Episode 91: Climate geopolitics, and legal justice for global warming
As the first week of the UN climate change summit, COP26, takes place in Glasgow, Ben and Mariana return with two contrasting interviews on the climate crisis. Ben speaks to Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and President of the Asia Society, about the geopolitics of climate action. They discuss China’s role in the climate negotiations, how great power competition with the United States is influencing the COP process, and why Australia remains reluctant to increase its ambitions for emissions reduction. Then Mariana is joined by Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust, a non-profit public interest law firm at the heart of legal cases on behalf of children which seek compensation from governments for their historic role in causing global warming.