"We’re Not Ready": Inside the National Emergency Briefing on the Climate Shock Ahead

Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas and Climate Majority Project co-director Rupert Read join Nick Breeze to discuss their new report, Climate Popularism. As climate impacts intensify, why is opposition to climate action growing? And can a new approach focused on living costs, community resilience and democratic participation rebuild public support? We discuss the political backlash against net zero, practical climate solutions already transforming communities, the psychological effects of climate breakdown and how citizens' assemblies could help restore trust and agency. A wide-ranging conversation about moving beyond climate culture wars towards practical action that improves people's lives. Download the report: https://assets.climatemajorityproject.com/Climate%20popularism%20%7C%20Climate%20Majority%20Project.pdf GENN Podcast | Hosted by Nick Breeze

Climate change is increasingly being treated not simply as an environmental problem, but as an issue of national security, energy independence, industrial strategy and geopolitics. Fresh from UNGA and Climate Week NYC, climate security analyst Erin Sikorsky joins Nick Breeze to discuss what actually changed during the week. They examine new moves by the UK, EU and Kenya to put climate and ecosystem risks firmly on the security agenda, and why Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the war in Iran and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz have strengthened the strategic case for renewable energy and electrification. But electrification creates its own geopolitical dilemma. With China dominant across important parts of the clean-tech and battery supply chain, Sikorsky discusses how Western governments can reduce fossil-fuel dependency without simply creating a new strategic dependency on China. The conversation also explores climate liability and loss and damage, including Nepal's case and the increasingly difficult question of which countries should pay as the traditional distinction between developed and developing economies becomes harder to sustain. Then they turn to solar geoengineering. Sikorsky explains why SRM is beginning to move beyond its specialist scientific community and into climate-security discussions, and why misunderstanding, mistrust and geopolitical escalation may present risks every bit as important as the underlying technology. Finally, looking towards the developing El Niño, Sikorsky argues that governments have a window in which to prepare for a potentially extraordinary summer — and an opportunity to learn what a warmer future may increasingly look like.

A food crisis can become a security crisis. In the second part of my conversation with climate analyst David Spratt, we look at what happens when climate disruption, extreme heat, food insecurity and geopolitical tensions begin to interact. The Indo-Pacific is particularly vulnerable. Australia and its neighbours face increasing heat and dryness while the region is already shaped by political and security tensions. David explores how a food and heat crisis could potentially destabilise the wider region — and why governments need to prepare for these risks before they become emergencies. We discuss the need for stronger climate-security intelligence, food stockpiles, resilience, adaptation and disaster preparedness. David also examines the relationship between climate disruption, displacement and political instability, drawing on examples including Syria and the Arab Spring. The conversation also turns to Australia's contradictory climate policy, the vulnerability of Indonesia and the question of whether governments are responding adequately as extreme climate events repeatedly exceed expectations. David's central message is that climate impacts cannot be treated simply as isolated environmental events. They can interact with existing vulnerabilities, creating cascading consequences across food systems, societies and national security. In this episode: • How a food and heat crisis could become a security crisis • Why the Indo-Pacific is particularly vulnerable • Australia, China and a contested Pacific • The need for climate-security intelligence • Why governments need to prepare before crises arrive • Food insecurity, migration and political instability • Lessons from Syria and the Arab Spring • Indonesia's vulnerability to climate disruption • Australia's contradictory climate and energy policy • Why extreme climate events are repeatedly exceeding expectations • Resilience, adaptation and disaster preparedness • An El Niño with no historical analogue David Spratt is a climate analyst and researcher with the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group. This conversation explores a plausible risk scenario, not a prediction. Part 1: War, Fertiliser & El Niño: A Recipe for Food Crisis?

What happens when war, fertiliser shortages, extreme heat and El Niño collide? In this episode of ClimateGen, Nick Breeze speaks with climate analyst David Spratt about a potentially dangerous food-security crisis unfolding across the Indo-Pacific. David is the co-author of Recipe for Food Insecurity: War, Fertiliser and the El Niño, which examines what could happen when several systemic shocks occur at the same time: reduced fertiliser availability, lower crop plantings, extreme heat, drought and a powerful El Niño affecting some of the world's most important agricultural regions. Rice is at the centre of the concern. Much of Asia depends heavily on rice, while the international rice market is relatively small. A significant production shock could therefore have rapid consequences for prices and food availability. David draws a comparison with the wheat crisis of 2009–10, when simultaneous crop failures contributed to a dramatic rise in wheat prices in the Middle East and helped create conditions that fed into the Arab Spring. He is careful to stress that this is not a prediction, but a plausible scenario that governments should be preparing for. The conversation explores how food insecurity can interact with extreme heat, existing conflicts and political instability — and how a food and climate crisis could ultimately become a security crisis. We discuss: • Why El Niño could create exceptionally hot and dry conditions across Asia and Australia • The fertiliser crisis and why its effects could persist for years • Why rice is particularly vulnerable • The relationship between food prices, insecurity and social unrest • Lessons from the 2009–10 wheat crisis and the Arab Spring • How climate disruption can contribute to regional instability • Why governments need better climate-security intelligence and preparedness • The importance of resilience, adaptation and planning before crises arrive David Spratt is a climate analyst and researcher with the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group. This episode explores a plausible risk scenario — not a forecast.

In this Climate Genn episode, I speak with author Michael Dulaney about his new book, Sentinels: When Diseases Spread Between Animals and Humans. Michael takes us on a journey to meet the animals, citizens and scientists living and working under pressure, as unsustainable practices—such as industrial chicken and beef production—combine with ever more extreme weather events driven by climate change. As with so many climate and biodiversity topics, the embedded complexity, full of both beauty and tragedy, leaves us scrambling to make sense of the damage done—and the calamity we continue to bring on ourselves. #ClimateChange #Pandemics #BirdFlu #Zoonosis #IndustrialFarming #BiodiversityLoss #ClimateGenn #SentinelsBook #OneHealth #EcoAnxiety