Al Gore’s case for optimism
Gore talks to HEATED about COP30, the Gates memo, and why he thinks billionaires should face far more scrutiny in the climate fight.
Emily Atkin, HEATED Dec 4, 2025
I am less optimistic than Gore since it seem that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conferences of the Parties (COPs) are now controlled by fossil fuel corporations and Petro-states so there is no mention of phasing out fossil fuels – Alan J
This year’s United Nations climate summit in Belém, Brazil had everything: A literal flood, a literal fire, a record-breaking 1,600+ fossil fuel lobbyists, and delegates from oil-producing nations working overtime to strip the final text of anything resembling a concrete commitment to stop lighting the planet on fire for profit.
So naturally, when I spoke to Al Gore on the final day of the summit, he was optimistic.
“[The fossil fuel industry] believes they are the global hegemon dictating policy for everyone else,” he said from his home office in Tennessee. “But I don’t think they are.”
Gore had returned from COP30 just a few days earlier, and insisted that what he’d seen on the ground was more encouraging than what doom-obsessed reporters like me were fixated on. “The majority of nations understand the crisis clearly, understand the cause clearly, and understand the solutions,” he said. “I wouldn’t bet against them.”
