The state of climate change in this year's Doomsday Clock discussion

Bulletin Science and Security Board member Inez Fung discusses global warming concerns and solutions that factored into the 2026 Doomsday Clock conversation, from her point of view.

Inez Fung is a Professor Emerita of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. She pioneered the use of global three-dimensional models of atmospheric circulation to infer carbon sources and sinks at the surface. She was the US lead for the 2014 joint NAS-Royal Society study “Climate Change: Evidence and Causes” and its 2020 update. Fung is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences; a foreign member of the Royal Society, London; and a member of Academia Sinica (Taiwan).

On January 27, 2026, the Doomsday Clock was set at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight in its history. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board, which sets the Clock, called for urgent action to limit nuclear arsenals, create international guidelines on the use of AI, and form multilateral agreements to address global biological threats.

You can read their statement here: https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/2026-statement/
Additionally, you can read the sidebar on nuclear risk here: https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/2026-statement/nuclear-risk/

Timeline:

00:00 - 01:08: Hottest year on Earth. Why is that a problem?
01:09 - 01:47: Introduction
01:48 - 03:53: How do we know climate change is real?
03:54 - 06:43: Mitigating climate change
06:44 - 07:42: What can an individual do to tackle climate change?