week's episode, I strongly encourage you |
| 0:54.4 | to go back and listen to me. I actually went to Vanuatu by interviewing Kristyano about her trip |
| 0:58.5 | there. There was enough that took me there. So it was kind of, you know, zero carbon trip to Vanuartu. |
| 1:03.2 | Good job. Good job, Pop. Well, if everyone who listened had that experience, it was a very low |
| 1:07.8 | carbon trip to Vanuatu. It was beautiful and it really made me feel like I'd had an experience with the spirit of the place. So, amazing work. And this week, we're going to talk about |
| 1:15.5 | the trip that I recently had to Brazil. And we have some amazing special guests who will make appearances |
| 1:20.5 | later. But just before we get to that, there has been a consequential verdict in the case that we talked about a while ago, which is Luciano Liuya in his |
... |
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