If climate change is global, why do so many countries, even those at direct risk of its consequences like the low-lying Netherlands, still seem to see it as a zero sum game? How can politicians, including those in the climate change denying populist party Forum for Democracy who won a large share of the vote this week, and companies be made to look beyond their own national borders and coffers to make change now? Associate professor Pim Heijnen has been researching ways to avoid climate catastrophe through cooperation, so I wanted to hear more from him about why it seems so hard for individual countries to put long term global interests above short term national interests.