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Explore every episode of the podcast The Land & Climate Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for The Land & Climate Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
Will military emissions ever be counted?23 Aug 202400:16:12

Many governments are wary of providing transparency around their militaries' emissions, and campaigners can be hesitant to focus on the carbon footprint of conflicts, rather than more obviously humanitarian issues.

But Ukraine has helped to shift opinion this year, after pushing for more accountability for wartime environmental harm. Recent estimates put the CO2e cost of Russia's invasion of Ukraine at 175 million tonnes, and day to day military operations - not including conflicts - at a staggering 5.5% of global emissions.

Bertie spoke to Lindsey Cottrell, Environmental Policy Officer at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, about the military emissions gap in carbon accounting, and the campaign for UNFCCC rules to be changed to acknowledge it. 

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is green steel possible?09 Aug 202400:29:15

Alasdair speaks to Jonas Algers about steel decarbonisation; what the options are, where there are challenges, and what is happening so far. 

Jonas Algers is a PhD candidate at Lund University, Sweden, researching steel decarbonisation policy. 

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are monopolies breaking our food system? 05 Apr 202400:27:52

Bertie speaks to Austin Frerick about his new book Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry.

Austin Frerick is an agricultural and antitrust policy fellow at Yale University, and has advised on policy for senior US politicians including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Joe Biden during his presidential campaign.

Bertie and Austin discuss lobbying and state capture in the US, the history of farming deregulation, and the environmental impact of food monopolies.

Barons was published last week and is available to buy from Island Press here.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Why is Eni struggling to grow biofuels in Africa? 22 Mar 202400:18:18

Last month an investigation by Transport and Environment (T&E) exposed a number of challenges facing Eni's African biofuel projects.

The Italian oil giant's "second generation" biofuel crops have not met production targets in Kenya and Republic of the Congo. The investigation found that key promises have not been met around intercropping, and collected testimonies of alleged expropriation driven by Eni's business partners. T&E say farmers are now giving up on the projects.

To hear more details, Alasdair welcomed Agathe Bounfour back to the podcast, Oil Investigations Lead at T&E.

 Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.   

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are Canada's sustainable forestry claims accurate?08 Mar 202400:31:17

Following new allegations from the BBC that a UK power station is "burning wood from some of the world's most precious forests" in British Columbia, Bertie speaks to Richard Robertson about Canada's forestry sector.

Richard Robertson is a Forest Campaigner at Stand.Earth, and recently contributed to a report prepared by numerous NGOs, which accused the Canadian government's own forestry report of being “akin to an industry ad, promoting questionable and misleading claims.”

Bertie and Richard discuss these findings, the biomass industry, certification and regulation, and whether Canadian forestry deserves its leading reputation.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are fishing laws doing enough for human rights and climate?23 Feb 202400:28:41

As the EU butts heads with the UK over fishing policy, Bertie speaks to Steve Trent, CEO of the Environmental Justice Foundation, to get a more global overview of fishing regulation and its importance to environmental and human rights.

They discuss past and future EU policy and its impact in South East Asia, and use Thailand as a case study to discuss the issue of durability with environmental reform. The Thai fishing sector's reliance on forced labour and overfishing reduced dramatically in the 2010s, but reforms may now be overturned.

Further reading:

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

What are the risks in storing CO2 underground?09 Feb 202400:37:27

This week, the EU's Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra warned that "You cannot magically CCS yourself out of the problem". But the new policy he was presenting that day still called for 280 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to be permanently stored underground.

The extent to which carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology should be a part of climate planning is contentious, but advocates often point to Norway's long-running CCS plants as proof that it can work.

Are Equinor's North Sea gas field facilities the gold standard for successful CCS, or have they had issues too? Last year, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) published a report exploring that question.

Bertie spoke to the report's author and IEEFA's Strategic Energy Finance Advisor for Asia, Grant Hauber, to hear about his findings.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are green flights clear for takeoff?26 Jan 202400:37:11

What are the impacts  of new flying technologies? Are policymakers and the aviation industry taking the right steps to avoid global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees?

Alasdair speaks to Dr Daniel Quiggin, senior research fellow at the Chatham House Environment and Society Centre. Dr Quiggin is an expert in the analysis of how national and global energy systems will evolve to 2050 and author of recent research on Net zero and the role of the aviation industry.

Further reading:

Link to the Chatham House webinar on the research:
3pm GMT on Wednesday 31st January 2024

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

How does fossil fuel-funded research affect policy?13 Jan 202400:28:00

Bertie speaks to Agathe Bounfour, Oil Investigations Lead at Transport and Environment, about her investigation into the fossil funded research group CONCAWE.

The investigation revealed that CONCAWE undermined the European Union's attempt to regulate human exposure to benzene, a carcinogenic pollutant. After oil industry lobbying and research, the new regulated limit from 2024 will be ten times higher than the original suggestions from scientific agencies. 

Read the full investigation here.

Podcast editing by Vasko Kostovski.

Further reading:

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are carbon offsets mostly worthless?22 Dec 202300:26:54

In this episode Alasdair caught up with Rachel Rose Jackson, director of climate research and policy at campaign organisation Corporate Accountability to discuss their new research with the Guardian which found considerable flaws in the 50 most used offset projects.  He asked about the recent research and what value offset projects might actually have.

The Land and Climate podcast is produced by Vasko Kostovski

Recommended reading:

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Europe was going to halve pesticide use - what happened?08 Dec 202300:26:26

2023 was expected to be a big year for Europe in reducing harm from agrochemicals. But in a surprise move in November, European Parliament rejected a law to halve pesticide use. That same month, The European Commission stated it would renew the controversial approval of glyphosate for another 10 years.

What happened?

Alasdair talks to Dr Martin Dermine, Executive Director of Pesticide Action Network Europe, about why EU regulation of agrochemicals is moving so slowly.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Can we build a sustainable economy?24 Nov 202300:28:45

Alasdair talks to Sir Dieter Helm, a Professor of Economic Policy at The University of Oxford, about his new book Legacy: How to Build the Sustainable Economy. Cambridge University Press has published the work online as a free open acess title.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are toxic chemicals in fashion under-regulated?26 Jul 202400:36:32

Bertie speaks to fashion expert and journalist Alden Wicker about her book To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick - and How We Can Fight Back.

Drawing from case studies in Alden's book, they discuss the health risks with chemicals modern clothing is often treated with, and whether there has been enough research and regulation on the issue.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

What happens when climate adaptation goes wrong?10 Nov 202300:34:31

Bertie speaks to environmental journalist Stephen Robert Miller about his new book, Over the Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, and the Delusion of Controlling Nature. Spanning Bangladesh, Japan, and Arizona in the US, it covers the risks involved in adaptating to changing climate and weather, and the deadly costs of poor planning.

Also featuring our new theme music - let us know what you think!

Further reading from Stephen Robert Miller: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is nuclear needed for net-zero? 27 Oct 202300:26:48

Nuclear energy is not renewable, but it is low-carbon. Whether it should be part of the post-fossil fuel power grid is heatedly debated.

Bertie took this question to Dr. Paul Dorfman, an Associate Fellow of the University of Sussex's Science Policy Research Unit, and the Chair of nonprofit institute the Nuclear Consulting Group. Dr. Dorfman is an expert in nuclear risk and has advised the Irish, UK, French and EU governments on nuclear policy.

Further reading: 


Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are we now in the century of fire?13 Oct 202300:33:57

Alasdair talks to John Vaillant, author of the Baillie Gifford shortlisted book Fire Weather: A True Story From A Hotter World and explores how fire is evolving in the 21st century and if humanity is going to be sufficiently prepared to tackle its advance.

Fire Weather tells of the catastrophic wildfire in Fort McMurray in Canada in May 2016, and asks if the fire's surprising power and devastation is a harbinger for greater threats to our climate as we know it.

John Vaillant's recommended further reading:

Audio production by Vasko Kostovski. 





Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Has Equinor made Norway dependent on oil?29 Sep 202300:14:06

In a controversial decision this week, the UK government approved development of a huge new oil and gas field in the North Sea. The Rosebank oil and gas field is majority owned by the Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor.

Following this news, Alasdair talked to Professor Jonas Fossli Gjersø (University of Stavanger) about the history of Equinor - previously Statoil - and the way it has shaped Norway's economy, history, and environmental policy.

Audio production by Vasko Kostovski. 

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are genetically engineered seeds harming human health?15 Sep 202300:29:04

 American agrochemical firm Monsanto was the world’s largest maker of genetically engineered seeds until merged with German pharma-biotech giant Bayer in 2018. Its Roundup Ready® seeds, introduced twenty-five years ago, are still reshaping farms, landscapes and ecosystems all over the world. 

Bart Elmore is a professor of environmental history at Ohio State University, as well as an award-winning author. Alasdair spoke to him about his 2021 book on the history of Monsanto, Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future.

Further reading:

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Has the Africa Climate Summit been “hijacked by foreign interests"?01 Sep 202300:29:19

At the beginning of August, hundreds of NGOs signed a letter to Kenyan President William Ruto, alleging that US and European governments and companies had "seized" the inaugural Africa Climate Summit due to begin in Nairobi on Monday 4th September, in order to "hijack Africa’s just energy transition". 

Their criticism paid particular mention to international management consultancy McKinsey & Company, who were removed from the summit website and events calendar shortly after. Bertie spoke to one of the campaign leaders, Omar Elmawi, about these issues. 

President Ruto has denied that the summit has been "hijacked by foreign interests", telling the BBC that "African people will truly be represented" at the summit. McKinsey declined to comment, or answer our questions, but directed us to this press conference, and the question at 0:57.

Further reading:

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is biofuel fraud undermining EU climate policy?18 Aug 202300:25:28

 A new investigation has revealed that a biofuel company called System Ecologica scammed the International Sustainability Carbon Certification, petrol companies, and EU governments, in a biofuel fraud case totalling tens of millions of euros. Regulators are increasingly worried that other companies may similarly be passing off unsustainable, imported vegetable oil as used cooking oil (UCO). This would have severe implications for emissions, deforestation, and the viability of a key EU climate initiative.

The findings were reported by Eli Moskowitz from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Mira Sys from Follow the Money, along with Mubarek Asani from the Bosnian Center for Investigative Reporting. Bertie caught up with Eli and Mira to get the full story.
 
Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Should we mine the deep sea? 04 Aug 202300:31:08

Last week, after intense debate between member states, the UN's International Seabed Authority decided not to fast-track licences to start mining the deep ocean floor. But while waters have calmed for now, nothing is set in stone: talks renew in 2024.

Ahead of the conference, Alasdair spoke to Professor Mats Ingulstad, who is leading the TripleDeep research project at the Norweigan University of Science and Technology. They discussed the history of extraction in Norway & the development of discussions around deep sea mining, as well as the risks and rewards of this new frontier.

Audio editing by Vasko Kostovski.
 
Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

How is EU lobbying blocking climate farming reform?21 Jul 202300:25:05

Copa Cogeca is the largest agricultural lobbying group in Europe, claiming to be "the united voice" of 22 million farmers. But a new investigation from Lighthouse Reports suggests the true size of their membership is far smaller than this - and that the group uses its unrivalled influence to block climate and environmental reform, and lobby for industrial farmers at the expense of smallholders.

Bertie spoke to award-winning journalist Thin Lei Win, Lighthouse's Lead Food Systems Reporter, about the story.

Audio editing by Vasko Kostovski.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Does mining bring wealth to Chile, or harm?07 Jul 202300:20:04

Alasdair speaks to Professor Ángela Vergara about the history, economics, and environmental impact of mining in Chile.

Ángela Vergara is a member of the history faculty at California State University. Her books include Fighting Unemployment in Twentieth-Century Chile (Pittsburgh, 2021), and Copper Workers, International Business and Domestic Politics in Cold War Chile (Penn State, 2008).

Podcast Editing by Vasko Kostovski.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Does tax dodging limit climate finance? 12 Jul 202400:27:25

Alasdair speaks to former politician and French investigating magistrate Eva Joly about corporate corruption, tax evasion, and how these issues relate to the climate crisis.

They reflect on her investigation into financial corruption at the French oil giant Elf Aquitaine, and her current campaign work with the International Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT).

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is there still a case for hope on climate change?23 Jun 202300:22:10

Joëlle Gergis (@joellegergis) is an award-winning climatologist and writer based at the Australian National University. Her latest book, Humanity's Moment: A Scientist's Case for Hope, is a passionate and unsparing look at what has been lost but also what can still be saved - and why should still have hope. Dr Gergis draws on her experience as the lead author of Working Group 1, of the IPCC's latest assessment report (AR.6), as well as on her own experiences of facing up to the scale of the challenges posed by a rapidly warming natural world. She speaks to Edward Robinson. Podcast editing by Vasko Kostovski. 

You can read more about Joëlle, including about her new podcast series at the Conversation, here and you can her order Humanity's Moment from Island Press, here. 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is overpopulation a climate risk, or dangerous rhetoric?09 Jun 202300:29:29

Following US Climate Envoy John Kerry's latest remarks on overpopulation, Bertie spoke to Diana Ojeda, Associate Professor in sustainability, environment and development at the Universidad de los Andes' Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies, about why many scholars and activists are wary of populationist narratives in climate planning.

Audio editing by Vasko Kostovski.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

What are the politics behind nuclear energy in France?26 May 202300:26:20

Alasdair speaks to Thomas Pellerin Carlin, Director of the EU Programme at the Institute for Climate Economics, about France's relationship with nuclear energy, growing support for legislation focused on sufficiency, and how party politics shapes these issues. 

Audio editing by Vasko Kostovski.

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Chinese forced labour and renewable supply chains: how big is the problem?12 May 202300:26:23

Bertie speaks to Professor Laura Murphy about international supply chains and forced labour in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where more than a million Uyghur people have been detained in concentration camps.

The solar panel industry has been disentangling itself from the Uyghur genocide for several years, since researchers publicised how much polysilicon was produced by Uyghur forced labour. Professor Murphy's work has now found that the electric vehicle industry is risking a similar path, and that China uses Xinjiang as a production zone exempt from climatic or environmental regulation.

Podcast edited by Vasko Kostovski.

Read Professor Murphy's reports: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is the UK losing its leadership status on net zero?28 Apr 202300:28:30

The UK was the first major power to sign net zero into law in 2019, and was once considered a global leader on climate policy. After Brexit and a change of government, is the country failing to live up to its promises? 

Alasdair speaks to Dr. Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's Chief Scientist, about the UK's place on the global stage, how its net zero policies are progressing, and how the country is taking dangerous risks with nuclear and aviation. 

Podcast editing by Vasko Kostovski. 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

How is EU policy on carbon removal developing?14 Apr 202300:32:52

Bertie speaks to Wijnand Stoefs, Carbon Market Watch's policy lead on Carbon Removal, about how EU policy is developing around greenhouse gas removals. 

They discuss the Carbon Removal Certification Framework, along with other legislation like the Innovation Fund and the Sustainable Carbon Cycles Communication, as well as talking about risks with bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and failures of France's Label Bas-Carbone. 

Futher reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Will fossil fuels ever be history?31 Mar 202300:33:17
In this next installment in our oil series, we have Professor Paul Stevens, Emeritus Professor at the University of Dundee and senior research fellow at Chatham House. Professor Stevens is a world leading expert on global petroleum policy. We spoke about the history of energy transitions and the fallacy of ‘peak oil’. Covered in this episode are: the current “energy establishment”, forecasts of the speed of the energy transition, and oil exporter’s dominance at climate talks.

Recommended reading:

Handbook on Oil and International Relations. (2022). eds. R. Dannreuther, W. Ostrowski. United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Gustafson, T. (2012). Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia. United Kingdom: Harvard University Press.

Blas, J., Farchy, J. (2021). The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources. United States: Oxford University Press.

Helm, D. (2017). Burn Out: The Endgame for Fossil Fuels. United Kingdom: Yale University Press.



Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

What would truly sustainable fashion look like?17 Mar 202300:25:33

Bertie speaks to fashion journalist and sustainability consultant Lucianne Tonti about her new book Sundressed: Natural Fabrics and the Future of Clothing.

They discuss issues with sustainability indexes and modern fibres created from crude oil and trees, vs the benefits of clothes made from natural materials produced through regenerative agriculture.

Podcast editing by Vasko Kostovski.

Futher reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Why has EU law not stopped pesticides from harming ecosystems?03 Mar 202300:19:58

Alasdair speaks to Professor Mike Norton, Environment Programme Director at the European Academies Science Advisory Council, about newly published research on neonicotinoid pesticides. 

In 2013, the European Commission severely restricted the use of several 'neonics' due to emerging research showing they had wide ranging harfmul environmental impacts on insect populations and ecosystems. But last month, the European Court of Justice ruled that Belgium had abused emergency authorisations to continue using them. Many Member States have similiarly authorised their continued usage since 2013, and the EU is now considering stricter legislation to prohibit the substances. 

Further reading: 

- Read the full EASAC report here, or the press release here.
- 'EU Court puts end to emergency use of bee-toxic pesticides', EURACTIV, Jan '23
- 'Commission’s verdict still out on EU court ruling on bee-toxic pesticides', EURACTIV, Feb '23
- 'Neonicotinoids in Africa' - a 2020 article by Mike for Chemistry World

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Does Russia have its head in the sand about the future of fossil fuels?17 Feb 202300:16:43

In this episode, Lauren Sneade speaks to Professor Thane Gustafson for a second instalment on how the Russian oil industry affects the country's attitudes towards climate change, given the country's distinguished history of climate science. They cover how climate change has affected the country so far, and how Russian policymaking has responded, raising questions around the political will of Russian political figures to tackle the crisis.

Further reading:

Igor Makarov, Henry Chen & Sergey Paltsev (2020) Impacts of climate change policies worldwide on the Russian economy

Thane Gustafson, Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change. Harvard University Press

Tynkkynen, V. (2019). The Energy of Russia: Hydrocarbon Culture and Climate Change. United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gordon, D. (2021). No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World. United States: Oxford University Press.


Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Can renewables ever be profitable enough?28 Jun 202400:26:40

Ed speaks to Brett Christophers about his new book The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet.

Brett Christophers is a professor of human geography at Uppsala University’s Institute for Housing and Urban Research and the author of four books on economic geography and political economy.

Brett and Ed discuss the commodification of electricity, the role of the state in renewable energy projects and why markets can’t be relied on to decarbonise the energy sector.

The Price is Wrong  was published in February and is available to buy from Verso books here.

Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.

Further listening:  

Further reading:

Other books by Brett:

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

What are the risks with wood burning in Japan?03 Feb 202300:23:56

Alasdair talks to Roger Smith, Japan Director for Mighty Earth, about Japanese biomass imports and the risks of the country's coal power stations switching to wood-burning.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is Antarctic governance still working? 20 Jan 202300:21:26

The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) was signed in 1959, and will not be modified until 2048. Climate diplomacy expert Dhanasree Jayaram tells Bertie about the environmental risks that could threaten Antarctica before then, including illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, militarisation, bioprospecting, increased tourism, and resource extraction.

Dr. Jayaram is Assistant Professor at the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, and Co-Coordinator of the Centre for Climate Studies, in Manipal Academy of Higher Education, and an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation International Climate Protection Fellow.

Further reading: 

By Dr. Jayaram:

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Why is climate scepticism growing on Twitter? 06 Jan 202300:19:49

Long before Elon Musk's takeover drew accusations of increased disinformation on the platform, there was already a rapid growth of climate scepticism and denial on Twitter, according to research by The IRIS Academic Research Group.

Their analysis studied climate discourse during the annual UN Climate Change Conferences (COPs), and found that criticism of climate action had grown from 1% of influential accounts during COP20 in 2014, to 16% of accounts during COP26.

Bertie spoke to two of the researchers, Professor Andrea Baronchelli and Dr. Max Falkenberg, to discuss this trend, and what might be driving it.

Futher reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

What happened at COP27 with removal offsets?16 Dec 202200:20:51

Alasdair speaks to Kelly Stone, Senior Policy Analyst at ActionAid, about her time at COP27 and where international diplomacy is taking offset markets and their governance.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Why can't we 'just plant trees'?09 Dec 202200:19:22

Afforestation projects are being used worldwide as a nature-based solution to climate change.  Afforestry is the practice of planting trees on otherwise arid, barren land. Harvard scholar Rosetta Elkin explains how large-scale tree planting in otherwise treeless environments rarely makes ecological sense. In many instances throughout history, these projects have also been used as instruments of colonial forestry, used by the coloniser as a way of staking claim to the land. Elkin argues for a better understanding of our ecosystem on the scale of one single tree rather than whole forests.

Further Reading


Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Will the Russian economy survive fossil phase-out?25 Nov 202200:21:54

Lauren Sneade talks to Thane Gustafson about the future of Russian oil through the climate crisis and the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Gustafson is a professor of political science at Georgetown University, and an author of numerous books about Russia's fossil fuel dependence, the most recent being 2021's Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change.

Lauren and Professor Gustafson discuss the question: is Putin promoting a geopolitical narrative of Russian supremacy over the country’s national economic future?

Further reading

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are carbon removal targets unrealistic about land requirements?11 Nov 202200:22:56

A major report published ahead of COP27 analysed national climate policies and found that "over-reliance on carbon removals could push ecosystems, land rights and food security to the brink."

Alasdair spoke to Dr. Kate Dooley, one of the Land Gap Report authors and a Research Fellow at Melbourne University’s Climate & Energy College, to hear about what policymakers are getting wrong.

Further reading from Dr. Dooley: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Why has international diplomacy failed on climate loss and damage?05 Nov 202200:32:58

As COP27 begins in Egypt following historic floods in Pakistan and a summer of international droughts, will this finally be the year rich governments begin to take climate finance seriously?

Bertie speaks to Karim Ahmed about his recent white policy paper on loss and damage, which is being presented at COP27. Dr. Ahmed is a director of the Global Council for Science and the Environment, and a Professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He has previously had high level roles at NRDC, US Government departments, UN environmental bodies, and the World Bank.

Further reading from Dr. Ahmed: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Are biofuels worse for the climate than petrol and jet fuel?21 Oct 202200:28:07

Governments and the aviation industry have been promising for decades that fuel made from plants could solve the transport sector's CO2 emissions. Why hasn't it happened?

John DeCicco, Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan, has been studying transport emissions & biofuels for decades. Alasdair asked him about the alarming findings of his research: liquid biofuels could be worse for the climate than fossil fuels.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

How badly have microplastics harmed ecosystems, climate, and human health?07 Oct 202200:23:38

Bertie talks to science journalist Matt Simon about his upcoming book; A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Can a country become 100% organic?14 Jun 202400:30:04

Few countries have specific targets about converting to organic farming, and when they have, it's often failed - Sri Lanka dropped its national organic policy within months in 2021, and only three weeks ago, France scrapped its relatively conservative ambition for 15% of farmland.

Bhutan may be small, but on this issue it's a global outlier. Motivated by its policy to measure development in Gross National Happiness rather than GDP, the South Asian nation has been slowly working towards becoming 100% organic since 2012 - and now has a target date of 2035.

Bertie spoke to Dr Sonam Tashi, an organic agriculture expert and Dean of Research & Industrial Linkages at the College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan, to hear about how Bhutan's organic transition is going.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Is there any hope for a green aviation industry? 23 Sep 202200:35:42

After being "stonewalled" by his bosses over concerns about decarbonisation claims, Finlay Asher quit his job as a senior aviation engineer at Rolls Royce to found Safe Landing, an organisation that campaigns against growing the aviation sector.

Alasdair spoke to him about this journey, the reasons technological and market-based solutions to aviation emissions are not going to get us to net-zero, and what the sector should be doing instead.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

What does Australia's new Labor government mean for climate politics?04 Aug 202200:24:54

On 23 May 2022, the Australian Labor Party entered government for the first time since 2013, under the leadership of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Alasdair spoke to Dr. Marija Taflaga, Director of the Australian National University's Center for the Study of Australian Politics, to talk about shifting climate politics in the county, and what the new government could mean for the green transition.

Further reading: 

  • 'The frontline: Inside Australia's climate emergency' in The Guardian. Read here. 
  • Superpower: Australia's Low-Carbon Opportunity by Ross Garnaut. Read more and purchase here. 
  • How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference by Rebecca Huntley. Read more and purchase here. 
  • The Carbon Club: How a network of influential climate sceptics, politicians and business leaders fought to control Australia's climate policy by Marian Wilkinson, Allen and Unwin, 2020

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Can palm oil be ethical and sustainable in Indonesia? 22 Jul 202200:34:55

Lauren talks to Tania Li, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto, about the sustainability of the oil that's in 50% of supermarket food products - and the issues with labour and land rights in Indonesia's palm oil industry.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Has environmental policy contributed to the crisis in Sri Lanka?07 Jul 202200:16:45

Sri Lanka is in the midst of an acute economic, energy, and political crisis. With fuel, food and electricity shortages, protestors have taken to the streets and are now being arrested in the thousands.

On June 8, Bertie spoke to Melani Gunathilaka, an activist with Extinction Rebellion and Climate Action Now who has become a leading voice in the Gotagogama protests. They discussed the role of climate policy in the cascading crises and corruption allegations that have recently plagued the country.

Further reading: 

Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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