Optimism and Inspiration Ahead of Brazil’s Crucial Climate Summit

Summary

Podcast Summary

Amanpour – “Optimism and Inspiration Ahead of Brazil’s Crucial Climate Summit”

Host: Christiane Amanpour (CNN Chief International Correspondent)
Date: November 8, 2025
Location: Rio de Janeiro & London
Episode Theme: Powerful optimism, global leadership, and inspirational actions in the face of climate crisis, ahead of Brazil’s landmark COP30 summit. Amanpour interviews Prince William (Earthshot Prize), Cristiana Figueres (Paris Accord architect), astronaut Eileen Collins, and revisits insights from Al Gore and David Attenborough.

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Main Theme & Purpose

This special episode examines the urgent climate crossroads the world faces as Brazil hosts COP30, highlighting stories of solution-driven optimism and leadership. Through in-depth discussions with Prince William, climate negotiator Cristiana Figueres, and astronaut Eileen Collins, the program explores how grassroots innovation, community, compelling storytelling, and precedent-setting actions can drive change, counter pessimism, and inspire the next generation. Archival reflections from Al Gore and David Attenborough provide historical and planetary perspectives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Stakes of COP30 & Brazil’s Role (01:13–02:10)

• COP30 arrives in Brazil amidst warnings that the 1.5°C climate goal is slipping away, but with breakthrough news: renewables overtaking coal for the first time (02:10).
• Brazil, as the host, embraces its Amazonian and environmental leadership mantle.

2. The Earthshot Prize: Optimism, Community & Action – Prince William Interview

Segment: 02:10–14:58

Overview of Earthshot

• Earthshot Prize Origins: Launched by Prince William to catalyze innovations within five urgent climate areas: nature protection, clean air, revived oceans, a waste-free world, and climate repair.
• 10-year Vision: Midway through, 75 solutions have emerged, with prizes enabling vital scale (03:04).

Progress & Achievements (03:29–05:05)

• Prince William: “Optimism was the key word... urgency and optimism equal action... they’re the brains and the fantastic people who are going to do what we need to do... transformational impact truly phenomenal... but we are only halfway...” (03:29–05:05)
• The Earthshot community has forged networks and “risen to the challenge.”

The Power of Community

• The Prize serves as a “glue” for innovators, providing mentorship, resources, networking.
  “This space needed somewhere to come together... Earthshot provides that family.” (05:21–06:03, Prince William)

Motivation & Family Influence

• Prince William draws inspiration from both parents: Princess Diana’s humanitarianism and King Charles’s foresight on conservation.
  • “Whenever I'm doing stuff, I'm constantly analyzing where best can I use my platform for the greatest impact... positivity brings out the best in them.” (06:45–07:22, Prince William)

Storytelling, Young People, and Realistic Hope

• Amanpour: “What do you tell your children about climate and planet care?” (07:22)
• Prince William: “The next generation [must] believe there is hope... This is a rallying call... They’re creating jobs, making our lives better and healthier.” (07:54–08:51)

On Climate Anxiety, Mental Health, and Youth Voices (09:47–11:56)

• Young people are worried about the future, experiencing “climate anxiety.”
  • “The younger generations need to be heard more... not to be a box ticked... We have to find a way for these brilliant people who are going to ultimately save us and the planet to be heard more.” (10:45–11:56, Prince William)

Leadership, Change, and Legacy (11:56–13:45)

• Royalty and public spotlight as opportunity for positive change.
  • “Change is on my agenda. Change for the good... I want to surround myself with people who want to make change and do good in the world.” (12:53–13:12, Prince William)
• On legacy: “Knowing the planet’s going to be in a healthier, better state because of the brilliant people in this room is something I love to tell my children when they go to bed.” (13:18–13:45, Prince William)

Choosing Brazil for Earthshot

• Brazil’s Amazon, COP30 hosting, and grassroots/local enthusiasm make it ideal for the Prize.
  • “You couldn't find a better place in Latin America... They really deeply care about the environment down here.” (14:08–14:58, Prince William)

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3. Progress & Realism in Climate Negotiations – Cristiana Figueres Interview

Segment: 15:46–22:22

Green Shoots Since Paris (16:59–17:28)

• Electric vehicles, renewables, investment, solar growth all accelerating.
  • “Solar has been deployed 15 times faster than we ever expected 10 years ago. There are many proof points that there's a new economy rising.” (16:59–17:28, Cristiana Figueres)

US–China Rivalry, Political Pushbacks (17:28–18:54)

• Trump’s reversion to fossil fuels driven by donor interests; US risks losing ground in the green tech race to China.
  • “It’s not just his ideology, he’s financially beholden [to fossil fuels]... his pullout is capping the US’s competitiveness, opening the lead for China.” (17:55–18:54, Cristiana Figueres)

Bill Gates’s ‘Binary’ Framing Critiqued (18:54–20:24)

• Gates’s recent memo suggested prosperity over emissions targets; Figueres says tackling climate must go hand-in-hand with health and poverty work.
  • “[Gates] thinks in binary terms... the real world is interconnected. No use exclusively dealing with health and poverty if we don’t also protect people from climate change.” (19:33–20:24, Cristiana Figueres)

Dealing with Climate Despair (20:24–21:40)

• Recognizing the pain and urgency while committing to maximum effort.
  • “Science is screaming... we are seeing an exponential curve of damage... This generation that is sitting now at the decision table has the opportunity, hence the responsibility, to turn this around.” (20:40–21:40, Cristiana Figueres)

COP30: Milestone, Not Destination (21:47–22:18)

• “COP30 is very important, and we will have COP31. And we are not going to give up until we actually address climate change.” (21:47–22:18, Cristiana Figueres)

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4. Inspiration and Barriers Broken in Space – Eileen Collins Interview

Segment: 22:37–30:34

Breaking NASA’s Glass Ceiling

• First woman space shuttle pilot (1995) and commander (1999), Collins discusses pressure as a pioneer.
  • “I did not want to make a mistake because I didn’t want people to say, ‘Oh, look, the woman made a mistake’... setting a precedent for how people would perceive women in the future.” (25:34–26:14, Eileen Collins)
• Drive to be “the hero that saved the spacecraft” (24:12–26:14).

International Cooperation on Mir & ISS (28:10–29:33)

• Russia-US teamwork as proof of humanity’s resilience and similarity, even when national leadership is at odds.
  • “What I’ve learned is that they’re just like us... leadership doesn’t always reflect what the people are... but we’re still working together in space.” (28:25–29:33, Eileen Collins)

On Setting Gender Standards in the Military

• Push for equality in training standards.
  • “I know the women can. As long as we’re in good shape, we can do the male standard... We need to educate our leaders.” (29:55–30:34, Eileen Collins)

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5. Lessons from the Past: The 1992 Earth Summit with Al Gore

Segment: 31:35–34:35

• Global gatherings as psychological breakthroughs shaping new ways of thinking.
  • “The Earth Summit is already a success simply because every nation in the world is gathered... But treaties have been watered down... Principal achievements will be psychological.” (31:35–32:33, Al Gore)
• US risks future competitiveness by lagging in eco-tech.
  • “Why are the Japanese and Germans saying [green tech] is the biggest market?... We need to move forward... Millions of American jobs are at stake.” (33:41–34:35, Al Gore)

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6. Planetary Perspective and Hope – David Attenborough

Segment: 36:00–37:47

• Solar potential: “If we could tap 1/5000th of the sun’s energy, we would provide all the power requirements for the whole of humanity.” (36:00–36:12, David Attenborough)
• On extinction: “More and more species are on the brink... their numbers are reduced... but species are being dragged back from the verge... there are people caring about these things.” (36:55–37:47, David Attenborough)
• Closing with hope and illustration of ongoing progress in conservation.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Prince William on Earthshot’s mission:
  “Optimism was the key word we always wanted to use... urgency and optimism equal action.” (03:29–04:19)

• On climate anxiety and youth:
  “We have to find ways for these brilliant people who are going to ultimately save us... to be heard more.” (10:45–11:56, Prince William)

• Cristiana Figueres on progress since Paris:
  “There are many proof points that there’s a new economy rising.” (16:59–17:28)

• Al Gore on the ‘psychological’ breakthrough of summits:
  “The principal achievements here will be mainly psychological in that a new way of thinking will come out of this conference.” (32:10–32:33)

• David Attenborough on potential and hope:
  “If the American nation can put a man on the moon in 10 years... surely the scientists of the world should be able to solve [solar energy] within 10 years.” (36:12–36:36)

• Eileen Collins on breaking barriers:
  “I did not want to make a mistake because I didn’t want people to say, ‘Oh, look, the woman made a mistake.’” (25:34–26:14)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:07 – 02:10 — Introduction, Brazil’s COP & context
• 02:10 – 14:58 — Prince William: Earthshot Prize, optimism, community, family, and hope
• 15:46 – 22:22 — Cristiana Figueres: Climate progress, COP’s real work, political setbacks, binary thinking, and motivation
• 22:37 – 30:34 — Eileen Collins: Space trailblazing, gender barriers, cooperation above geopolitics
• 31:35 – 34:35 — Al Gore: Historical summit, US lag in eco-tech, psychological wins
• 36:00 – 37:47 — David Attenborough: Solar power, species hope, planetary view

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Tone & Final Thoughts

The episode balances the gravity of climate threats with persistent, grounded optimism. Amanpour’s conversations highlight realism, legacy, and leadership, amplified by quotes and stories from global icons. While world leaders debate and delay, solutions and hope spring from everyday people—from innovators, astronauts, conservationists, and youth. “Optimism and action” emerges as the spirit of COP30, against the backdrop of Brazil’s vibrant commitment, and extends an invitation to listeners: hope is rational, action is possible.

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For those who haven’t listened, this episode serves as both a window on global climate crossroads and a wellspring of inspiration—proof that, though urgent work lies ahead, individual and collective actions are transforming possibility into progress.

Transcript

[Christiane Amanpour]

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Amanpour Hour from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Here's what's coming up in this special.

[Prince William]

Program for my children. Particularly knowing that the planet's going to be in a healthier, better state because of the brilliant people in this room is something that I love to tell them.

[Christiane Amanpour]

My conversation with Britain's Prince William as he hosts his annual Earthshock Prize. We talk climate solutions and the evolution of the monarchy. And as the COP30 summit takes shape, some words of wisdom from Cristiana Figueres, architect of the landmark Paris Climate Accords.

[Cristiana Figueres]

We are not going to give up until we actually address climate change.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Then from Earthshot to Moonshot, we go back to London with a dose of inspiration for all those with impossible dreams. My conversation with NASA's first female shuttle pilot and commander, the extraordinary Eileen Collins.

[Eileen Collins]

I did not want to make a mistake because I didn't want people to say, oh, look, the woman made a mistake. I was the first. And I was setting a precedent for how people would perceive women in the.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Future and the long road to wrestling with our climate crisis. I was here in Rio in 1992 at the start of these efforts. From my archives, a passionate senator called Al Gore, soon to be Vice president and already making the case for Americans to lead on climate. Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiana Manpour in Rio de Janeiro on the iconic Copacabana beach, you can see the Sugarloaf Mountain behind me. This year, Brazil hosts the COP Festival Climate Summit and already we're hearing that the stakes are even higher than they've ever been. The UN Secretary General is warning that the goal of keeping temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees has already been missed. Although this year there was a breakthrough. For the first time ever, renewables overtook coal as the leading source of energy. My first guest today is trying to keep optimism and action on the table. Prince William, the next King of England, launched his earthshot Prize five years ago. He's brought this one to Brazil as an opening act for world leaders coming to make their pledges or not at cop. Earthshot is based around 5 to protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste free world, and finally fix our climate. It is ambitious, but it's scaling up by rewarding grassroots innovation. I spoke to Prince William about this prize, which also motivates by awarding winners 1 million British pounds in order to scale up and really put into action their innovations. Well, I mean, this has been very inspiring. A lot of incredible finalists, a lot of Optimism and action and really hope you've been in the five years. This is a ten year period action project. I mean, I think you've sorted through thousands and thousands of finalists, you've got hundreds of partners and apparently 75 actual solutions. What have these tangible efforts done and are you satisfied with the progress so far?

[Prince William]

Midway Christian I think it's days like today that there's a chance for a bit of reflection as to. I can't quite believe we are the halfway mark of the ten year plan of a decade of change the Earthshot was there for. I'm so pleased and impressed by what the Earthshot's achieved, but most of all by the finalists, the winners and all the Earthshot community that are out here. They've risen to the challenge, they've managed to do everything that we've asked of them, they've managed to go and secure their deals, they managed to scale their products, they've managed to build networks between each other and people they've never seen before. And, and I think we've challenged them at every turn to be bolder, be better, be ambitious. Reach for the stars. The Earthshot's job around that is to really be the glue that holds it all together. And I think when we first started talking about this as a concept, optimism was the key word we always wanted to use because as you saw on the screen here, urgency and optimism equal action. And there was an awful lot of pessimism going around and I think you can feel today that the positivity and the sort of feeling of hope and we can do this from every single person. I mean, they're the brains and they're the fantastic people who are going to do what we need to do and they're going to bring the planet into a better, healthier state than it's ever been before. So, you know, the transformational impact that these guys have had has been truly phenomenal. But we are only halfway and we've got another five years to go.

[Christiane Amanpour]

You've touched on not just the optimism and the impact, but also essentially the community. It is a community that believes in the same thing and is motivated. I know you believe in the power of community. Tell me a little bit more about that, not just for Earthshot, but in general.

[Prince William]

Yeah, I think this space needed somewhere to come together. It was very fragmented and I think for those who want to do good and those who feel they can, and as most of the solutions are highly commercial, this is not a philanthropic activity. You need to find that space, that community where everyone can feel that they've got the space to grow, they've got the support and they've got the direction. Many of these guys and girls, they got incredible solutions, but might need a little bit of help over here, they might need a bit of mentoring over here, they might need an introduction over here. The Earthshot provides that family to. To allow them to go on and be the best they can be.

[Christiane Amanpour]

I'm interested in the inspiration and the motivation behind you taking on this mission. Essentially, it is a mission. Today there was an amazing picture that's gone viral all over the UK of you standing at the statue of Christ the Redeemer. And they compare it to your mother standing there back in 1991, I want to think it was that year. And she, of course, was prominent basically in humanitarian activities and mine clearing. But your father also was prominent and some would say, many would say, ahead of the curve on climate, environmental conservation. Did he motivate you, inspire you? Because it's interesting to know how you got to this point.

[Prince William]

I think it's a combination of all of that. I'm very lucky to be in this position and use my platform for good. And whenever I'm doing stuff, I'm constantly analyzing where best can I use my platform for. For the greatest impact. And talking about the Earthshot was always an idea that positivity and a positive message to anyone brings out the best in them. There's a lot of negativity, a lot of telling people off, don't do this, don't do that. It doesn't work. And as you can see, you give the right people the right tools and resources, they flourish and the impact they can have is truly phenomenal.

[Christiane Amanpour]

What about storytelling? One thing I, as a journalist see is that many powerful leaders, both political and in fact industry leaders, tend to roll back climate progress, tend to demonize it, weaponize it, let's say. Obviously they have a vested interest. But do you think there's a dearth of this kind of storytelling that we've heard today, these kinds of positive reinforcements? And I wonder what your view is on that and what you tell your own young children about climate and planet care?

[Prince William]

I think exactly on that last point, Christian, it's really important that next generation believe there is change coming and there is hope that things can change and get better. I've always believed in that positivity and that positive message, but I think I'm inspired by these guys. That's what gets me up in the morning when I think about Earthshot. That's what's given me the motivation and the energy to keep going. And the community that's come around them has been truly phenomenal. I'd like it to be bigger. And at many points, this is a rallying call for those businesses and those people who out there who may not have had contact with the Earthshot Prize before may be interested. They need to come and meet these people because once you've met them and you heard them, you realize this is not anything that you know, it's not philanthropic. It's not a nice thing to have. They're commercial products that are going to make life better, they're going to create jobs, they're going to do incredible things for the planet, and they're going to make our lives better and healthier.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Of course, Prince William is here at a time of upheaval, back home at the Royal House of Windsor with his Uncle Andrew now firmly banished. We'll have more of my conversation after a break.

[Cristiana Figueres]

This week on the Assignment with Me, Audie Cornish.

[Eileen Collins]

First question comes from Rachel. I'm wondering why Love Is Blind only casts conventionally attractive people. Considering the show's hypothesis, that's true.

[Christiane Amanpour]

No lies detected.

[Eileen Collins]

I remember this being like a huge point of conversation during the first season.

[Christiane Amanpour]

What works and what doesn't about reality dating shows in general, how they've changed.

[Cristiana Figueres]

Over the years and how we treat the people who go on them, what.

[Eileen Collins]

It says about us as viewers.

[Cristiana Figueres]

Listen to the Assignment with Me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast, Apple.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Welcome back to Rio for more of my conversation with Prince William, who says that he wants his young children to grow up in a world where we all do better on climate and on all sorts of things like accountability, even all the way to the very top. Here's more of our conversation. You and the Princess of Wales are also very you have another big project which is mental health. And I ask this in view of the children, your children, the world's children who are forced to watch on their iPhones, wars, wildfires, destruction, all sorts of really difficult things that has affected them a lot. We even hear about children because of the climate disaster, not wanting to grow up and get married and having a family of their own. What do you think about trying to mitigate that fear for them? Is it something like the Earthshot? Is it the hope that you can tangibly show people the action?

[Prince William]

Definitely. Again, I think a world without hope and a world without positivity is a pretty depressing place. And I think it's really important that we produce solutions. We don't just talk about things the whole time. We're actually producing solutions. And these finalists, these winners, are producing solutions that we all need to see and hear. And climate anxiety is a real thing. I hear about it wherever I go now. Lots of younger generation are saying, what kind of a planet are we going to inherit? And I think that that message needs to go wider and louder, and the younger generations need to be heard more. I mean, I had a fantastic session with the youth of all parts of the world dealing in the environment. And their message was very strong, which is that, please let our voices be heard more. And we don't want to be a box ticked. We want to be actually heard and hear and seen and listened to. And again, that inspires me. But I've got to find out ways to help them be seen and heard more, because there's a lot of noise out there, as you hinted at. And we have to find ways for these brilliant people who are going to ultimately save us and the planet to restore and protect ourselves. We have to find a way to allow them to be heard more.

[Christiane Amanpour]

So you know that you're somebody that people all over the world look to, they follow your every action, every word, including some of the stuff you've been doing recently, publicly. I've watched with great interest the encounter you had with the great writer and producer Eugene Levy. And you talked about a lot of things, and it looked to me like you were humanizing the monarchy. And it was very interesting to hear where you focused. But something that drew a lot of interest was when you said to Eugene, I think it's safe to say that change is on my agenda. Change for the good. I embrace that and I enjoy that. Change, I don't feel. And you went on to say, you know, I want to make sure that this is a job that impacts people's lives for the better. I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do. And, you know, given the fact that, you know, there's been a lot of change in your own family recently, and you yourself have talked about this change, just talk about that a little bit. Where do you see the change? What do you think needs to happen?

[Prince William]

I think the Earthshot Prize is a classic example of change. Rather than talk about it, we're doing it. And that's where I want it to be, is that these people in here are the true action heroes of our time. And change will come by backing them, not by what I do. And so I want to surround myself with people who want to make Change and do good in the world.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Is that what you meant when you told Eugene that you want your son to be proud of that kind of change?

[Prince William]

Yeah, I think it's really important. Again, you have to provide a leadership and a. And a vision that there's good things to come and that it's not all negative. And for my children, particularly, knowing that the planet's going to be in a healthier, better state because of the brilliant people in this room is something that I love to tell them when they go to bed. It's going to be great. Your future is going to be as bright as future's gone by. And that's a really important message for all of us to hear.

[Christiane Amanpour]

So we heard from the mayor of who gave you the keys to the city, Mayor Pais. We heard from the environmental minister, we've heard from the indigenous community. And you're going to Belem to give the COP speech on behalf of His Majesty the King. What do you think is special and why did you choose Brazil and this city particularly for the Earthshot Prize this year?

[Prince William]

Well, the mayor will kill me unless I do a big piece for Brazil here. But obviously Brazil, I mean, it's incredible. We've all seen it here. The natural beauty, the charm, the people, the environmental leadership that Brazil have produced is incredible. And you couldn't find a better place in Latin America to come to than Brazil for Earthshot. And obviously them hosting COP30 is a big deal in Belem, in the mouth of the Amazon. I think we felt very strongly that there was no other, better contender to host the Earthshot Prize. To give that platform and to give that mouthpiece. You heard from some of the indigenous leaders, you heard from the government. They really deeply care about the environment down here. And again, if we give them the tools and resources to impact that change, then Brazil and the world will be a better place.

[Christiane Amanpour]

On that note, thank you so much. Your royal hand is Prince William. Coming up, the UN's former climate negotiator, Cristiano Figueres, who brought us the Paris climate accord in 2015. On the tricky business of getting anything done when the whole world is at the table.

[Al Gore]

Hey, fans, it's the King of Christmas.

[Christiane Amanpour]

If you're suffering from ornament overload, it's a little messy in here.

[Al Gore]

If you have blow molds on the brain.

[Cristiana Figueres]

What I need in my life right there.

[Al Gore]

You might just be a holiday hoarder.

[Cristiana Figueres]

I'm a collector.

[Al Gore]

We'll use the C word instead.

[Prince William]

If it's kind of ugly, why don't.

[Al Gore]

We get rid of it? Would you get rid of an ugly.

[Cristiana Figueres]

Shirt, child, I knew you were crazy about Christmas.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Not this crazy.

[Al Gore]

Courting for the Holidays Special Series Tuesday.

[Christiane Amanpour]

November 11th at 9 on HGTV. Welcome back. If the Earthshot Prize was a vision of grassroots activity, well, then the real and often limited business of saving our planet falls to world leaders. They have gathered here in Belem, known as the gateway to the Amazon, to barter and trade and argue as they hammer out any progress in the fight against the existential threat of climate change. Someone who's run this gauntlet before is Cristiana Figueres, who guided the passage of the truly historic Paris Climate accords back in 2015. And she told me what she thinks lies ahead this time. Cristiana Figueres, welcome back to our program. So you are the most relentlessly optimistic person that I've ever encountered.

[Cristiana Figueres]

I am so sorry about that.

[Christiane Amanpour]

I'm so happy.

[Cristiana Figueres]

But actually, I'm very happy.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Good. I'm glad you still are because everybody's doom and gloom. I mean, here we are COP and the Earthshot Prize as a prelude to cop, which is all about grassroots and innovation and people and they getting rewarded. Is that a source of optimism? Are there real green shoots that are coming up?

[Cristiana Figueres]

There are. Compared to where we were in Paris when you and I were together ten years ago, one in every hundred vehicles that were being sold was electric. Now we have one in five. We have two times as much investment into renewable energy as we do into fossil fuels. Solar has been deployed 15 times faster than we ever expected 10 years ago. And on and on and on. There are many proof points that there's a new economy rising.

[Christiane Amanpour]

So Donald Trump famously at the UNGA in September, essentially castigated all the nations doing green economy and green technology, called them failures, said that it was all a hoax, it wouldn't work, and this and that.

[Cristiana Figueres]

He doesn't get it.

[Christiane Amanpour]

And he's a deal maker. Why does he not get that this is good for the economy? And the second question related to that is who's benefiting the most? Is it China? Who's doing better than the U.S. while the U.S. rolls back all the time?

[Cristiana Figueres]

Well, in the U.S. who's benefiting, of course, is the fossil fuel industry. He's going to wing it because he's beholden for the fossil fuel industry. As we remember, they put quite a bit of capital into his campaign. And so it's not just his ideology, it's actually that he is financially beholden to them. And that he is scared that if we continue to transform the economy toward the electro tech and clean technologies, that there will be less and less a market for export of oil and gas from the United States states. So that we, we understand. It's very sad because his pullout is definitely capping the possibility of US Industry to participate in a very competitive new economy and opening the chance for China, as you say, to come in and continue to take the lead. This is not the first time that they're taking the lead. They have been taking the lead for many years, but now the playground is wide open.

[Christiane Amanpour]

What happens when it's not just a President Trump? What happens when a Bill Gates starts to roll back? When he, who's been at the forefront of not just health solutions around the world, but about, you know, about climate. He's just written a very much, you know, discussed memo that was released saying that climate change is a serious problem but will not end civilization. Temperature is not the best way, he says, to measure our progress on climate change. Health and prosperity are the best defenses against climate change. She also wrote cop 30 is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change that is improving lives. And you responded?

[Cristiana Figueres]

I responded. It's very understandable that Bill Gates, who is a friend, thinks in binary terms because all of the computing world is based on binary things, thinking ones and zeros. However, the real world is not binary. The real world is actually interconnected. And so there is no use in us exclusively dealing with health, with poverty if we don't also protect people against the ravages of climate change. And sadly for him, he published this memo exactly in the time in which Melissa hit Jamaica. And so the question, you know, is, let's ask the Jamaicans whether even if they had had perfect health and perfect quality of life, would that have protected them against Melissa? The answer is no. You have to do both.

[Christiane Amanpour]

And then for people, when they think about this, so many people are really depressed about the climate, about this existential crisis. I think you've talked about, you know, how you balance pain and anger, you know, optimism and outrage. How do we deal with it?

[Cristiana Figueres]

What we cannot do is turn our back to reality. Science is screaming from the rooftops about the fact that there is an exponential curve of damage that we're now seeing that could not have been foreseen 10 years ago. So first we have to face that which is the reality that we are in and be courageous enough to say that is the reality. But then the question is, what do we do about that, I think the only responsible choice is to say, therefore I am now going to give it absolutely my maximum. That is the only choice that I think is responsible for all of us who are here at this critical point, Christiane, because two generations from now, or even one, they will not have the opportunity to turn this around. It will be too late. This generation that is sitting now at the decision table, this is the generation that has the opportunity, hence the responsibility to turn this around.

[Christiane Amanpour]

And finally, you have labeled COP30 as a milestone, not a destination. What does that mean?

[Cristiana Figueres]

Actually, it's not different from any other cop. I think. We unfortunately think that every cop is the final destination and anything that doesn't happen there is not going to happen. The fact is we have annual COPs and it was designed to build that every COP can take the results of the previous COP and put another brick in the efforts. So, yes, COP 30 is very important and we will have COP 31. And we are not going to give up until we actually address climate change.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Certainly, as long as you're there, nobody's going to give up. Cristiano Figueres, thank you so much.

[Cristiana Figueres]

Thank you, Christian.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Coming up, we go back to London for a completely different perspective of our fragile planet. The first woman to pilot and command a NASA spacecraft talks to me about her incredible journey to the stars and back.

[Eileen Collins]

I wanted to be the hero that saved the spacecraft. Hey there, it's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Some exciting news to share. CNN is now streaming. That means you can read, watch and.

[Prince William]

Stream everything in one subscription.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Just go to CNN.com AllAccess welcome back to us here in London because we recorded some of this show before I left for Brazil. Now we have spent much of the program focusing on what can be done to save our planet and to preserve life on Earth as we know it. Perhaps some of the ordinary mortals who get a truly heavenly appreciation for our plan are the astronauts who fly way above and each and every time come back with a whole new perspective on our fragile Earth. I've been talking to one of those trailblazers, Eileen Collins, who rocketed through the glass ceiling when she became NASA's first female pilot in 1995, and then the first female space shuttle commander. Now a film space Woman is capturing her extraordinary journey. And Eileen Collins joined me here in London for a trip to down memory Lane. Commander Collins, welcome to the program. You're the first woman to pilot a space shuttle back in 1995, the first woman to command a space shuttle mission back in 1999. But I want to watch this clip about the pre launch. We're going to play that and talk about what it was like getting ready.

[Eileen Collins]

Looking at the shuttle at night. It's just overwhelming, brilliant light. It's one of the most incredible things that I've ever seen. And I'm thinking, I'm gonna launch on that thing. Okay.

[Christiane Amanpour]

I'm watching you mesmerized, looking at that experience from all those years ago. Do you remember the emotions, your heart, you know, the adrenaline? How did you keep all of that in check?

[Eileen Collins]

I would say the first thing is the training. So it's very important that we are not distracted by our environment because we, as commander and pilot have to be ready to react to an emergency or something unusual that might happen if we had not trained for the loud noise, all the shaking, all the lights flashing in the window, the massive acceleration that your body is under, all kinds of things that you train for. So on launch day, I was actually very confident. I don't think I had fear. Going out to launch Focus is the big thing.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Yes. I was interested in part of the documentary. One of the scientists who went up with you, Mike. The British, Mike Folb, Mike Fowl. And he talks about how you were under essentially the microscope because you were the first woman pilot. It's a lot of pressure all the time up there.

[Eileen Collins]

I think there's a lot of pressure for all the pilots, men and women, but because I was the first woman, in fact, before I went up on my first flight, my friends who are women pilots, you know, military and civilian, they would say to me, eileen, go for it. Do it for us. Show them that the women can do it. They put more pressure on me than I would put on myself. I did not want to make a mistake because I didn't want people to say, oh, look, the woman made a mistake. I was the first. And I was setting a precedent for how people would perceive women in the future. And I'd be out there doing anything. I'd be running these malfunctions through my head and how I would handle them. I wanted to be the hero that saved the spacecraft. That was my motivation.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Well, and you certainly. And you certainly were the hero of all your missions. Let's just put this up here now, this phone call from President Bush. This is him in 2005, which I think was your last mission.

[Eileen Collins]

Yes, yes. Obviously, as you prepare to come back.

[Christiane Amanpour]

A lot of Americans will be praying.

[Al Gore]

For a safe return.

[David Attenborough]

So it's great talking to you.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Thanks for being such great examples of Courage for a lot of our fellow citizens. That must have been really gratifying. Especially since that was your final mission. And it came after a really tricky mission. Right when one of the. There was a Challenger disaster. Then there was one of your own missions where the foam tiles or something came. So tell me about those. Because, you know, public does focus on that. Yeah, yeah.

[Eileen Collins]

I say just in any old regular. I don't say regular, but a normal space shuttle flight, there's enough pressure on the crew. Ours was one step higher than that in that we had just had the accident and we had lost seven crew members in that accident. There was so much we had to do. And then we switched into the return to flight period, which meant there were many technical problems that had to be fixed to ensure that we didn't have that same thing that caused the accident happen to us. Well, we thought we had fixed everything in that two and a half years. Well, we didn't. There was something we missed.

[Al Gore]

We had some repair techniques that were not well proven. What we didn't know was whether the shuttle was capable of safe re entry, whether we could bring the crew back on Discovery or not. They were stuck in space until we could prove the heat shield was not damaged.

[Christiane Amanpour]

One of the things that I thought was just so beautifully demonstrated in the film, and you must have just loved it when it was happening, was in the mid-90s, your first missions when you joined up with the space station Mir that the Russians were on.

[Eileen Collins]

I want to say that Mir is very beautiful and it was very shiny and we were very happy to meet you in the sky.

[Christiane Amanpour]

And now there's no corporation on the Earth, just about. So maybe it still exists in space. But what was it like for you?

[Eileen Collins]

I've been twice to Russia to train. And what I've learned is that they're just like us. They're humans. Yes, the culture is different, but the human nature of people, we have so many similarities, more than we have differences. So I became friends with many of the cosmonauts. You know, the men and the women, of course. I once flew with a woman cosmonaut and we became friends. And then you can see how quickly that can be lost when the leadership, you know, you can see the leadership of the country doesn't always reflect what the people are or what the people. I mean, it varies. But after Russia invaded Ukraine, we talked about, should we separate the space station, the Russian component, from the US as well as the European and the Japanese component. Well, you can't do that. There's no technical way to do that. So we're still working with the Russians now, and believe it or not, we're working well. So we're still, we're moving along now. And, you know, we don't really like talk about the war that much, but we're all aware of what's happening and we just hope that it is over and a peaceful solution as quickly as possible.

[Christiane Amanpour]

So I wonder what you think about the current Secretary of Defense who's decided to call himself, I think, Secretary of War. They've decided to call just unilaterally, the Pentagon, the Department of War or whatever it is. But he called all these generals and commanders and admirals to D.C. recently, spoke about returning to a male standard in combat jobs. Your reaction?

[Eileen Collins]

So when I went through basic training, it was a different standard for the women. Now, that was 1976. So the men had to run a mile and a half in 12 minutes or less. The women only had to do a one and a half continuous run, and no one cared about the time. And I said, that's not right. I said, why can't I go? I know the women can. I know that we, as long as we're in good shape, can do the male standard. So I ran with the guys, and myself and one other woman were the only two that ran with the guys. And, you know, I mean, we couldn't beat the best guy in the group, but we were still able to make the standard. So I think part of it is we need to educate our leaders as to what we're capable of doing.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Commander Eileen Collins, thank you very much.

[Eileen Collins]

Thanks.

[Christiane Amanpour]

And the documentary is really great. Spacewoman is out now. Coming up after a break. If past is prologue, what can the last time Brazil hosted a crucial climate summ summit tell us about what may happen as leaders meet there again. Welcome back. It has been a long road to Cop 30, and it remains to be seen if the summit will be a success or will the climate can get kicked down the road again. Host nation Brazil proudly shoulders its responsibilities. In 1992, the Landmark Earth Summit was held there where the term sustainable development was defined and the UN Climate goals came into being. I was there in Rio de Janeiro, and I spoke to a passionate environmentalist, also a US Senator aspiring to higher office, about what he hoped the Rio Summit could achieve.

[Al Gore]

Well, I think the Earth Summit is already a success simply because every nation in the world is gathered in the same place at the same time to focus intensely on this most important issue. But the world also has an opportunity to use this Success to speed up progress in making changes. And that's not going so well because the treaties have been watered down. Some of them are only going to be signed by some countries. And consequently, the principal achievements here will be mainly psychological in that a new way of thinking will come out of this conference. Our long range best interest lies in providing leadership for the world, especially at a meeting like this one. The first time in history every nation in the world came together at the same place and the same time.

[Christiane Amanpour]

What do you think the practical implications will be of the US Watering down or not signing these treaties? I mean, how will it affect the US After Rio, for instance?

[Al Gore]

I believe, and many others do, that the task of saving the Earth's environment will become the central organizing principle of the post Cold War world, especially after the Earth Summit. I believe deeply that the United States must be in a leadership position in this post Cold War era. And all of this mishandling of our country's relationship to the rest of the world here at the Earth Summit by the White House with its divisions, all of that has hurt our country's ability to be a leader on these important issues. And we should be. We have the record as a country to do it. If we just stop backtracking on environmental.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Protection and on the, on the economic level, do you think the United States stands to lose out in the next big business boom, the ecologically sound technology, for instance?

[Al Gore]

Well, as Americans, I always say we should ask ourselves, why is it that the Japanese business community is now saying this is the biggest new market in the history of world business? Why are the Germans saying that? Why are we instead trying to hold on to old polluting ways of the past? Just because a few powerful industries are saying we don't want to change that doesn't help them to give them what they think they want at the expense of the rest of the country. We need to move forward into the future toward efficiency and ecologically sound methods of production because they're economically advantageous as well as enabling us to protect the environment. Millions of American jobs are at stake.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Al Gore has walked that walk ever since as one of the world's most prominent climate ambassadors. Now, when we come back, you'll see me back in Brazil for a final thought and a little hope from Sir David attended and a final thought from here in Brazil. While world leaders and the worst emitters of global greenhouse gases must do the work of committing to actually combating climate change once and for all, it is important not to give up hope. Because as we've seen throughout these programs there is an enormous amount of people who have done their work and walked the walk to make the impossible happen. We've seen Prince William and his Earthshot Prize winners designing extraordinary solutions. We've seen the astronaut Eileen Collins who overcame prejudice to achieve her dreams and see for herself from space the fragility of our Earth. To Cristiana Figueres who persuaded 195 nations to reach consensus almost 10 years ago at the Paris Climate Summit. And it was there that I sat down with the world renowned David Attenborough, who himself has done more than any single individual to tell the story of our natural world and to endear us to all its creatures. Here's what he told me back then.

[David Attenborough]

1 5000th part of the energy of the sun that goes on this planet every day. If we could tap the that, we would provide all the power requirements for the whole of humanity. Think of that.

[Christiane Amanpour]

That is remarkable. The question is, why hasn't that happened?

[David Attenborough]

Why hasn't it happened? Simply because, well, we didn't have the technology. Mustn't minimize this. It's not easy, but it can be done. And if your nation, well, if the American nation can put a man on the moon in 10 years, surely to goodness the scientists of the world working to a coordinated plan to see where the problems are, should be able to solve those within 10 years.

[Christiane Amanpour]

You've been going around the world for the last at least 60 years showing us our planet, the animals, the seas, the skies, the mountains, North, South Pole, wherever you look. You've been there over the 60 years that you've been doing this and observing the species, observing the animals. Do you feel they're more stressed?

[David Attenborough]

Oh yes, animals are. I mean species. More and more species are on the brink of extinction, there's no doubt about that. Their numbers are reduced. I have to say that there is no major species that has become extinct in my lifetime, which is something. And humanity is coming to its senses and there are people who are caring about these things. And species are being dragged back from the verge of extinction. There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla isn't any other animal.

[Christiane Amanpour]

I know.

[David Attenborough]

I was with mountain gorillas when they were reduced to less than three figures and they're more now than they were then.

[Christiane Amanpour]

So that's great news.

[David Attenborough]

Yes, really.

[Christiane Amanpour]

And at 99 years old, sir David Attenborough has made another announcement that this weekend his new wildlife program called Kingdom Hits Britain ahead of a US release next year. Now that is love. And it is also commitment. And that is all that we have time for for this program from Rio, from the Copacabana Beach. But as you know, you can see us all over on our podcast, on social media, Wherever you look, CNN.com audio and as I say, on our social media. And we'll be back with you from somewhere else next week for another edition of the amanpour hour.

[Eileen Collins]

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast.

[Cristiana Figueres]

We feel almost a responsibility because we're.

[Eileen Collins]

With you all the time. That's Dr. Sumbal Desai. She is Apple's VP of Health. I want to make sure we're scientifically grounded in the work we do so.

[Christiane Amanpour]

That consumers have confidence in the messages they're getting.

[Prince William]

For years, she's been thinking about how.

[Eileen Collins]

To bring medicine and wearable technology closer together. We have to hit a level of.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Accuracy that we feel really strongly about.

[Eileen Collins]

Listen to Chasing Life streaming now.

[Prince William]

Wherever you get your podcasts.