Return to Transcripts main page

The Amanpour Hour

Interview With Founder Of Earthshot Prize And Britain's Prince William; Interview With Former U.N. Climate Chief Christiana Figueres; Interview With NASA's First Female Shuttle Pilot And Commander Eileen Collins; How Al Gore Urged U.S. Climate Leadership For Decades; How Humanity Makes David Attenborough Hopeful. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired November 08, 2025 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:42}

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello everyone, and welcome to THE AMANPOUR HOUR from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Here's what's coming up in this special program.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM, PRINCE OF WALES: For my children particularly, knowing that the planet is going to be in a healthier, better state because of the brilliant people in this room is something that I love to tell them.

AMANPOUR: My conversation with Britain's Prince William. As he hosts his annual Earthshot Prize, we talk climate solutions and the evolution of the monarchy.

And as the COP30 summit takes shape, some words of wisdom from Christiana Figueres, architect of the landmark Paris Climate Accords.

CHRISTIANA FIGUERES, FORMER U.N. CLIMATE CHIEF: We are not going to give up until we actually address climate change.

AMANPOUR: Then, from Earthshot to moonshot, we go back to London with a dose of inspiration for all those with impossible dreams. My conversation with NASA's first female shuttle pilot and commander, the extraordinary Eileen Collins.

EILEEN COLLINS, NASA'S FIRST FEMALE SHUTTLE PILOT AND COMMANDER: I did not want to make a mistake because I didn't want people to say, oh, look, the woman made a mistake.

I was the first, and I was setting a precedent for how people would perceive women in the future.

AMANPOUR: And the long road to wrestling with our climate crisis. I was here in Rio in 1992 at the start of these efforts. From my archives, a passionate senator called Al Gore, soon to be vice president and already making the case for Americans to lead on climate. (END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in Rio de Janeiro on the iconic Copacabana Beach. You can see the Sugarloaf Mountain behind me.

This year, Brazil hosts the COP climate summit, and already we're hearing that the stakes are even higher than they've ever been. The U.N. Secretary-General is warning that the goal of keeping temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees has already been missed, although this year there was a breakthrough.

For the first time ever, renewables overtook coal as the leading source of energy.

My first guest today is trying to keep optimism and action on the table. Prince William, the next king of England, launched his Earthshot Prize five years ago. He's brought this one to Brazil as an opening act for world leaders coming to make their pledges or not at COP.

Earthshot is based around five goals: to protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste free world; and finally fix our climate. It is ambitious, but its scaling up by rewarding grassroots innovation.

I spoke to Prince William about this prize, which also motivates by awarding winners 1 million GBP in order to scale up and really put into action their innovations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Well, I mean, this has been very inspiring. A lot of incredible finalists, a lot of optimism and action and really hope.

You've been, in the five years -- this is a 10-year action project. I mean, I think you've sorted through thousands and thousands of finalists. You've got hundreds of partners and apparently 75 actual solutions.

What have these tangible efforts done and are you satisfied with the progress so far midway?

PRINCE WILLIAM, FOUNDER, EARTHSHOT PRIZE: Christiane, I think it's days like today that there's a chance for a bit of a reflection as to -- I can't quite believe we are at the halfway mark of the 10-year plan of the decade of change that Earthshot was there for.

I'm so pleased and impressed by what the Earthshot's achieved but most of all by the finalists, the winners and all the Earthshot community that are out here.

They've risen to the challenge. They've managed to do everything that we've asked of them. They've managed to go and secure their deals.

They managed to scale their products. They've managed to build networks between each other and people they've never seen before.

And I think we've challenged them at every turn to be bolder, be better, be ambitious, reach for the stars.

[11:04:52]

PRINCE WILLIAM: The Earthshot's job around that is to really be the glue that holds it all together. And I think when we first started talking about this as a concept, optimism was the key word we always wanted to use because as you saw on the screen here, urgency and optimism equal action. And there's an awful lot of pessimism going around.

And I think you can feel today that the positivity and the sort of feeling of hope and "we can do this" from every single person. I mean, they're the brains and they're the fantastic people who are going to do what we need to do. And they're going to bring the planet into a better, healthier state than it's ever been before.

So, you know, the transformational impacts that these guys have had has been truly phenomenal but we are only halfway and we've got another five years to go.

AMANPOUR: You've touched on not just the optimism and the impact but also essentially the community. It is a community that believes in the same thing and is motivated.

I know you believe in the power of community. Tell me a little bit more about that, not just for Earthshot, but in general.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Yes, I think this space needed somewhere to come together. It was very fragmented. And I think for those who want to do good and those who feel they can, and as most of the solutions are highly commercial, this is not a philanthropic activity, you need to find that space, that community where everyone can feel that they've got the space to grow, they've got the support and they've got the direction.

Many of these guys and girls, they've got incredible solutions but might need a little bit of help over here. They might need a bit of mentoring over here. They might need an introduction over here.

The Earthshot provides that family to allow them to go on and be the best they can be.

AMANPOUR: I'm interested in the inspiration and the motivation behind you taking on this mission, essentially. It is a mission.

Today, there was an amazing picture that's gone viral all over the U.K. of you standing at the statue of Christ the Redeemer and they compare it to your mother standing there back in 1991, I want to think it was that year. And she, of course, was prominent in -- basically in, you know, humanitarian activities and mind clearing.

But your father also was prominent and some would say -- many would say ahead of the curve on climate environmental conservation. Did he motivate you, inspire you? Because it's interesting to know how you got to this point.

PRINCE WILLIAM: I think it's a combination of all of that. I'm very lucky to be in this position and use my platform for good.

And whenever I'm doing stuff, I'm constantly analyzing where best can I use my platform for the greatest impact. And talking about the Earthshot was always an idea that positivity and a positive message to anyone brings out the best in them.

There's a lot of negativity, a lot of telling people off, don't do this, don't do that, it doesn't work. And as you can see, you give the right people the right tools and resources, they flourish and the impact they can have is truly phenomenal.

AMANPOUR: What about storytelling? One thing I as a journalist see is that many powerful leaders, both political and in fact industry leaders, tend to roll back climate progress, tend to demonize it, weaponize it, let's say.

Obviously, they have a vested interest, but do you think there's a dearth of this kind of storytelling that we've heard today, these kinds of positive reinforcements?

And I wonder what your view is on that and what you tell your own young children about climate and planet care.

PRINCE WILLIAM: I think exactly on that last point, Christiane, it's really important that the next generation believe there is change coming and there is hope that things can change and get better. I've always believed in that positivity and that positive message.

But I think I'm inspired by these guys. That's what gets me up in the morning when I think about Earthshot. That's what's given me the motivation and the energy to keep going.

And the community that's come around them has been truly phenomenal. I'd like it to be bigger, and at many points this is a rallying call for those businesses and those people who out there who may not have had contact with the Earthshot Prize before, may be interested.

They need to come and meet these people because once you've met them and you've heard them, you realize this is not -- this is not anything that's, you know, it's not philanthropic. It's not a nice thing to have. They're commercial products that are going to make life better.

They're going to create jobs. They're going to do incredible things for the planet and they're going to make our lives better and healthier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Of course, Prince William is here at a time of upheaval back home at the Royal House of Windsor, with his Uncle Andrew now firmly banished.

We'll have more of my conversation after a break. [11:09:37]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to Rio.

For more of my conversation with Prince William who says that he wants his young children to grow up in a world where we all do better on climate and on all sorts of things like accountability even all the way to the very top.

Here's more of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: You and the Princess of Wales are also very -- you have another big project which is mental health.

[11:14:40]

AMANPOUR: And I ask this in view of the children -- your children, the world's children who are forced to watch on their iPhones wars, wildfires -- you know, destruction, all sorts of really difficult things that has affected them a lot.

We even hear about children because of the climate disaster not wanting to grow up and get married and having a family of their own.

What do you think about trying to mitigate that fear for them? Is it something like the Earthshot? Is it the hope that you can tangibly show people the action?

PRINCE WILLIAM: Definitely. Again, I think a world without hope and a world without positivity is a pretty depressing place.

And I think it's really important that we produce solutions. We don't just talk about things all the time, we're actually producing solutions.

And these finalists, these winners are producing solutions that we all need to see and hear.

Climate anxiety is a real thing.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

PRINCE WILLIAM: I hear about it wherever I go now. Lots of younger generation are saying, what kind of a planet are we going to inherit?

And I think that message needs to go wider and louder and the younger generations need to be heard more. I mean, I had a fantastic session with the youth of all parts of the world dealing in the environment.

And their message was very strong, which is that please let our voices be heard more and we don't want to be a box ticked. We want to be actually heard and seen and listened to. And again, that inspires me that I've got to find out ways to help them be seen and heard more because there's a lot of noise out there as you hinted at. And we have to find ways for these brilliant people who are going to ultimately save us and the planet to restore and protect ourselves. We have to find a way to allow them to be heard more.

AMANPOUR: So, you know that you're somebody that people all over the world look to. They follow your every action, every word including some of the stuff you've been doing recently publicly.

I've watched with great interest the encounter you had with the great writer and producer Eugene Levy. And you talked about a lot of things and it looked to me like you were humanizing the monarchy. And it was very interesting to hear where you focus.

But something that drew a lot of interest was when you said to Eugene, "I think it's safe to say that change is on my agenda. Change for the good. I embrace that and I enjoy that change. I don't fear it."

And you went on to say, you know, "I want to make sure that this is a job that impacts people's lives for the better. I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do."

And, you know, given the fact that, you know, there's been a lot of change in your own family recently and you yourself have talked about this change, just talk about that a little bit. Where do you see the change? What do you think needs to happen?

PRINCE WILLIAM: I think the Earthshot Prize is a classic example of change. Rather than talk about it, we're doing it. And that's where I want it to be, is that these people in here are the true action heroes of our time.

And change will come by backing them, not by what I do. And so, I want to surround myself with people who want to make change and do good in the world.

AMANPOUR: Is that what you meant when you told Eugene that you want your son to be proud of that kind of change?

PRINCE WILLIAM: Yes, I think it's really important. Again, it's -- you have to provide a leadership and a vision that there's good things to come and that it's not all negative.

And for my children particularly, knowing that the planet's going to be in a healthier, better state because of the brilliant people in this room is something that I love to tell them when they go to bed.

It's like, it's going to be great. Your future is going to be as bright as the future's gone by. And that's a really important message for all of us to hear.

AMANPOUR: So, we heard from the mayor -- who gave you the keys to the city, Mayor Paes. We heard from the environmental minister. We've heard from the indigenous community. And you're going to Belem to give the COP speech on behalf of His

Majesty the King. What do you think is special and why did you choose Brazil and this city particularly for the Earthshot Prize this year?

PRINCE WILLIAM: Well, the mayor will kill me unless I do a big up piece for Brazil here. But obviously, Brazil, I mean, it's incredible. We've all seen it here.

The natural beauty, the charm, the people, the environmental leadership that Brazil have produced is incredible. And you couldn't find a better place in Latin America to come to than Brazil for Earthshot.

And obviously, them hosting COP30 is a big deal. In Belem, the mouth of the Amazon, I think we felt very strongly that there was no other better contender to host the Earthshot Prize to give that platform and to give that mouthpiece.

You heard from some of the indigenous leaders. You heard from the government. They really deeply care about the environment down here.

And again, if we give them the tools and resources to impact that change, then Brazil and the world will be a better place.

AMANPOUR: On that note, thank you so much. Your Royal Highness Prince William.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Thanks Christiane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Coming up, the U.N.'s former climate negotiator, Christiana Figueres, who brought us the Paris Climate Accords in 2015 on the tricky business of getting anything done when the world is at the table.

[11:19:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

If the Earthshot Prize was a vision of grassroots activity, well then the real and often limited business of saving our planet falls to world leaders. They have gathered here in Belem, known as the gateway to the Amazon, to barter and trade and argue as they hammer out any progress in the fight against the existential threat of climate change.

[11:24:51]

AMANPOUR: Someone who has run this gauntlet before is Christiana Figueres, who guided the passage of the truly historic Paris Climate Accords back in 2015. And she told me what she thinks lies ahead this time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Christiana Figueres, welcome back to our program.

So, you are the most relentlessly optimistic person I've ever encountered.

FIGUERES: I am so sorry about that.

AMANPOUR: I'm so happy to hear it.

FIGUERES: But actually, I'm very happy.

AMANPOUR: Good. I'm glad you still are, because everybody's doom and gloom.

I mean, here we are, COP, and the Earthshot Prize as a prelude to COP, which is all about grassroots and innovation and people and they're getting rewarded.

Is that a source of optimism? Are there real green shoots that are coming up?

FIGUERES: There are.

Compared to where we were in Paris when you and I were together. 10 years ago, one in every hundred vehicles that were being sold was electric. Now, we have one in five.

We have two times as much investment into renewable energy as we do into fossil fuels. Solar has been deployed 15 times faster than we ever expected 10 years ago. And on and on and on, there are many proof points that there's a new economy rising.

AMANPOUR: So, Donald Trump famously, at the UNGA in September, essentially castigated all the nations doing green economy and green technology, called them failures, said that it was all a hoax, it wouldn't work, and this and that.

He doesn't get it, and he's a dealmaker. Why does he not get that this is good for the economy?

And the second question related to that is, who's benefiting the most? Is it China who's doing better than the U.S., while the U.S. rolls back all the time?

FIGUERES: Well, in the U.S., who's benefiting, of course, is the fossil fuel industry. He's doing it because he's beholden to the fossil fuel industry.

As we remember, they put quite a bit of capital into his campaign. And so, it's not just his ideology. It's actually that he is financially beholden to them. And that he is scared that if we continue to transform the economy toward the electro-tech and clean technologies, that there will be less and less of market for export of oil and gas from the United States.

So, that we understand.

It's very sad, because his pull-out is definitely capping the possibility of U.S. industry to participate in a very competitive new economy and opening the chance for China, as you say, to come in and continue to take the lead.

This is not the first time that they're taking the lead. They have been taking the lead for many years, but now the playground is wide open.

AMANPOUR: What happens when it's not just a President Trump? What happens when a Bill Gates starts to roll back when he who's been at the forefront of not just health solutions around the world, but about -- you know, about climate?

He's just written a very much discussed memo that was released saying that climate change is a serious problem, but will not end civilization.

Temperature is not the best way, he says, to measure our progress on climate. Health and prosperity are the best defenses against climate change.

He also wrote COP30 is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change, that is improving lives. And you responded?

FIGUERES: I responded, it's very understandable that Bill Gates, who is a friend, thinks in binary terms because all of the computing world is based on binary thinking -- ones and zeros.

However, the real world is not binary. The real world is actually interconnected. And so, there is no use in us exclusively dealing with health, with poverty, if we don't also protect people against the ravages of climate change.

And sadly, for him, he published this memo exactly in the time in which Melissa hit Jamaica.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

FIGUERES: And so, the question, you know, is let's ask the Jamaicans whether, even if they had had perfect health and perfect quality of life, would that have protected them against Melissa? The answer is no.

AMANPOUR: Indeed.

FIGUERES: We have to do both.

AMANPOUR: And then for people when they think about this, so many people are really depressed about the climate, about this existential crisis.

I think you've talked about, you know, how you balance pain and anger, you know, optimism and outrage. How do we deal with it? FIGUERES: What we cannot do is turn our back to reality. Science is screaming from the rooftops about the fact that there is an exponential curve of damage that we're now seeing that could not have been foreseen 10 years ago.

So, first we have to face that, which is the reality that we are in, and be courageous enough to say that is the reality.

But then the question is, what do we do about that? I think the only responsible choice is to say, therefore, I am now going to give it absolutely my maximum.

[11:29:47]

FIGUERES: That is the only choice that I think is responsible for all of us who are here at this critical point, Christiane. Because two generations from now, or even one, they will not have the opportunity to turn this around. It will be too late.

This generation that is sitting now at the decision table, this is the generation that has the opportunity, hence the responsibility to turn this around.

AMANPOUR: And finally, you have labeled COP30 as a milestone, not a destination. What does that mean?

FIGUERES: Actually, it's not different from any other COP. I think we unfortunately think that every COP is the final destination, and anything that doesn't happen, then it's not going to happen.

The fact is, we have annual COPs, and it was designed to build that every COP can take the results of the previous COP and put another brick in the efforts.

So yes, COP30 is very important, and we will have COP31. And we are not going to give up until we actually address climate change.

AMANPOUR: Certainly as long as you're there, nobody's going to give up.

Christiana Figueres, thank you so much.

FIGUERES: Thank you, Christiane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Coming up, we go back to London for a completely different perspective of our fragile planet.

The first woman to pilot and command a NASA spacecraft talks to me about her incredible journey to the stars and back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: I wanted to be the hero that saved the spacecraft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:31:12]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to us here in London because we recorded some of this show before I left for Brazil.

Now we have spent much of the program focusing on what can be done to save our planet and to preserve life on earth as we know it.

Perhaps some of the ordinary mortals who get a truly heavenly appreciation for our planet are the astronauts who fly way above, and each and every time come back with a whole new perspective on our fragile earth.

I've been talking to one of those trailblazers, Eileen Collins, who rocketed through the glass ceiling when she became NASA's first female pilot in 1995, and then the first female space shuttle commander.

Now, a film, "Spacewoman" is capturing her extraordinary journey. And Eileen Collins joined me here in London for a trip down memory lane.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Commander Collins, welcome to the program.

You're the first woman to pilot a space shuttle back in 1995, the first woman to command a space shuttle mission back in 1999.

But I want to watch this clip about the pre-launch. We're going to play that and talk about what it was like getting ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Looking at the shuttle at night, it's just overwhelming, brilliant light. It's one of the most incredible things that I've ever seen. And I'm thinking, I'm going to launch on that thing. Ok.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: I'm watching you mesmerized looking at that experience from all those years ago. Do you remember the emotions, your heart, you know, your -- the adrenaline? How did you keep all of that in check?

COLLINS: I would say the first thing is the training. So, it's very important that we are not distracted by our environment because we as commander and pilot have to be ready to react to an emergency or something unusual that might happen.

If we had not trained for the loud noise, all the shaking, all the lights flashing in the window, the massive acceleration that your body is under, all kinds of things that you train for.

So, on launch day, I was actually very confident. I don't think I had fear going out to launch. Focus is the big thing. AMANPOUR: Yes.

COLLINS: Focus.

AMANPOUR: You know, I was interested in part of the documentary, one of the scientists who went up with you, Mike, the British --

COLLINS: Mike Foale.

AMANPOUR: Mike Foale.

COLLINS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: And he talks about how you were under essentially the microscope because you were, you know, the first woman pilot. It's a lot of pressure all the time up there.

COLLINS: I think there's a lot of pressure for all the pilots, men and women, but because I was the first woman -- in fact, before I went up on my first flight, my friends who are women pilots, you know, military and civilian, they would say to me, Eileen, go for it, do it for us, show them that the women can do it.

They put more pressure on me than I would put on myself. I did not want to make a mistake because I didn't want people to say, oh, look, the woman made a mistake. I was the first and I was setting a precedent for how people would perceive women in the future.

And I would be out there doing anything, I'd be running these malfunctions through my head and how I would handle them. I wanted to be the hero that saved the spacecraft. That was my motivation.

AMANPOUR: Well, and you certainly, and you certainly were the hero of all your missions.

Let's just put this up here now, this phone call from President Bush. This is him in 2005, which I think was your last mission?

COLLINS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Obviously, as you prepare to come back, a lot of Americans will be praying for a safe return.

So, it's great talking to you. Thanks for -- thanks for being such great examples of courage for a lot of our fellow citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: That must have been really gratifying, especially since that was your final mission. And it came after a really tricky mission, right? When one of the -- it was -- there was the Challenger disaster. Then there was one of your own missions where the foam tiles or something came --

COLLINS: Right.

[11:39:46]

AMANPOUR: So, tell me about those, because, you know, public does focus on that. Yes.

COLLINS: Yes. I say just in any old regular -- I don't say regular, but a normal space shuttle flight, there's enough pressure on the crew.

Ours was one step higher than that in that we had just had the accident and we had lost seven crew members in that accident.

There was so much we had to do. And then we switched into the return to flight period, which meant there were many technical problems that had to be fixed to ensure that we didn't have that same thing that caused the accident happened to us.

Well, we thought we had fixed everything in that two and a half years. Well, we didn't. There was something we missed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had some repair techniques that were not well proven. What we didn't know was whether the shuttle was capable of safe re-entry, whether we could bring the crew back on Discovery or not.

They were stuck in space until we could prove the heat shield was not damaged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: One of the things that I thought was just so beautifully demonstrated in the film, and you must have just loved it when it was happening, was in the mid-90s, your first mission when you joined up with the space station Mir that the Russians were on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: I want to say that Mir is very beautiful and it was very shiny and we're very happy to meet you in the sky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: And now, there's no cooperation on the earth just about. So, maybe it still exists in space. But what was it like for you?

COLLINS: Now, the choice for us was plain. And what I've learned is that they're just like us. They're humans. Yes, the culture is different, but the human nature of people, we are -- have so many similarities, more than we have differences.

So, I became friends with many of the cosmonauts. You know, the men and the women. Of course, I once flew with a woman cosmonaut and we became friends.

And then you can see how quickly that can be lost when the leadership -- you know, you can see the leadership of the country doesn't always reflect what the people are or what the people want. I mean, it varies.

But after Russia invaded Ukraine, we talked about should we separate the space station, the Russian component from the U.S. as well as the European and the Japanese component?

Well, you can't do that. There's no technical way to do that. So, we're still working with the Russians now. And believe it or not, we're working well. So, we're still -- we're moving along now.

And, you know, we don't really like talk about the war that much, but we're all aware of what's happening. And we just hope that it is over in a peaceful solution as quickly as possible.

AMANPOUR: So, I wonder what you think about the current secretary of Defense who's decided to call himself, I think, secretary of War. They've decided to call just unilaterally the Pentagon, the Department of War or whatever it is.

But he called all these generals and commanders and admirals to D.C. recently, spoke about returning to a male standard in combat jobs.

Your reaction?

COLLINS: So, when I went through basic training, it was a different standard for the women. Now, that was 1976. So, the men had to run a mile and a half in 12 minutes or less. The women only had to do a one and a half continuous run and no one cared about the time.

And I said, that's not right. I said, why can't I go -- I know the women can -- I know that we, as long as we're in good shape, can do the male standard.

So, I ran with the guys. And myself and one other woman were the only two that ran with the guys.

And, you know, I mean, we couldn't beat the best guy in the group, but we were still able to make the standard.

So, I think part of it is we need to educate our leaders as to what we're capable of doing.

AMANPOUR: Commander Eileen Collins, thank you very much.

COLLINS: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And the documentary is really great. "Space Woman" is out now.

Coming up after a break, if past is prologue, what can the last time Brazil hosted a crucial climate summit tell us about what may happen as leaders meet there again.

[11:43:44}

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

It has been a long road to COP30, and it remains to be seen if the summit will be a success, or will the climate can get kicked down the road again.

Host nation Brazil proudly shoulders its responsibilities. In 1992, the landmark Earth Summit was held there, where the term sustainable development was defined and the U.N. climate goals came into being.

I was there in Rio de Janeiro and I spoke to a passionate environmentalist, also a U.S. senator, aspiring to higher office about what he hoped the Rio summit could achieve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think the Earth Summit is already a success simply because every nation in the world is gathered in the same place at the same time to focus intensely on this most important issue.

But the world also has an opportunity to use this success to speed up progress in making changes.

And that's not going so well because the treaties have been watered down. Some of them are only going to be signed by some countries. And consequently the principal achievements here will be mainly psychological in that a new way of thinking will come out of this conference.

[11:49:45]

GORE: Our long-range best interests lies in providing leadership for the world, especially at a meeting like this one, the first time in history every nation in the world came together at the same place in the same time.

AMANPOUR: What do you think the practical implications will be of the U.S. watering down or not signing these treaties? I mean, how will it affect the U.S. after Rio, for instance?

GORE: I believe, and many others do, that the task of saving the earth's environment will become the central organizing principle of the post-Cold War world especially after the Earth Summit.

I believe deeply that the United States must be in a leadership position in this post-Cold War era. And all of this mishandling of our country's relationship to the rest of the world here at the Earth Summit by the White House, with its divisions, all of that has hurt our country's ability to be a leader on these important issues.

And we should be. We have the record as a country to do it if we just stop backtracking on environmental protection.

AMANPOUR: And on the on the economic level, do you think the United States stands to lose out in the next big business boom? The ecologically-sound technology, for instance?

GORE: Well, as Americans, I always say we should ask ourselves, why is it that the Japanese business community is now saying this is the biggest new market in the history of world business? Why are the Germans saying that?

Why are we instead trying to hold on to old polluting ways of the past just because a few powerful industries are saying we don't want to change? That doesn't help them to give them what they think they want at the expense of the rest of the country.

We need to move forward into the future, toward efficiency and ecologically sound methods of production, because they're economically advantageous, as well as enabling us to protect the environment. Millions of American jobs are at stake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Al Gore has walked that walk ever since as one of the world's most prominent climate ambassadors.

Now, when we come back, you'll see me back in Brazil for a final thought and a little hope from Sir David Attenborough.

[11:52:13]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: And a final thought from here in Brazil. While world leaders and the worst emitters of global greenhouse gases must do the work of committing to actually combating climate change once and for all, it is important not to give up hope. Because, as we've seen throughout these programs, there is an enormous amount of people who have done their work and walked the walk to make the impossible happen.

We've seen Prince William and his Earthshot Prize winners designing extraordinary solutions.

We've seen the astronaut Eileen Collins, who overcame prejudice to achieve her dreams and see for herself from space the fragility of our earth.

To Christiana Figueres, who persuaded 195 nations to reach consensus almost ten years ago at the Paris Climate Summit.

And it was there that I sat down with the world-renowned David Attenborough, who himself has done more than any single individual to tell the story of our natural world and to endear us to all its creatures.

Here's what he told me back then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, 1/5000th part of the energy of the sun that goes onto this planet every day, if we could tap that, we would provide all the power requirements for the whole of humanity. Think of that.

AMANPOUR: That is remarkable. The question is, why hasn't that happened?

ATTENBOROUGH: Why hasn't it happened? Simply because what we didn't have the technology doesn't minimize this. It's not easy, but it can be done. And if your nation -- well, if the American nation can, can put a man on the moon in ten years, surely, to goodness, the scientists of the world working to a coordinated plan to see where the problems are, should be able to solve those within ten years.

AMANPOUR: You have been going around the world for the last at least 60 years, showing us our planet, the animals, the seas, the skies, the mountains, North/South Pole, wherever you look, you've been there over the 60 years that you've been doing this and observing the species, observing the animals. Do you feel they're more stressed?

ATTENBOROUGH: Oh, yes. Animals are -- I mean, species, more and more species are on the brink of extinction. There's no doubt about that. Their numbers are reduced.

I have to say that there is no major species that has become extinct in my lifetime, which is something. And humanity is coming to its senses.

And there are people who are caring about these things, and species are being dragged back from the verge of extinction.

There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla than any other (INAUDIBLE).

I was with mountain gorillas when they were reduced to less than three figures. And there are more now than there were then.

AMANPOUR: So that's great news.

ATTENBOROUGH: Yes. Really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:59:50]

AMANPOUR: And at 99 years old, Sir David Attenborough has made another announcement that this weekend, his new wildlife program called "Kingdom" hits Britain ahead of a U.S. release next year.

Now that is love. And it is also commitment.

And that is all that we have time for, for this program from Rio, from the Copacabana Beach. But as you know, you can see us all over on our podcast, on social

media, wherever you look -- CNN.com/audio, and as I say, on our social media.

And we'll be back with you from somewhere else next week for another edition of THE AMANPOUR HOUR.