The State of the Climate 2026 Ep242: Zeke Hausfather

How do we model the climate system? How warm will 2026 be? And can geoengineering be anything more than a bandaid? This week on Cleaning Up, Bryony Worthington sits down with leading climate scientist Dr. Zeke Hausfather on the day the 2025 global temperature data is released. Despite a La Niña year, the planet has just experienced one of its hottest years on record — pushing us ever closer to the 1.5°C threshold. Zeke explains why recent warming has accelerated, how declining air pollution may be unmasking hidden heating, and what disappearing cloud cover could mean for climate sensitivity. The conversation ranges from the surprising accuracy of early climate models, the risks of rising nationalism, and what the U.S. withdrawal from international science means for the world. They also tackle controversial questions: Are worst-case climate scenarios still plausible? Is geoengineering a dangerous distraction — or an emergency brake? And can carbon removals ever work economically at scale. Leadership Circle : Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit Discover more : Zeke’s articles in the New York Times: Zeke on LinkedIn: Zeke’s Blog on Substack:

You can listen to The State of the Climate 2026 Ep242: Zeke Hausfather online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The State of the Climate 2026 Ep242: Zeke Hausfather is an episode from Cleaning Up. Leadership in an age of climate change. by Michael Liebreich and Bryony Worthington.

This episode is 01:11:28 long.

This episode was published on Jan 28, 2026.

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