Intelligence Squared Is the Data on Climate Change More Optimistic than We Thought? With Hannah Ritchie
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Sep 20, 2025 Hannah Ritchie, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford and deputy editor of Our World in Data, dives into the often-misunderstood narrative of climate change. She challenges the pervasive doom mentality with compelling data that reveals a more hopeful horizon. Discussing her book, Clearing the Air, she debunks myths about electric vehicles and renewable energy costs. Ritchie emphasizes the power of context and encourages actionable solutions, blending personal responsibility with policy innovation for a sustainable future.
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Data-Centered Climate Framing
- Hannah uses data to judge scale, cost, carbon savings and feasibility of climate solutions.
- She frames problems by asking what the data actually tells us about solutions and their impact.
Progress Is Visible In The Data
- Historical data shows broad human progress and some environmental improvements over recent decades.
- Hannah argues we shifted climate trajectories by ~1°C in a decade, so further shifts are possible.
Leading Indicators Predict Change
- Leading indicators (costs, deployment) signal future emissions declines before CO2 data shows it.
- Hannah finds optimism in falling clean-energy costs that will later reduce emissions.
