In this interview with IPCC Vice Chair Diana Urge-Vorsatz she argues that we need to move beyond the phrase 'climate change' and instead build a positive story of climate change. The emphasis should be on how we can make people's lives better, rather than the doom and gloom of ever more worrying numbers. With more walkable cities, greater work-life balance, and more reliable goods, the fight against climate change could be the opportunity of our time.

Climate change and optimism aren’t regular bedfellows, but perhaps climate change could be the opportunity of our time. In recent years political movements across the world have found support in opposition to climate change policies. From farmer protests in France and the Netherlands to a 15% vote share for the UK’s Reform party’s net-zero scepticism. Being against climate change seems to be a real vote winner, especially among working class voters who have been bitten the hardest by the recent inflation crisis. If climate change isn’t politically motivating, how are we to motivate people to vote for ideas that could solve this problem?

In this interview with the IPCC vice chair professor Diana Urge-Vorsatz, she charts a positive story of climate change from the current state of the field, to why technology will be incapable of solving this crisis, to the small social changes that could both improve our lives and incidentally tackle this global crisis.

Harry Carlisle: While it would be great to focus primarily on the positive story, it would be remiss to not cover the prevailing anxiety around the field of climate science. Are you hopeful for our climate future and where does your hope come from?