Paris, 10 Years On - Has it Changed the World?
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ten years ago, a gavel dropped in a conference hall north of Paris. It was the moment the world agreed on a strategic plan for one of the most consequential transformations in human history. But, a decade later, what has the Paris Agreement truly delivered?
Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson pull back the curtain on the moment that changed global climate politics. The emotional reality of that night, the fragile trust built after the failure of Copenhagen, and the architecture of cooperation that still shapes the world today.
Looking back, they ask: was it diplomacy’s greatest breakthrough, or the beginning of a myth we still rely on? Can an agreement built on voluntary commitments survive as the world becomes increasingly fragmented? Is the Paris Agreement still our best chance at limiting the impacts of climate change - or simply the only chance we have?
Learn more:
▶️ Watch Christiana’s Ted Talk
💌 Read Christiana’s Open Letter of Gratitude
🌱 Read The Future We Choose, by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
🌍 Dive into the Profiles of Paris - including contributions from Tom, Paul, and many former guests of the podcast
🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe
Join the conversation:
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LinkedIn @outrageoptimism
Or get in touch with us via this form.
Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks
Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
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 | Hello and welcome to Outrage and Optimism. I'm Tomerick-Karnik. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Christiana Figueres. |
| 0:06.5 | And I'm Paul Degensen. |
| 0:07.9 | Today, 10 years on from the adoption of the Paris Agreement, we bring you a special episode |
| 0:12.2 | looking at the failures and successes of that agreement. |
| 0:15.6 | Thanks for being here. |
| 0:18.7 | So I can't quite believe we've got to this point. |
| 0:22.0 | Tomorrow, if you're listening to this episode on the day it comes out, which is the 11th of December 2025, it is one day before the 10-year |
| 0:27.7 | anniversary of the gavel coming down in Le Bourget, north of Paris, to create or adopt the Paris |
| 0:34.5 | agreement. Of course, it was ratified some months later. Now, we're going to get in today |
| 0:37.8 | to the failures and successes, and maybe what is still left to be done under the Paris Agreement. |
| 0:42.4 | But before we start, should we just watch a little video of that day? |
| 0:45.9 | And you can hear it also, listen to it, if you're not watching. |
| 0:48.5 | I regard the cell. I see that the reaction is positive. I don't know not an objection. |
| 0:53.6 | The accord of Paris for the climate is accepted. |
| 0:57.0 | It sort of came as a moment of shock, I remember, |
| 1:00.0 | even though we were expecting it at that moment. |
| 1:02.0 | It's just been a huge delay, if I recall. |
| 1:04.0 | There had been hours delay, haven't there? |
| 1:09.0 | Christiana, you look so happy. |
| 1:12.6 | Everyone in the room looks so happy. |
| 1:15.3 | Big hug. |
... |
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