This eight-part podcast series examines the Paris Agreement ten years on, featuring global climate leaders discussing progress, challenges, and the dramatic shift in power towards emerging economies. The series explores how multilateral cooperation has evolved despite geopolitical fractures, from industrial transformation and innovative financing to the changing rules of climate leadership. This episode focuses on the role of civil society as a force for change. The podcast is based on 28 interviews carried out globally by journalist Sophie Larmoyer on behalf of IDDRI, the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations.
Ten years after the Paris Agreement, the narrative of widespread public rejection of climate action appears to be more media construction than reality. Despite claims of a powerful anti-environmental backlash, particularly in Europe following the 2024 parliamentary elections, opinion polls reveal a starkly different picture.
Episode One: behind the scenes of a historic agreement
In France, recent polling shows 84 percent hold positive views of renewable energy, with 81% even supporting renewable infrastructure near their homes. The infamous Duplomb law, which sought to ease environmental constraints on agriculture, prompted a record-breaking petition with over two million signatures demanding its repeal.
The disconnect between perceived opposition and actual public sentiment reflects what analysts describe as political instrumentalisation. Sébastien Treyer, director of IDDRI, notes that far-right parties are "using the ecological transition as a dividing line to try to attract voters" rather than responding to genuine grassroots resistance.
Episode Two: the decarbonisation quest
Laurent Fabius, who presided over COP21, identifies two neglected aspects: "the education and training aspect and the social justice aspect." He warns that without people believing change is possible for them, "the answer is no."
The concept of just transition, long overlooked, has emerged as essential to maintaining public support. The European Green Deal's ambitious environmental targets failed to adequately address social impacts. Antoine Oger of the Institute for European Environmental Policy calls this "potentially one of the strongest" criticisms of the policy.
The challenge of balancing decarbonisation with social protection plays out differently across contexts. Sonja Klinsky, who teaches at the University of Arizona, observes that Americans struggling economically see climate action as financial loss, making cheap petrol promises "more important on a daily level than potential long-term risk."
In South Africa, 90,000 coal miners face unemployment as the country phases out fossil fuels. Sébastien Treyer describes how "the poorest members of the Black community" remain trapped in mining sector dependence, making decarbonisation "a co-benefit of a policy that should above all be a social policy."
Episode Three: energy, the key to success
India has identified 28 new value chains, from renewable energy to bamboo cultivation. Arunabha Ghosh of the CEEW research institute explains that just transition means "a people-centric approach towards better economic empowerment" that could create a million jobs by 2030.
Even Germany's €40 billion transformation fund for coal-mining regions has sparked controversy. Civil society groups argue these relatively well-paid miners have received disproportionate support compared to workers in precarious employment facing equally difficult transitions.
Youth movements have injected new urgency into climate politics. The Fridays for Future movement, born from Greta Thunberg's school strikes, now claims 14 million participants across 7,500 cities worldwide.
Luisa Neubauer, who led major demonstrations in Germany, recalls the Paris Agreement arriving "almost like a big hug" promising safety for young people. Her disillusionment came upon discovering new coal power plants planned after Paris was signed, prompting the youth climate movement.
Episode Four: climate crises - the urgency to adapt
These movements face increasing criminalisation in countries like Britain. Rob Hopkins describes "an astonishing attack on civil liberties" as protests against fossil fuel expansion become increasingly difficult under recent governments aligned with oil and gas industries.
Indigenous peoples, custodians of approximately 80 percent of the planet's biodiversity, have gained modest recognition since 2015.
Their sustainable land management practices show significantly lower deforestation rates than Western private ownership models, offering lessons for climate adaptation strategies.
Trade unions have emerged as crucial actors, particularly in coal-dependent nations. Poland's strategic manoeuvring on just transition demonstrates how organised labour can shape transition pathways, with international union confederations developing sophisticated doctrines on fair climate action.
Episode Five: how to face climate challenges in a fragmented world
Civil society organisations more broadly have gained legitimacy through increasingly sophisticated scientific research. This enables evidence-based policy recommendations that command greater political attention, making them "more legitimate, more relevant, easier to listen to," according to Antoine Oger.
France's Citizens' Convention on Climate represented an ambitious experiment in participatory democracy. One hundred and fifty randomly selected citizens spent nine months developing proposals to reduce emissions by 40 percent whilst ensuring social justice.
Michel Colombier, a member of France's High Council for Climate, emphasises that "for the population as a whole to participate in transition, they must be at the initiating stage." The convention showed citizens rapidly acquiring scientific knowledge and reaching consensus on challenging solutions.
Episode Six: finance, the heart of the matter
Yet only 10-12 percent of their 149 proposals were fully implemented. Rob Hopkins describes President Macron's failure to honour commitments as "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in a way that was historically inexcusable."
Despite frustrations, progress remains evident. Coal phase-out negotiations have succeeded in Germany and Spain, whilst advancing in Poland and South Africa. The just transition framework now features centrally in decarbonisation debates worldwide, with civil society voices increasingly shaping the profound transformations required for an equitable, low-carbon future. Listen to this episode as we explore the role of civil society and climate change.
