The Land & Climate Podcast

By Land and Climate Review

What's The Land & Climate Podcast about?

The editorial team from The Land and Climate Review interview thinkers and policymakers in the world of economics, land-use and climate policy. Find more on our site at www.landclimate.org

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The Land & Climate Podcast episodes:

06.14.2024
Can a country become 100% organic?
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...
05.31.2024
What is commercial forestry getting wrong?
Alasdair speaks to Peter Wohlleben about his new book How Trees Can Save the World. Peter Wohlleben is a forester and author who has written over 30 books on ecology and forest management. Peter and Alasdair discuss the problems with plantation...
05.17.2024
Why is the EU backtracking on green agriculture?
Alasdair speaks to Faustine Bas-Defossez about the relationship between sustainable farming policy and the European farmers' protests. Faustine Bas-Defossez is Director for Nature, Health and Environment at the European Environmental Bureau, a Europe-wide network of environmental citizens' organisations. Alasdair and...
05.03.2024
How does US agriculture affect climate change?
Alasdair speaks to environmental attorney Peter Lehner about US agriculture's contribution to global emissions. Peter Lehner is the managing attorney of Earthjustice's Sustainable Food and Farming Programme and former executive director of the National Resources Defence Council. Alasdair and Peter...
04.19.2024
Can nuclear waste teach us about long-term thinking?
Does our society have an addiction to short term thinking and planning? Is our failure to mitigate climate change a result of this? Vincent Ialenti spent three years doing fieldwork in Finland, interviewing experts working on Posiva's Safety Case for...
04.05.2024
Are monopolies breaking our food system?
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...
03.22.2024
Why is Eni struggling to grow biofuels in Africa?
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...
03.08.2024
Are Canada's sustainable forestry claims accurate?
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...
02.23.2024
Are fishing laws doing enough for human rights and climate?
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...
02.09.2024
What are the risks in storing CO2 underground?
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...
01.26.2024
Are green flights clear for takeoff?
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...
01.13.2024
How does fossil fuel-funded research affect policy?
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...
12.22.2023
Are carbon offsets mostly worthless?
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. ...
12.08.2023
Europe was going to halve pesticide use - what happened?
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...
11.24.2023
Can we build a sustainable economy?
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...
11.10.2023
What happens when climate adaptation goes wrong?
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...
10.27.2023
Is nuclear needed for net-zero?
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...
10.13.2023
Are we now in the century of fire?
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...
09.29.2023
Has Equinor made Norway dependent on oil?
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...
09.15.2023
Are genetically engineered seeds harming human health?
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...
09.01.2023
Has the Africa Climate Summit been “hijacked by foreign interests"?
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,...
08.18.2023
Is biofuel fraud undermining EU climate policy?
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...
08.04.2023
Should we mine the deep sea?
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...
07.21.2023
How is EU lobbying blocking climate farming reform?
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 -...
07.07.2023
Does mining bring wealth to Chile, or harm?
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...
06.23.2023
Is there still a case for hope on climate change?
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...
06.09.2023
Is overpopulation a climate risk, or dangerous rhetoric?
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...
05.26.2023
What are the politics behind nuclear energy in France?
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...
05.12.2023
Chinese forced labour and renewable supply chains: how big is the problem?
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...
04.28.2023
Is the UK losing its leadership status on net zero?
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...
04.14.2023
How is EU policy on carbon removal developing?
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...
03.31.2023
Will fossil fuels ever be history?
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...
03.17.2023
What would truly sustainable fashion look like?
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...
03.03.2023
Why has EU law not stopped pesticides from harming ecosystems?
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...
02.17.2023
Does Russia have its head in the sand about the future of fossil fuels?
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...
02.03.2023
What are the risks with wood burning in Japan?
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: SMOKESCREEN: SUMITOMO’S “CARBON NEUTRAL” FAILURES SUMITOMO CORPORATION’S DIRTY ENERGY TRADE: Biomass, Coal and Japan’s...
01.20.2023
Is Antarctic governance still working?
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,...
01.06.2023
Why is climate scepticism growing on Twitter?
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...
12.16.2022
What happened at COP27 with removal offsets?
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: CLARA's resources on 'net zero', including info on Article 6. Read Kelly's articles on...
12.09.2022
Why can't we 'just plant trees'?
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...
11.25.2022
Will the Russian economy survive fossil phase-out?
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...
11.11.2022
Are carbon removal targets unrealistic about land requirements?
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...
11.05.2022
Why has international diplomacy failed on climate loss and damage?
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...
10.21.2022
Are biofuels worse for the climate than petrol and jet fuel?
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 &...
10.07.2022
How badly have microplastics harmed ecosystems, climate, and human health?
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: pre-order Matt's book from Island PressPlastic: A Toxic Love StoryRead Wired's reporting on plasticRead Beyond...
09.23.2022
Is there any hope for a green aviation industry?
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...
08.04.2022
What does Australia's new Labor government mean for climate politics?
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...
07.22.2022
Can palm oil be ethical and sustainable in Indonesia?
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....
07.07.2022
Has environmental policy contributed to the crisis in Sri Lanka?
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...
07.01.2022
Is a utopian future still possible with climate breakdown?
Bertie talks to Drew Pendergrass, coauthor of Half Earth Socialism, recently published by Verso books. They discuss geoengineering, population scaremongering, climate colonialism, and the big question for many on the left: will we be able to mitigate the climate crisis...

What's The Land & Climate Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Land & Climate Podcast episodes:

Can a country become 100% organic?

What is commercial forestry getting wrong?

Why is the EU backtracking on green agriculture?

How does US agriculture affect climate change?

Can nuclear waste teach us about long-term thinking?

Are monopolies breaking our food system?

Why is Eni struggling to grow biofuels in Africa?

Are Canada's sustainable forestry claims accurate?

Are fishing laws doing enough for human rights and climate?

What are the risks in storing CO2 underground?

Are green flights clear for takeoff?

How does fossil fuel-funded research affect policy?

Are carbon offsets mostly worthless?

Europe was going to halve pesticide use - what happened?

Can we build a sustainable economy?

What happens when climate adaptation goes wrong?

Is nuclear needed for net-zero?

Are we now in the century of fire?

Has Equinor made Norway dependent on oil?

Are genetically engineered seeds harming human health?

Has the Africa Climate Summit been “hijacked by foreign interests"?

Is biofuel fraud undermining EU climate policy?

Should we mine the deep sea?

How is EU lobbying blocking climate farming reform?

Does mining bring wealth to Chile, or harm?

Is there still a case for hope on climate change?

Is overpopulation a climate risk, or dangerous rhetoric?

What are the politics behind nuclear energy in France?

Chinese forced labour and renewable supply chains: how big is the problem?

Is the UK losing its leadership status on net zero?

How is EU policy on carbon removal developing?

Will fossil fuels ever be history?

What would truly sustainable fashion look like?

Why has EU law not stopped pesticides from harming ecosystems?

Does Russia have its head in the sand about the future of fossil fuels?

What are the risks with wood burning in Japan?

Is Antarctic governance still working?

Why is climate scepticism growing on Twitter?

What happened at COP27 with removal offsets?

Why can't we 'just plant trees'?

Will the Russian economy survive fossil phase-out?

Are carbon removal targets unrealistic about land requirements?

Why has international diplomacy failed on climate loss and damage?

Are biofuels worse for the climate than petrol and jet fuel?

How badly have microplastics harmed ecosystems, climate, and human health?

Is there any hope for a green aviation industry?

What does Australia's new Labor government mean for climate politics?

Can palm oil be ethical and sustainable in Indonesia?

Has environmental policy contributed to the crisis in Sri Lanka?

Is a utopian future still possible with climate breakdown?

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