How is Ukraine managing to keep electricity and heating supplies during the war? Government and industry chiefs address a World Economic Forum online event to explain the challenges and ask for help. As well as the supply of energy, they discussed the threat to Ukraine’s many nuclear power plants and called for ever tougher sanctions on Russian energy exports.   Plus: UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, just back from Lviv, updates us on the humanitarian situation and ‘the biggest refugee crisis we’ve seen since World War Two’.

The former US vice president has been pushing for climate action for decades. In this interview he says we are at a ‘political tipping point’ after which polluters will no longer hold sway, but admits that greenhouse gas emissions are still growing faster than any action to cut them back to zero.   This is an edited version of an interview first published on the World Economic Forum’s Meet the Leader podcast. Interview by Linda Lacina.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam McKay tells us how angst about climate change compelled him to make Don’t Look Up, an epic comedy disaster movie about humanity’s failure to tackle an existential threat. Featuring clips from the film with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry.

As the world emerges from COVID, economies are revving back to life - but so is something that many parts of the world have not seen much of for decades - inflation.  So what is inflation and why has it suddenly reared up around the world? UBS Chief Economist Paul Donovan, author of The Truth About Inflation, speaks to Radio Davos.

Do we need a global treaty to tackle plastics pollution, similar to the one on climate change. Campaigners and a growing number of governments and businesses say we do. Ahead of a United Nations Environment Assembly which could launch talks on a plastics pact, the World Economic Forum heard from a range of experts on why we need a treaty and what it might contain. Speakers: Kristin Hughes, Director, Global Plastic Action Partnership, World Economic Forum; Espen Barth Eide, Minister of climate and environment of Norway and President of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA); Marco Lambertini, Director-General, WWF International; Rebecca Marmot, Chief Sustainability Officer, Unilever; Luis Vayas Valdivieso,  Vice-Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador; Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Director, Economy Division, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Inés Yábar, Communications Coordinator, Co-Founder, Life Out Of Plastic - L.O.O.P.; Gim Huay Neo, Managing Director, Centre for Nature and Climate, World Economic Forum. 

COVID-19 paralysed healthcare services around the world and meant many routine procedures were cancelled or delayed. That has taken a heavy toll on cancer patients. How big is the problem, what needs to be done to solve it, and what lessons can we draw from the pandemic to help the fight against cancer? Guests: David Fredrickson - Executive Vice-President, Oncology Business Unit, AstraZeneca; Dr Jagannath Palepu, Chairman, Dept. of Surgical Oncology, Lilavati Hospital & Research Centre, Mumbai

While COVID prevented the annual Davos meeting in the Alps for a second year, leaders from governments, business, academia and civil society met online at the Davos Agenda to discuss the world’s biggest issues. The episode has some of the highlights.

Speaking live from the International Space Station, Matthias Maurer gives a fascinating glimpse of what it’s like to spend months in orbit - what kind of research he’s carrying out - and how the experience has made him care more than ever about protecting our environment.

Dr Anthony Fauci and other experts tell us why Omicron might - but only might - mean we are in the end-game in the fight against COVID. Alongside him at the Davos Agenda session ‘COVID-19 - What’s Next?’ are Professor Annelies Wilder-Smith, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI); and Stéphane Bancel, CEO, Moderna. The discussion is moderated by Francine Lacqua, Editor-at-Large and Presenter at Bloomberg Television

Climate change is the number one risk we face as a species, according to the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Report. We look at what a ‘disorderly transition’ to net-zero might look like, and also examine the new risks posed by rapidly changing technology. Guests:  Peter Giger, Group Chief Risk Officer at Zurich Insurance Group; Carolina Klint, Risk Management Leader, Continental Europe, Marsh Read more: www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks-report-2022