Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast15 Touko 2025

The Spanish Grid Goes Down: Are renewables really to blame?

On April 28th, millions of people across Spain, Portugal and beyond were plunged into darkness in one of Europe’s most severe blackouts in decades. Was it a cyberattack? A renewables failure? Or might things be a little more complex?

This week, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres, and Paul Dickinson dig into what we know, what we don’t, and ask what this blackout really tells us about the transition to renewables. They speak with energy strategist Kingsmill Bond of Ember and hear an on-the-ground account from José Manuel Entrecanales, CEO of global renewables leader Acciona, to build a picture of how our grids function – and how they fail.

Plus: what can we say when friends or colleagues claim that ‘renewables aren’t reliable’? And, after our recent conversations reflecting on the legacy of Pope Francis, what might Pope Leo XIV mean for future climate leadership?

Learn more

🔌 Ember’s report, ‘Energy Security in an Insecure World’

🎧 Octopus CEO Greg Jackson interviewed on the Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View podcast

💡 Simon Evans’s analysis for Carbon Brief on the role of gas in electricity pricing

🌐 The IEA’s report, ‘Electricity Grids and Secure Energy Transitions’

🌳 ‘Pope Francis was a passionate climate advocate. Will Pope Leo XIV continue his legacy?’ in EuroNews

Instagram @outrageoptimism

LinkedIn @outrageoptimism

Or get in touch with us via this form.

Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks

Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan

Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford

Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas

This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(394)

You Are What You Eat: Soil, Seeds and Social Justice

What’s really in the food on our plates? The journey to our supermarket shelves is one of broken economics, environmental destruction, and social injustice.But what if agriculture could look completel...

21 Elo 202545min

Too Hot to Handle?: Facing a Future Beyond 1.5°C

As global temperatures continue to skyrocket, the once unthinkable is now within view: overshooting 1.5°C of warming. This limit, set out in the Paris Agreement, has defined a decade of climate action...

14 Elo 202554min

Mistakes, Mistruths and Misinformation: Climate's biggest myths debunked

Isn’t climate change just part of a natural cycle? Weren’t CO2 levels much higher in the past? And, even if we should be worried, can one person really make a difference?Lies travel faster than facts....

7 Elo 202552min

Trump’s War on Climate - and Maggie Baird on food justice and plant-based touring with Billie Eilish

As record heat scorches the US, Trump’s government is making things dramatically worse. We break down the devastating implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the reversal of the Environmental Prot...

31 Heinä 202556min

Breaking Planetary News: The ICJ Climate Opinion Explained

“An Existential Problem of Planetary Proportions”International Court of Justice President Yuji Iwasawa just delivered a landmark advisory opinion on climate change and human rights - one that could tr...

24 Heinä 202553min

Planes, Protests, Pensions... and have banks given up on saving the planet?

Can a pilot really be the change-maker who helps us to holiday nearer home? Why aren’t governments and institutions doing more to help climate activists? And can climate progress happen without sacrif...

17 Heinä 202558min

From Outrage to Action: Your Questions, Our Answers

We’re handing the mic over to you on this week’s Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast.In this special Q&A episode, Christiana Figueres, Paul Dickinson and guest host Fiona McRaith (Director of The ...

10 Heinä 202555min

The Climate Case of the Century: Inside the story of a youth-led legal movement

In a world-first, the International Court of Justice is preparing to deliver an advisory opinion on climate change and human rights - all thanks to a youth-led campaign that began thousands of miles f...

3 Heinä 202555min