Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 5. Brokenhagen

Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 5. Brokenhagen

July 13, 2026 · 15 min · Season 12 · Episode 5

About this episode

The episode explores the dramatic events of the 2009 Copenhagen climate conference and its implications for international climate collaboration.

Hundreds of world leaders are gathered in Copenhagen, 2009, with high hopes of securing a historic climate deal. And the Chinese premier has gone missing. US President Obama rushes through the corridors of the conference centre - on a mission to gatecrash China’s secret rendez-vous with its allies. This is just the final day of a two-week conference that has felt more like a thriller movie than an exercise in diplomacy. How did one global conference expose the faultlines in international climate collaboration that are still seen today? Presenter: Justin Rowlatt Producer: Rachel Naylor Series Producer: Ellie House Editor: Matt Willis Sound Design and Mix: James Beard Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

People in this episode

Host: Justin Rowlatt

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Copenhagen, US, China

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