Business Post Podcasts

Laura Burke is the director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ireland's environmental state agency and regulator. For her policy changes, Burke chose to form a national policy position on the environment, to prioritise action over aspiration on environmental issues, and to address the polarisation of the environmental debate. For her personal changes she discussed reducing her family's transport emissions and walking more in her local area.

Andrew Murphy is head of buildings and industry with the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS), an NGO researching and advocating for high sustainability standards in products and regulations across the EU. For his policy changes, Andrew chose to include aviation and shipping emissions in national climate targets, to ensure pre-demolition audits are carried out, and to ban emissions' offsetting. For his personal changes he chose to move from glass wine bottles to using canned or boxed wine, and to turn down the heat in his apartment building.

In the first episode of season three, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, and member of an international legal team alongside Amal Clooney, discusses some of the dangers her clients face from spurious lawsuits by State actors. Gallagher discusses the case of Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong pro democracy campaigner, and Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize winning journalist, who is facing decades in prison in the Philippines. Hosts Catherine Sanz and Neville Cox also review some of the latest legal news, judgements from the Irish courts, and discuss the best legal movie of all time.

Thomas Duffy is a farmer from Cavan in Ireland as well as an agri-environmental consultant. He has served as president of the Irish youth farming association, Macra Na Feirme, and is currently vice-president of the European Council of Young Farmers. For his policy changes, Duffy chose to implement an EU carbon border tax, to ban the below cost selling of food, and to make public transport free for under-25s. For her personal changes, Duffy spoke about flying less and putting solar on his farm.

Laura Heuston is a co-founder of the sustainability consultancy Sustainability Works. Her expertise in sustainable finance brought a unique perspective to this episode on how businesses can clean up their act and play their role in mitigating climate change. For her policy changes, Laura chose to bridge the language gap between sustainability experts and the corporate world, to distinguish between ESG integration and investing for sustainable impacts, and to brand Ireland's climate tech sector for a global market. For her personal change she spoke about changing her career and buying an electric car.

Jim Scheer has broad and detailed understanding of Ireland's energy system, working as he does developing Ireland's energy statistics and creating insights for the government to use in the energy transition. For his policy changes, Jim proposed speeding up clean energy infrastructure projects, slowing down our high energy lives, and supporting local communities in climate action and building climate resilience. For his personal change Jim discussed quitting meat and reconnecting with nature

Diarmuid Torney is Associate Professor School of Law and Government DCU and one of Ireland's leading experts in climate governance and climate law. For his policy changes, he chose to fully equip the state to deliver climate action, to improve climate education, and to embed environmental justice in policy making. For his personal changes he discussed flying less and buying local produce with little to no packaging waste.

Sustainability is now the buzzword in transport and Brian Caulfield is one of Ireland's leading experts in the area of sustainable mobility. He is an associate professor at the department of civil, structural and environmental engineering and is producing a high volume of research that is directly informing Ireland' shifting transport policy landscape. For his policy changes, he chose a cross party transport infrastructure plan, imposing parking limits in cities, and prioritising the electrification of taxis and car shares. For his personal changes he discussed buying an electric car and flying less.

Holly Cairns is a Social Democrats TD for Cork South West who was raised on a small farm in west Cork. For her policy changes, Holly proposed taking a science led approach to agricultural policy, moving away from dairy intensification, and incentivising afforestation and horticulture. For her personal changes, Holly spoke about getting involved in politics and buying locally grown food.

Bríd Smith is a People Before Profit TD for Dublin South Central whose political activism has resulted in successful campaigns against oil and gas exploration in Ireland and the proliferation of data centres. For her three policy changes, Smith chose to ban data centres, stop new fossil fuel infrastructure, and make public transport free. For her personal change she spoke about cycling more and reducing meat in her diet.