With General Election 2024 now officially underway, throughout the campaign, we will be bringing you interviews, podcasts and reports with party leaders, ministers and those who want to replace them. In this episode, our political correspondent Conal Thomas sits down with one of the two men seeking to become Taoiseach once again – Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. 

Tomás Sercovich is chief executive of Business in the Community Ireland, a business association providing advice and leadership on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. 

For his policy changes, Sercovich chose to ensure more diverse boards, to refocus valuation in companies on non-financial outcomes, and to future-fit business models for opportunities in sustainability. 

For his personal changes, he spoke about choosing to work in corporate sustainability, and how he is making more sustainable choices in his life. 

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David Connolly of Wind Energy Ireland discusses three policy changes and two personal changes for a greener world in his episode of Five Degrees of Change.

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Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the European Green Deal discussed his three policy changes and two personal changes for a greener world. 

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Margie McCarthy is Director of Research and Policy Insights at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Through her work, McCarthy is at the forefront of Ireland's sustainable energy revolution and has a passion not only for solving its technical challenges, but for overcoming the social obstacles to the scale of change needed. 

For her policy changes, McCarthy chose to create a vision for Ireland in 2050, to accelerate the roll out of district heating, and to wind down fossil fuel subsidies. 

For her personal changes, McCarthy chose to buy no new dresses in 2024, and to tune in to opposing opinions. 

Anne Graham is chief execitive of the National Transport Authority. She is tasked with leading the tranformation of Ireland's public and active transport systems, so that people can be encouraged out of their cars and onto bikes, buses and trains. 

For her policy changes, she chose to ensure the planning system is equipped to deliver transport infrastructure, to ensure compact development for more sustainable communities, and to move transport to multi-year funding. 

For her personal changes, she spoke about using public transport, using her bike, and plans to retrofit her home. 

Wopke Hoekstra is the European Commissioner for Climate Action, having served as deputy prime minister of the Netherlands, as well as minister for foreign affairs and minister for finance. 

For his policy changes, Hoekstra chose to enhance climate diplomacy, to build more carbon markets around the world, and to bridge climate action with economic competitiveness.

For his personal changes, he discussed recycling more and managing his own energy footprint. 

John Gibbons is an environmental activist, journalist and business owner. John started his career working as a journalist across various beats. In the early 90’s he founded a healthcare communications company called MedMedia Group which today is one of the most successful healthcare publishers in Ireland. Despite John’s reputation as a dyed-in-the-wool eco activist it wasn’t until the birth of his daughter in the early 2000’s that John decided to take an interest in the environment and what kind of future lay in store for his daughter. Initially he started a blog called ‘Think or Swim’ as a means of solidifying his own thoughts on the climate and biodiversity crises. But in 2008 after building up a critical mass of knowledge John began contributing a weekly column on environmental issues to the Irish Times, reaching a national audience. Today, John splits his time between his healthcare communications business and his environmental activism and is one of the most recognisable voices in the country on climate change. He is a regular contributor to Irish broadcast media and he describes his own activism as freaking out and speaking out.

Sue Garrard is a sustainable business consultant and former executive at global consumer goods group Unilever. Sue has a unique perspective having worked at the highest level in both the public and the private sector. Before working for Unilever, Sue worked in the British government in the department of work and pensions, where, as the global recession kicked in, she was tasked with addressing the growing unemployment crisis. Nowadays, Sue tours the world campaigning for greater corporate transparency around their environmental impacts. 

In Five Degrees of Change some of the most influential voices on Energy and Environment will propose three big policy changes, and also outline two small personal changes they have made to contribute to a greener world. In episode three, host Daniel Murray is joined by lecturer and climate expert John Sweeney.

Professor Sweeney has lectured at Maynooth University since the 1970‘s and is an expert on climate science and weather patterns. In his 30 year career he has produced over 100 scientific papers on climate change and has become one of Ireland’s most prominent voices on the subject.

In Five Degrees of Change some of the most influential voices on Energy and Environment will propose three big policy changes, and also outline two small personal changes they have made to contribute to a greener world. In episode two, host Daniel Murray is joined by climate scientist Cara Augustenborg. Cara is one of the most recognisable and critical voices on Ireland's environmental and climate performance and was appointed to the Council of State by President Michael D. Higgins earlier this year.

In 5 Degrees of Change some of the most influential voices on Energy and Environment will propose 3 big policy changes based on their area of expertise, and also outline two small personal changes they have made to contribute to a greener environment. In episode one, host Daniel Murray is joined by economist John FitzGerald. John has been an influential voice in Irish public life over a long and storied career that includes three decades spent with the Economic and Social Research Institute as well as a stint in the Department of Finance. John now chairs the Climate Change Advisory Council which directly advises the government on climate issues. He has always been seen as an exceptional communicator, being independently minded and of a creative persuasion, all attributes which are on clear display as he shares his five degrees of change. 

Five Degrees of Change is the new energy and environment podcast series from the Business Post. Host Daniel Murray will explore how we can all make the necessary changes to reduce our impact on the environment at this critical time. He’ll be asking some of the most influential experts in politics, business and academia to propose three big environmental policy changes they would make if they had the opportunity, and to let us in on two small personal changes they have made to contribute to a cleaner, greener environment.

Claire DuPont is a research professor of European and international governance at Ghent University, with a deep knowledge of the political economy of climate action. 

For her policy changes, she chose to better integrate the humanities and social sciences into the policy process, to invest in infrastructure and public services for climate resilience and climate justice, and to do proper climate risk assessments. 

For her personal changes, she spoke about trying to eat a plant based diet and doing more civic and community engagement.