Inside COP: Friday Night in Belém - uncertainty in the Blue Zone
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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 C40
Matt Webb, Associate Director for Global Clean Power Diplomacy, E3G
Gustavo Pinheiro, Senior Associate, E3G
Irene Velez Torres, Colombian Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development and head of the Colombian delegation
Dr. 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 @outrageoptimism
Or via this form.
Produced and edited by: Caitlin Hanrahan and Ben Weaver-Hincks
Additional editing by: Miles Martignoni
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
With 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.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone. After we recorded our first episode today, Friday, we headed to the Blue Zone. |
| 0:07.0 | Not with the expectation that the outcomes of the negotiation would immediately become clear, |
| 0:11.6 | but because that's where people had gathered, including all of those who had put in two weeks |
| 0:15.9 | and often entire careers and lives, into these efforts. |
| 0:20.1 | Our sense was that whatever story unfolded, it was important to share what was happening |
| 0:25.6 | and how people were feeling and what was being fought for. |
| 0:32.5 | Okay, so we got our first message in, WhatsApp. |
| 0:35.3 | We're off to see actually pretty exciting, you know, big powerful force in the world this city. |
| 0:41.3 | So we're going to talk to Mark Watts, the chief executive of the C40 cities program, and Eric Garcetti, who is former mayor of Los Angeles, former chair of the C40, former ambassador to India. |
| 0:52.3 | It's kind of high octane group. It's Friday, it's a little bit past 3pm. And you just spoken to the president of the cot. Can I ask what you asked him and what he told you? And there was some decent energy still left in that room, which gave me some hope, some optimism, that we can actually get things done. But we said he served actually as ambassador in India, |
| 1:11.3 | a month before I arrived as ambassador in India. |
| 1:13.3 | So we had this kind of bond from way back. |
| 1:16.0 | We both have lived in Delhi. |
| 1:17.3 | We've survived the most polluted air in the world. |
| 1:20.0 | And I just said simply, there's two small acts |
| 1:23.1 | that aren't even asked that actually gives, |
| 1:25.6 | pick up this trophy off the ground and lift it up, which is |
| 1:28.7 | incorporating our ask to have action be part of the agenda with cities, states, and regions. |
| 1:35.9 | Because right now, one country in the world is on track to meet the Paris Science, Denmark. |
| 1:40.7 | That's it. But of the 100 largest cities, three-quarters of them are on track or ahead of track. |
| 1:46.6 | You're the former mayor of Los Angeles. Yes. How does it feel to be, in a sense, |
| 1:51.6 | representing cities, states, and regions when the nation is missing? |
... |
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