Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change in this podcast series.

Despite the pandemic dominating headlines, governments and investors made major commitments last year to tackle climate change. Has this really changed the mood and the global will to step up action to fight the growing climate crisis?

In this episode, ST's environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty chat with Mr Alden Meyer, a world-renowned expert in climate and energy policy who has been involved in United Nations climate negotiations for more than two decades. Mr Meyer is a senior associate of E3G, an independent European climate change think-tank.

They discuss the following points:

1. What's your view on why 2021 is a key climate year (3:00)

2. Have the net-zero pledges from China, Japan and South Korea, plus climate pledges from Britain and Italy, really given the world hope and bolstered climate summit COP26? (6:57)

3. The impact of the Biden administration and what it can achieve, especially now that the Democrats have won both US Senate seats in Georgia (7:42)

4. A look ahead to COP26, why it's important and what it aims to achieve (8:32)

5. Has the growth of green energy investment in 2020 also made you feel more optimistic? (12:08)

Produced by: Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg), David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg) & Ernest Luis

Edited by: Adam Azlee

Subscribe to Green Pulse Podcast series and rate us on your favourite audio apps:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWaf

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWaY

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWag

Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

Follow Audrey Tan on Twitter: https://str.sg/JLMB

Read her stories: https://str.sg/JLM2

Follow David Fogarty on Twitter: https://str.sg/JLM6

Read his stories: https://str.sg/JLMu