What People Want

Dear Stubborn Optimist,

Earlier this week, as climate negotiators in Bonn got to work on the 63-page draft text of the post-2025 climate finance goal, known as the “New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), which aims to see money flow to developing nations to shore up their climate action and resilience, the far right party in Germany secured its highest victory in the EU elections, with over 15% of the country’s vote.

Across the EU, as predicted, the far right gained ground in the weekend’s elections. This success led one commentator - Simon Hix, politics professor at the European University Institute in Florence - to declare we can “Kiss goodbye to the European Green Deal.”

Recent guests on the podcast, including Gina McCarthy and Tom Steyer have both pointed to how tough things will be as populist governments work to slow momentum on climate action, but the far right’s dislike of climate and environmental policies doesn’t change the fact that climate-related extreme weather has caused more than $41 billion in damage in the six months since COP28, with this staggering figure only accounting for insured losses.?

These damages exacerbate some of the key issues voters are concerned about: rising prices and immigration. And the number of climate refugees is rising. In 2022 alone there were more than 32 million climate refugees, and this could rise to 1.2 billion by 2050. Next week it’s World Refugee Day, and the UK and many other countries will host several events to mark Refugee Week, which aims to celebrate the contributions, resilience, and creativity of refugees, people for whom fleeing home is always a last resort.

The seriousness of climate risk is also why, despite changing geopolitics, businesses and investors can’t - and won’t - take their eyes off climate. And neither will the great many of us who remain focused on action in line with what people want: clean air, clean water, affordable and sustainable food and a reliable climate.?

Those benefits are the driving force behind California’s continued efforts to rein in oil and gas through the courts. This week California is aiming to use consumer protection laws to seize fossil fuel profits and use them for a victims’ restitution fund. California’s lawsuit against oil and gas is based on the companies’ use of misinformation about climate to deceive the public, and the case has just been updated to include misleading advertising or false marketing? - for example that some oil and gas products are ‘clean’ or ‘green.’

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This week: We go deep into trauma with Thomas Hübl, PhD who developed the Collective Trauma Integration Process for working with individual, ancestral, and collective trauma. Tune in to hear about why, and how, we have to keep working on the solutions even as we experience the trauma of the climate crisis. Don’t miss this brilliant episode. Wherever you get your podcasts on Thursday, June 13th.

Next Week: Our hosts mark World Refugee Day and Refugee Week with a discussion about climate migration. This will be our penultimate episode of the season, so tune in for a good dose of Outrage + Optimism! Wherever you get your podcasts on Thursday June 20th.

In case you missed it: US Elections: Could Trump Surprise us on Climate. Recorded and aired last week before news of the upcoming French election, the hosts discuss democracy, Trump’s convictions, and the first round of UK debates. Special guest Ian Bremmer brings all the politics in conversation with Christiana on Trump’s possible re-election.?

If you like this ‘dose of Outrage + Optimism’ and haven’t already, do sign up to our full bi-weekly email newsletter to make sure you’re not just informed about the climate crisis, but also inspired to be part of the changes we all need to make.

In this week's email newsletter you’ll find:

?? The Energy Transitions Coalition's briefing on triping climate ambtion in the next round of NDCs

?? Open letters to politicians - from leading climate scientists and from Greenpeace UK

?? Tips from the team: what to watch, listen and learn from this week

Thank you for reading our newsletter.

With stubborn optimism,

The Outrage + Optimism team.

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