Is there still hope for climate change? Environmental journalist Fred Pearce, author of Despite It All, explains why climate change is solvable, from renewable energy and EVs to AI data centers and China's clean energy boom.

Have you given up on the planet? Before you do, hear from someone who has spent 40 years reporting from more than 80 countries, and who has watched the world solve problems that once looked impossible.

When Fred started out in the 1980s, the big environmental story was acid rain. Then came lead in petrol, the hole in the ozone layer, and warnings that a "population bomb" would starve billions. Today we barely talk about any of them, because we fixed them.

So can we do the same with climate change? Gregg plays devil's advocate and throws the hardest questions at him. AI data centers are driving up energy demand. China is still building coal plants. Corporations and governments are quietly walking back their net-zero pledges. And climate change has become deeply politicized.

Fred doesn't sugarcoat it: "You should be worried for sure." But he makes a compelling case for optimism. Solar and wind are now cheaper than coal. China has become the world's clean energy powerhouse. The conflict in Iran is pushing countries toward homegrown renewable power. And nature has an extraordinary ability to bounce back. As Fred puts it: "Hope drives ambition."

If climate news leaves you feeling anxious or hopeless, this is the episode to watch.

What you'll learn:

• How the world solved acid rain, the ozone hole, and leaded petrol, and what that teaches us about climate change

• Whether AI data centers will derail climate progress, and how renewable energy can power them

• How China went from climate villain to the global leader in solar power, batteries, and electric vehicles

• Why corporations may be easier to convince than governments, and why renewables now win on cost

• How the conflict in Iran and energy security are accelerating the shift to clean energy

• Fred's honest take on nuclear power, geothermal, and Trump's energy policy

• Geoengineering and carbon removal: should we be ready to pull CO2 out of the sky?

• What a Bolsonaro comeback could mean for Amazon deforestation

• Why letting forests regrow naturally often beats planting trees

• What Fred got wrong about caribou hunters in Alaska, and why the herd doubled

• How the "population bomb" was defused without forced policies

TIME STAMPS:

0:00 – Is There Still Hope for Climate Change?
1:10 – We Fixed Acid Rain and the Ozone Hole
3:59 – Will AI Data Centers Wreck It All?
6:16 – What About China?
10:34 – Why Companies Are Ditching Net Zero
12:13 – Iran, Oil, and Russia's EV Boom
15:11 – Is Trump Getting Anything Right?
17:56 – Can We Suck CO2 Out of the Sky?
20:40 – Bolsonaro and the Amazon
27:20 – What Fred Got Wrong
29:20 – How the Population Bomb Was Defused
33:22 – Nature's Surprise Comeback

Fred Pearce is a London-based environmental journalist who has covered climate change, water, biodiversity, and global development for more than 40 years, reporting from more than 80 countries. He is the author of 14 books, including The New Wild and Despite It All (Granta, 2026), his case for climate optimism.

Contact / Follow Fred Pearce:

Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/author/fred-pearce
Climate Home News: https://www.climatechangenews.com/author/fred-pearce/
The Breakthrough Institute: https://thebreakthrough.org/people/fred-pearce
Despite It All (Blackwell's): https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781803513638

Want more conversations that cut through the noise on science, climate, and the issues shaping our future? Subscribe to Climate Change Environment Science & the Law with Gregg Goldfarb for new episodes every week.

#ClimateChange #RenewableEnergy #ClimateHope