This episode is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Amazon Music.

In a world that seems increasingly fragile, the Global Landscapes Forum is an organization that promotes solutions to climate change and human development, championing reasons to be optimistic about the future.

But in the third episode of our GLF Live mini-series of “climate crash courses” – 15-minute lessons on foundational climate change terms and topics – we’re putting our positivity aside for a moment to assess the climate crisis as realistically as possible. There are seemingly endless new reports on how global warming, disastrous weather events and biodiversity loss are happening more quickly than anticipated and slipping further from our control. But just how bad are things? Is there any chance of keeping temperature-rise in check? As countries gear up for another round of climate negotiations at COP27, are we generally on a path toward creating a livable future or furthering climate disaster – or are we on any clear path at all?

In this conversation, we heard from the vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the pre-eminent organization on climate science and knowledge, on where we really stand with climate change and what we can expect in the months and years to come.

Join our other crash courses here:

• How do greenhouse gases work?
• What is loss and damage?
• What does “net zero” really mean?

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Prof. Youba Sokona, with over 40 years of experience addressing energy, environment and sustainable development in Africa, has been at the heart of numerous national and continental initiatives. He is currently a Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after serving as Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III following being a Lead Author since 1990. He has a proven track record of organizational leadership and management, for example, as Inaugural Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre and as Executive Secretary of the Sahara and the Sahel Observatory. He is affiliated with numerous boards and organizations, including an Honorary Professor at the University College London, a Member of The World Academy of Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences, Science Advisory Committee of the International Institute for Applied System Analysis. In short, he is a global figure with deep technical knowledge, extensive policy experience and an unreserved personal commitment to African-led development.