Episode #40: Climate Leaders 101: David Attenborough

About this episode

This episode explores the legacy of Sir David Attenborough and his impact on climate leadership through storytelling and documentaries.

In this episode, we sat down with Giulio Guiducci and Jayveer Gautam to delve into the legacy of Sir David Attenborough, one of the world’s most influential environmental communicators. Through decades of groundbreaking documentaries, global campaigns like Our Planet and A Life on Our Planet , and initiatives such as The People’s Seat and Save Our Wild Isles , Attenborough has reshaped how millions perceive the natural world and the urgency of climate action. We discuss how his storytelling bridges science and emotion, and whether his role as a public figure can be seen as a form of climate leadership in its own right. This episode is the third in a series of six as part of the IExRAIA Summer Research Program of 2025. RAIA has invited twelve IE University students to join our think tank and spend 9 weeks researching a figure from around the world to try to answer a simple question: Are they a climate leader? Don’t forget to read Giulio and Jayveer’s article ( https://raiagroup.org/david-attenborough-people-seat-fail-to-produce-change ) and report ( https://raiagroup.org/ie-university-x-raia-research-program-2025 ).

People in this episode

Host: RAIA

Guests: Giulio Guiducci, Jayveer Gautam

Topics covered

• climate leadership
• environmental communication
• storytelling
• documentaries
• climate action
• research program

Keywords

• David Attenborough
• climate leadership
• environment
• documentaries
• Our Planet
• A Life on Our Planet
• climate action
• storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: RAIA, IE University

Books & works: Our Planet, A Life on Our Planet, The People’s Seat, Save Our Wild Isles

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