Hannah Ritchie

Hannah Ritchie is a Scottish data scientist and author whose evidence-based, optimistic approach to environmental challenges has made her one of the most important new voices in climate communication. Born in 1993 in Falkirk, Scotland, Ritchie studied environmental science at the University of Edinburgh and is Senior Researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford and Deputy Editor of Our World in Data — one of the world's most trusted sources for data-driven analysis of global problems. She has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Statistical Society. Not the End of the World (2024) became a bestseller with its data-driven case that while environmental problems are real and serious, humanity is making more progress than the doom-laden narrative suggests. Rather than despair, Ritchie argues for informed optimism — showing where things are getting better, where they are not, and what specifically needs to change. Clearing the Air (2025) answers fifty key climate questions with the same evidence-based clarity. Ritchie writes with the authority of a working scientist and the accessibility of a gifted communicator. She uses data not to minimise problems but to identify the most effective solutions — cutting through noise, misinformation, and doomerism with facts. Her newsletter, Sustainability by Numbers, has over sixty thousand subscribers. The audiobook editions of Ritchie's books are clear, compelling, and genuinely hopeful. Her books and audiobooks are essential for anyone who wants to understand environmental challenges through data rather than headlines.