The Iran crisis continues to prove how dangerously dependent the global economy is on fossil fuels. But what will it actually take to move beyond them?

In this episode, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson look at what the latest oil shock continues to reveal. And they turn to the upcoming First Conference on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, where governments, campaigners and other actors are gathering to build new relationships and explore new routes towards a just transition in an age of geopolitical instability.

Christiana speaks with former President of Ireland Mary Robinson and Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, who lay out the big structural barriers still slowing the shift. From debt traps that make fossil fuel extraction a financial necessity, to vested interests, and subsidies flowing in the wrong direction.

The evidence is clear: the transition is happening. The question is, will it be political machinations or economic urgency that determines how fast? 

Learn More:

🌍 Explore the official page for the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, including its aims, format and participants

🛢️ Understand why the Strait of Hormuz matters so much through the IEA’s Oil Market Report hub

📜 Read the UNFCCC summary of the 2023 COP28 agreement, which for the first time called for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems”

⚡ See the figures behind the boom in renewables in BloombergNEF’s latest Energy Transition Investment Trends

🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe

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Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks 

Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan 

Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford

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