Global News Podcast

The Global Story: The oil lobbyist who tried to sink the first big climate deal

23 Nov 2025

Audio

Description

The American lawyer, oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman is said to have chain-smoked his way through almost every UN climate gathering from the early 1990s until his death in 2005. Some of those who saw Pearlman operate in Kyoto, where the first legally binding international agreement on climate change was agreed in 1997, say he created the playbook for stalling climate talks. The Kyoto protocol was never ratified by the United States, and Pearlman is now the subject of a major play, Kyoto, which has just transferred from London to the Lincoln Center in New York. As the COP30 climate summit takes place in Brazil, we speak to BBC climate journalist Jordan Dunbar, who’s been trying to piece together the true story of the man once nicknamed ‘the high priest of the carbon club’. With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the BBC’s international newsroom, The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.Producers: Aron Keller and Cat Farnsworth Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Don Pearlman at the Kyoto summit / BBC.

Transcription

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.

0 upvotes

🗳️ Sign in to Upvote

Popular episodes get transcribed faster

Other episodes from Global News Podcast

Transcribed and ready to explore now

Iran protests: hundreds feared dead

11 Jan 2026

Global News Podcast

The Happy Pod: The 88-year-old veteran given nearly $2m by strangers

10 Jan 2026

Global News Podcast

Lebanon completes first phase of plan to disarm Hezbollah

08 Jan 2026

Global News Podcast

Woman shot dead by US immigration agent

08 Jan 2026

Global News Podcast

US seizes two Venezuela-linked tankers

07 Jan 2026

Global News Podcast

President Trump again threatens to annex Greenland

07 Jan 2026

Global News Podcast

View all episodes from Global News Podcast

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.

Report any issue

Global News Podcast

The Global Story: The oil lobbyist who tried to sink the first big climate deal

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other episodes from Global News Podcast

Iran protests: hundreds feared dead

The Happy Pod: The 88-year-old veteran given nearly $2m by strangers

Lebanon completes first phase of plan to disarm Hezbollah

Woman shot dead by US immigration agent

US seizes two Venezuela-linked tankers

President Trump again threatens to annex Greenland

Sign in to Audioscrape

Share this moment