In June last year the UK government committed us all to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. To reach that ambitious target we're going to have to change the way we travel, heat our homes and farm our food. Tom Heap is joined by an expert panel to measure our progress and gauge our chances of reaching net zero.

Tom's joined by physicist Helen Czerski of University College London, James Murray, editor of Business Green and the author of Our Final Warning, Mark Lynas.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

In November 2019 the band Massive Attack announced it was working with the Tyndall Centre in Manchester to devise a strategy for touring without emitting carbon dioxide. They join a host of acts including Coldplay, The 1975, Radiohead and Billie Eilish all of whom intend to tour in as green a way as possible in the future. Tom Heap speaks to Chris Jones of the Tyndall Centre to find out what the key components are to produce a 'green' gig and how this could provide a template for bands in the future.

But what of the smaller bands for whom touring is their main source of income? This is the question he puts to Kate Stables of the band This is the Kit who talks about the difficulties of balancing her environmental conscience with her desire to play music to a live audience. He also speaks to musicians Fay Milton and Sam Lee from the organisation Music Declares Emergency about what a band can do and where their responsibilities start and finish. Murray Matravers from the band Easy Life explains how shooting a video on a plastic recycling site in Morocco brought these issue home to him, and Surrey-based artist Bruch talks about how the environment sits at the heart of every decision she makes as a musician. Also featured are BBC Introducing bands Brand New Friend, Roving Crows, Lucy Leave and October Drift.

This is more than just a debate about who should and shouldn't play live. This is a discussion about the role music plays in our lives and how we can best experience it whilst acknowledging its impact on the planet.

Producer: Toby Field

Tom Heap talks through the environmental issues emerging during the coronavirus pandemic and asks what the legacy might be. He's joined by climate change expert Dr Tamsin Edwards from King's College, London to examine the effect of the lockdown.

With millions of people now working from home, planes being grounded and fewer cars on the roads, what level of environmental improvement has there been, and will that be reversed once our lives return to normal?

With the help of experts from the fields of climate change, remote working, ecology and environmental standards, we track the changes in air pollution and global temperature.

With contributions from Christiana Figueres - architect of the Paris climate agreement, environmental psychologist Lorraine Whitmarsh, air quality expert David Carslaw, Gina McCarthy of the Natural Resources Defense Council, business communications specialist Jon Sidwick and Julian Newman from the Environmental Investigation Agency.

Producer: Melvin Rickarby

Plastic waste is the scourge of developing countries. Many have poor waste collection and virtually no recycling. But there may be ways in which local people can put the waste to good use

In Cameroon a child called Pierre Kamsouloum wanted to play football, but had no ball. He got the idea of melting soft plastic, the kind that food is wrapped in, and moulding it into a crude football. A few years later, without a job and looking for a way to make money, he came back to the idea, and realised that if you mixed the molten plastic with sand, you could turn it into tough paving slabs, competitively priced. Now, with the help of NGOs, thousands of people across Cameroon and Gambia have been trained in the technique.

In the Netherlands, design student Dave Hakkens had the idea of creating machines that people could use to recycle their plastic locally. Using quite basic technology, these machines shred, melt and then extrude plastic into moulds to make flat sheets, bowls, and even giant Lego-style house building bricks. The designs are all open-source and online, and a movement of thousands of people has grown up, building, improving and using Dave’s machines.

In Guatemala, German environmentalist Susanne Heisse was depressed by the plastic pollution collecting at the side of Lake Atilan. Inspired by the actions of a neighbour, she started stuffing the waste into plastic drinking bottles, and so the idea of the eco-brick was born – a building block that can be strong and durable and at the same time sequesters the plastic and stops it breaking down into dangerous plastics.

None of these ideas is without its difficulties and each has its critics. But until we find ways to live without plastic, could they be part of the solution?

Presenter/Producer: Jolyon Jenkins

Every year billions of products are sold around the world in plastic packaging. But some countries lack a waste system to collect and recycle or dispose of the rubbish. The result can be that waste is dumped, set on fire or used as an accelerant in domestic fires.

A new report by Tearfund claims to reveal the scale of the uncontrolled burning in six key countries. Tom Heap finds out what the implications of this are and asks if the product manufacturers which profit have a 'moral responsiblity' to help clear up.

Cherry blossom is a perfect symbol of Japan's relationship with nature and the broader environment. It's beautiful, flawless and disappears with the wind. The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics are keen to use the event to push the nation further toward a sustainable future. When the delayed Games finally go ahead they're promised to run on 100% renewable energy and use recycled rainwater. Even the medals and podiums will be made from old mobile phones and recycled shampoo bottles.

Peter Hadfield, a journalist based for many years in Japan, examines the efforts of the organisers and asks how far their efforts can push the Japanese people toward a greener future.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Photo courtesy of @nickluscombe

The demand for housing is pushing through developments of millions of new build homes. So why aren't these all being built to the best energy efficiency standards possible with the technology that's now available? Tom Heap reveals how the scrapping of zero carbon homes has meant years of construction has not had to meet the higher standards hoped for. The new Future Homes Standard has just been consulted on but Tom Heap hears it's not just missing the mark for some groups but is at risk of reducing some standards altogether.

Homes now come with an EPC - an Energy Performance Certificate - to test how reliable they are Tom trains thermal cameras onto a new build house to reveal any leaks or hidden short cuts that may be lurking behind the walls.

Tom also gets a vision of the future - where clever design on village scale and with artificial intelligence could see us living in a low carbon way without even having to think too hard about it.

Presented by Tom Heap

The Naga people of north-east India and Myanmar have long been famed for their hunting prowess. In the days of traps and catapults a balance was maintained but the influx of high calibre guns and the arrival of the Chinese Medicine Trade have wiped out much of the jungle wildlife. Tigers and Asian Black Bear are now very rare sights and even deer are increasingly hard to find.

Travel writer, Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent visits Nagaland to meet the local tribal people who have decided that enough is enough. They've banned hunting around their villages and created their own wildlife refuges. Already the signs are positive, with the revival of the Amur Falcon which was once hunted by the thousand and now nests peacefully in enormous flocks in the forest canopy.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

When a frustrated farmer dumped a bag of VHS video tapes onto the desk of Cincinnati lawyer Rob Bilott it kick-started a legal process that would ultimately reveal that one of the world’s biggest chemical companies had poisoned thousands of people. The story of DuPont and their manufacture of the non-stick chemical family PFAS matters to the factory workers of Parkersburg, West Virginia but it also reveals the extent to which virtually all of us have been exposed to a chemical that for decades has lined our frying pans and takeaway food containers and guarded our sofas and carpets against stains.

Rob’s story of his two decade battle with DuPont has inspired 'Dark Waters', a Hollywood film starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway. In the first of a new series Tom Heap meets Rob and Mark to discuss the impact on the environment and human health of a family of chemicals that can build up in our bodies and take tens of thousands of years to decay.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Britain's politicians have been promising the Earth on climate change. Tom Heap chews over the plausibility of their pledges.

He's joined by Angela Francis of WWF, green finance expert Michael Liebreich, Ellie Whitlock from the UK Youth Climate Coalition and the editor of Business Green, James Murray.

Producer: Alasdair Cross