The climate crisis: What the data really say | Cooked? Ep 1

In the first of our new podcast series, a Nature reporter looks for reasons for hope in the face of overwhelming climate anxiety.

The past year has been... a lot. Record-breaking temperatures, devastating floods and catastrophic wildfires have brought the realities of climate change into sharp focus for people around the world. At the same time, many governments and organisations have scaled back on their climate action.

If you’re anything like me you might be feeling it’s all a bit ‘doom and gloom’. So in this series I decided to face my climate anxiety head on and set out in search of reasons for optimism.

In this first episode of Cooked? I talk to experts around the world about what the data really show and why there are still reasons to hope.

00:00 How climate change feels overwhelming

04:27 What the data say about renewables

11:23 Will AI stall climate progress?

21:49 How are the world’s nations doing on climate change?

35:13 Preview of next time

Further reading:

Nature: COP31 kicks off as planet faces imminent overshoot of 1.5 °C climate target

Nature: How much energy will AI really consume? The good, the bad and the unknown

Nature: Biotech innovations are an opportunity to limit climate change

This episode was written and produced by Nick Petrić Howe. Dan Fox was the editor. Music was by Daniel Knowler, Akio Jefferson, Lionel Cohen and The Conductor, and was provided by Triple Scoop Music via Getty Images. Thanks to Hannah Ritchie, Ketan Joshi and Niklas Höhne for featuring in this episode.

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