Front Burner – How the World Abandoned Climate Politics

CBC | Host: Jamie Poisson | Guest: David Wallace-Wells
Original air date: September 30, 2025

Overview

In this episode, host Jamie Poisson sits down with David Wallace-Wells, journalist and author of The Uninhabitable Earth, to discuss the global retreat from climate politics. Using the Paris Agreement’s 10-year anniversary as a lens, they explore how world leaders went from framing climate action as humanity’s existential challenge to abandoning or sidestepping climate commitments. They consider why this shift happened, the role of economic interests, geopolitics, and the rise of China’s state-driven green technology sector. The episode looks at Canada’s recent policy reversals under Prime Minister Mark Carney, the implications for middle powers and the global south, and reflects on what gets lost as climate change is increasingly viewed through a narrow, economic lens.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Rise and Fall of Climate Politics

[02:23–04:45]

• The Paris Agreement (2015) was heralded as a groundbreaking success, aimed at limiting warming to “well below” 2°C, with ambitions for 1.5°C.
• The 2018 UN report exposed the stark difference between a 1.5°C and a 2°C world, driving a sense of urgent, existential threat.
• Despite initial momentum, average annual addition of new climate policies collapsed globally from 300+ per year (2019–2021) to about 50 in 2024.
• David Wallace-Wells concludes:

  “We are 10 years later... still kind of racing past the targets that we set... I think as a result, [we] have to judge that agreement as at least in some profound ways... a failure.” ([04:32])

Climate Activism’s Moment

[05:35–09:21]

• The late 2010s saw popular climate mobilization explode—youth-led protests, Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg’s rise.
• Crucially, global elites joined the chorus:

  “[T]he most powerful people seemed to be embracing that same protest energy... They themselves, when they got up and spoke... would often talk about it in explicitly existential terms.” ([07:33])

• Poisson emphasizes the era felt defined by "addressing climate change for the sake of our children and grandchildren."

Geopolitical Era of Climate Cooperation—Now Lost

[09:21–12:22]

• Pre-Brexit, pre-new Cold War, the Paris Agreement reflected an optimistic period of global cooperation—mutual obligation, eradication of poverty, economic development.
• The world now is marked by: war (Ukraine, Gaza, Sahel), rising hunger, collapsed progress on global development goals, and a “deranged” geopolitical landscape.
• Wallace-Wells laments:

  “That great optimism... now feels... like a relic of the past, which we’re not going to recover, really, anytime soon. Much to my own regret.” ([11:55])

Climate Lawfare: A False Hope?

[12:22–15:20]

• The recent International Court of Justice ruling that “climate harm violates international law” seems promising.
• Wallace-Wells is skeptical:

  “There will be outrage. There will be venues to express that outrage. But whether it matters... is an open question. And my inclination is... consequences will be very small.” ([13:25])

• Yet, green energy and decarbonization are rapidly growing—led by the private sector and Chinese state planning, less so by governments.

Canada and the Shift to Economic Framing

[16:39–19:17]

• Jamie Poisson examines Prime Minister Mark Carney’s reversals: ending the carbon tax, pausing electric vehicle mandates, renewed focus on oil and gas, massive economic projects.
• The move is framed as energy sovereignty and economic competitiveness—echoed by Claudia Scheinbaum in Mexico.
• Wallace-Wells notes the irony, given Carney’s past “outspoken voice for alarm around climate change.” ([18:21])
• However, he acknowledges the explosion in renewables:

  “Last year, 93% of all new energy installations worldwide were renewables... the world is installing more than 10 [good units] for every unit of bad Energy.” ([19:53])

• Yet, emissions won’t fall unless renewables replace—not just supplement—fossil fuels.

China’s Pivotal Role

[21:36–25:10]

• China dominates green energy: 74% of new wind and solar projects are Chinese, with deep export ties.
• This has enabled developing countries to leap to renewables without Western subsidies or philanthropy.
• Wallace-Wells observes:

  “That hopeful story... is being written almost entirely by China.” ([22:50])

• China’s strategy isn’t just about carbon, but winning the “infrastructure of the future.”

What Gets Lost: The Moral Imperative

[25:10–28:36]

• Climate action has morphed from moral obligation toward the most vulnerable into an economic and technological arms race.
• Climate icon David Suzuki, in a previous appearance, put it bluntly:

  “I will not pay a carbon tax to use air as a garbage can for our fossil fuel emissions.” ([26:13])

• Wallace-Wells responds:

  “...there was a recognition of the obligation of someone like me...to those living much more difficult lives in much more climate-ravaged places... I really fear like we’ve lost that core presumption... which... pointed towards a more hopeful future...” ([27:15])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Donald Trump’s UN Speech ([00:39]):

  “Climate change… It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world... If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail. And I’m really good at predicting.”
  (Poisson: “Trump’s rhetoric is obviously way more inflammatory and, frankly, unhinged…”)

• David Wallace-Wells on Paris Accord’s enforcement ([04:54]):

  “It is a document... like a treaty... but there was no enforcement mechanism built into it. And... the fact that it wasn’t... was one reason it got passed in the first place.”

• On global political optimism, now gone ([11:10]):

  “It now feels to me...like a relic of the past, which we’re not going to recover, really, anytime soon. Much to my own regret.”

• On the power shift to China ([22:32]):

  “China has managed to make this technology so cheap that...even in a place like Pakistan, or across Sub Saharan Africa... people can buy those panels themselves…”

• On the lost moral dimension ([27:15]):

  “...if we’re not extending those hands anymore, to those who are suffering, where they’ll be left. And honestly, how we’ll be able to live with ourselves on the other end of the bargain.”

Key Timestamps

• 00:22 – Jamie Poisson opens the episode.
• 00:39 – Trump’s UN climate denouncement.
• 02:48 – Paris Agreement goals & context explained.
• 04:45 – Reflection on the Paris Agreement’s enforceability.
• 05:35 – The era of youth activism and Greta Thunberg.
• 07:10 – How climate activism mainstreamed with global elites.
• 09:21 – The pre-Brexit geopolitical optimism and its loss.
• 12:22 – International law and climate litigation’s limitations.
• 16:39 – Canada’s new climate direction under PM Mark Carney.
• 19:53 – Surge in renewables, but pitfalls of emissions accounting.
• 21:36 – China’s dominance of renewable technology.
• 25:36 – David Suzuki’s perspective; re-centering nature.
• 27:15 – Wallace-Wells on losing climate solidarity.

Final Thoughts

This episode offers a sweeping, sobering look at the decline of global climate politics—from the heady days of the Paris Agreement to a fractured world where climate action is dictated by economic self-interest and technology, often led by China. Despite technical progress, the moral urgency and sense of global solidarity that defined climate politics a decade ago have been lost. Both Wallace-Wells and Poisson warn that without re-centering the needs of the vulnerable and the planet’s ecological health, the world risks not only missing climate targets but also missing the chance for a more just and hopeful future.