Climate Comedian

Dr Matt Winning is a stand-up comedian and expert environmental researcher who performs live climate change comedy shows. He is also an Author, Broadcaster and Keynote Speaker.

 

Climate Comedy Events

Matt Winning performs climate change comedy shows (& selective excerpts) at science & comedy festivals, and at charity & corporate events across the UK (and beyond if he can take a train). He has performed at COP28, the Royal Institution, New Scientist Live, SXSW London, BAFTA, Net Zero Festival, UK Schools Climate Assembly, Bluedot, HowTheLightGetsIn, BBC Climate Creatives, Channel 4 and many others including hosting energy awards, and keynotes at business sustainability events. Do get in touch if you think Matt would be an excellent addition to your event.

His most recent theatre show Solastaglia received considerable critical acclaim at its Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2025 and was given a run at Soho Theatre in London. Praise for Solastalgia:

‘Gently funny, deeply human and profoundly poignant.’ **** Scotsman.

‘Cleverly weaves together several apparently disparate threads to make a hilarious but convincing whole.’ ***** Three Weeks

A live comedy show of his book HOT MESS was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and toured the UK in 2022. This followed on the back of sold out runs of his solo shows Filibuster,  Climate Strange and It’s The End Of The World As We Know It at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, 2018 and 2019. All of which were built as comedy climate change lectures.

 

Climate Comedy Books, TV, Radio and Podcasts

Matt is the author of the book HOT MESS: What on Earth can we do about Climate Change? which is the world’s first comedy book explaining global warming which was released in late 2021 by Headline Publishing.

He has a TEDx talk about the importance of using humour to discuss climate change, hosts the BBC Radio 4 show Net Zero: A Very British Problem, the podcast ‘Operation Earth’ and co-hosted Mark Watson and Matt Winning: Seriously, Though, The Planet on BBC Sounds.

On TV Matt has appeared on BBC2’s Inside Culture and as the environmental correspondent on Dave’s Unspun with Matt Forde and in BBC Scotland TV shows The State of It and Scot Squad. On radio he’s been a panelist on BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz, The Now Show, Strong Message Here with Armando Iannucci and BBC Radio Scotland’s Breaking The News. Matt has written articles on climate change in Guardian, New Statesman, Scotsman, Metro and Sunday Post.

 

Climate Expert

Matt received his PhD in climate change policy in 2013, and since then he has worked mainly on climate mitigation. He is currently a Lecturer at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources where he has published on various environmental issues. Many of his recent journal papers were cited in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) AR6, and his work has been used by bodies such as the UK Committee on Climate Change. He was also Head of Climate Research at consultancy Oxford Economics.

At University College London Matt runs a module on Foundations of Environmental Economics for the MSc programme Sustainable Resources: Economics, Policy and Transitions. He has worked on topics of environmental economics including climate change policy, energy transitions, climate finance, and the circular economy as well as The Lancet Countdown on Health & Climate Change.

 

Early Comedy Career

Early in his comedy career Matt quickly gained a reputation as an exciting new act after winning the Hilarity Bites New Act of the Year in 2011 and appearing in the final of the BBC Radio 2 New Comedy Awards in 2012. He also reached the final of the Chortle Student Comedy Awards in 2010, as himself, and again in 2011, as a character. In 2013 he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe on the famous new act show The Comedy Zone which previously featured acts such as Stewart Lee, Dave Gorman, Russell Howard and Harry Hill. He was also part of the Bearpit Podcast Podcast with Richard Gadd, Fin Taylor, Mat Ewins, John Kearns, Lolly Adefope and more.