In 2022, Gustavo Petro became the first left-wing candidate to win the Colombian presidential election. During his election campaign, Petro pledged to end the granting of new oil and gas exploration contracts, a commitment his government has so far succeeded in maintaining. 

This week, Alasdair speaks with third-year doctoral student Guy Edwards who has interviewed over 50 people - from former government ministers to academics and industry representatives - about the impact of Petro’s pledge on Colombia’s energy transition.  

Guy and Alasdair discuss what the pledge entails, how it was received by the fossil fuel industry and right-wing media and what will likely become of it following fresh presidential elections next year.    

Guy Edwards is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of Sussex and a member of the Working Group on Natural Resources, Energy and Climate Obstruction in the Global South of the Climate Social Science Network 

Further reading: 

Commentary: The Petro government’s big gamble on ending fossil fuel licensing,
University of Sussex, 2025 

Climate obstruction in the Global South: Future research trajectories, PLOS Climate Journals, 2023 

Supply-side climate policy: A new frontier in climate governance, WIREs Climate Change, 2024  

El dilema de Colombia y el mundo: salir de la era fósil o sufrir sus impactos devastadores, Elespectador, 2023 

Retrasar la transición energética podría costarle a Colombia 88.000 millones de dólares,  
Elespectador, 2023 

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Germany's 2025 federal election saw the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) double its support to 20.8%, becoming the second largest party, while the Green Party fell from 14.8% to 11.6%. The AfD denies climate science and opposes environmental policies on economic grounds. 

This week, Alasdair interviews academic Felix Schulz, whose recent research has examined public attitudes toward climate policy across six countries - three in the global north and three in the global south.  

The research found that core values – particularly those derived from neoliberalism and free-market ideology – are more effective than socioeconomic factors in indicating how people will respond to climate policies.  

Felix and Alasdair discuss how neoliberal thinking has shaped public opinion, why climate policy must integrate social and economic considerations, and how job security concerns in industrial roles affect political support for climate action. 

Felix Schulz is a postdoctoral research fellow at Lund University researching public opinion and climate policy.  

Further reading:  

• Why focusing on “climate change denial” is counterproductive, 2023,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 
• People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies, 2025, The Conversation 
• Public support for climate policies and its ideological predictors across countries of the Global North and Global South, 2025, Ecological Economics 
• Navigating sustainable futures: The role of terminal and instrumental values, 2024, Ecological Economics 
• German elections: why most political parties aren’t talking about the climate crisis, 2025,   The Conversation 

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From widespread industrial pollution to emerging as a green powerhouse, China’s economic evolution shows how grassroots activism has pushed ecological issues to the political forefront.  

Tianjie and Bertie discuss China’s green evolution, Pan Yue’s introduction of environmental nationalism (now championed by Xi Jinping), flawed provincial reporting, and whether the country’s model can be sustained. 

Ma Tianjie is a freelance writer and environmental activist based in Beijing. He worked as Greenpeace’s Program Director for Mainland China until 2015, and then as Director of China Dialogue Beijing until 2022. His book, In Search of Green China, was published in February 2025 by Polity Press. Buy it here.  

Audio engineering by Vasco Kostovski. 

Further reading: 

Après moi, le deluge: how a fight over garbage challenged China’s growth model, Land and Climate Review, 2025  

Researchers unveil roadmap for a carbon neutral China by 2060, Modern Diplomacy, 2020 

Clearing the skies: how Beijing tackled air pollution & what lies ahead Sustainable Mobility, 2023 

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A UK government agency recently announced it would spend £57 million on a controversial project to develop geoengineering technologies.   

The Exploring Climate Cooling Programme will fund 21 international research teams to conduct small-scale, controlled outdoor experiments to thicken Arctic sea ice and brighten clouds, to prevent global warming from increasing past irreversible tipping points. 

Geoengineering has long been a point of contention amongst scientists, environmental academics and conspiracy theorists - each firm in their beliefs about whether such interventions are necessary, effective, or risk irreversibly damaging the planet. 

Alasdair speaks with two academics studying geoengineering - Albert Van Wijngaarden and Adrian Hindes - who call for nuanced understanding and more productive conversation between the advocates and opposers of such radical interventions. They discuss the history of polar and solar geoengineering, the risks involved, and the lack of global governance. 

If you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned - we plan to explore geoengineering in more detail in the future. 

Further reading:  

Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded, October 2024, Albert Van Wijngaarden and Adrian Hindes 

Do-or-Die: Should we be talking about geoengineering?, December 2022, Land and Climate Review 

Soviet and Russian perspectives on geoengineering and climate management - Oldfield, J. D., & Poberezhskaya, M. (2023). .Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews

Controversial geoengineering projects to test Earth-cooling tech funded by UK agency, May 2025, Nature 

Not such a bright idea: cooling the Earth by reflecting sunlight back to space is a dangerous distraction, March 2024, The Conversation  

Securing the ‘great white shield’? Climate change, Arctic security and the geopolitics of solar geoengineering, August 2024, Nordic International Studies Association 

After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair and Restoration, 2019, Holly Jean Buck, Verso

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On 6th June 2023, the Nova Kakhovka dam was breached while under Russian occupation, releasing a wave of toxic pollution into Ukraine’s rivers. The number of casualties – both human and animal – may never be fully known. 

Ukraine is one of a small number of countries to include ecocide in its domestic criminal code, and the destruction of Kakhovka Dam is one of hundreds of incidents that prosecutors are studying while building environmental damages cases against Russia. On the global stage, Ukraine is leading efforts for the International Criminal Court to recognise ecocide as the fifth core international crime, alongside genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression.  

Bertie speaks to Darya Tsymbalyuk, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago, about her new book, “Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of Russia’s War.” They discuss the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, the sensory impact of war, and Tsymbalyuk’s intention to bring Ukrainian environmentalists and humanities scholars into this growing legal dialogue.  

Buy a copy of Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of Russia’s War from Polity Press here.   

Further reading: 

Destruction og Ukraine dam casued 'toxic timebomb' of heavy metals, study finds, The Guardian, March 2025 

Ukraine's Ravaged Environment, The New York Times, April 2025 

Constellations of Ukranian Thought and the Environmental Humanities, Tanya Richardson and Darya Tsymbalyuk, 2024 

What my body taught me about being a scholar of Ukraine and from Ukraine in times of Russia’s war of aggression, Springer Nature – Darya Tsymbalyuk, July 2023 

 The unlikely species entangled in Ukraine's resistance to Russia, BBC, February 2024 

A Landmine Detonates in the Woods, IWM – Darya Tsymbalyuk, October 2022 

Darya’s fundraising for Ukraine  

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In 2022, the Swedish government granted an exploitation concession to Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB — a subsidiary of British company named Beowulf Mining — to develop an open-pit iron mine in Northern Sweden. The decision has been opposed by both Indigenous and environmental activists, who have expressed concerns about the mine’s impacts on Saami communities and the surrounding ecology.

Bertie speaks to Tor Tuorda about the long history of extraction and exploitation in the region, the erasure of Saami culture, and resistance from Indigenous and environmental activists. 

Tor Tuorda is a nature photographer and Indigenous campaigner based in Jokkmokk. He is a long-time opponent of the Kallak mine, and a prominent voice in Saami activism. 

Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski. 

Further reading: 

• Read Tor's blog here [Swedish]
• 'EU’s raw materials plan an attack on Indigenous land and culture, says Saami Council', The Barents Observer, April 2025
• 'Swedish Court gives green light to controversial mining plans in Kallak', The Barents Observer, June 2024
• '‘The Klondike of ore mining’: Fighting for the Sami way of life', Al Jazeera, 2019

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Nearly half of the global agriculture market is controlled by four companies. This level of concentration - driven by decades of mergers and poor regulation - has allowed agribusiness “titans” to dominate the farming sector.  

Alasdair talks to Dr Jennifer Clapp, author of a new book about corporate domination of the farm sector and why it matters. Alasdair and Jennifer discuss how and why mass-merging has led to market distortions and high prices, and what solutions could improve the state of the sector.  

Dr. Jennifer Clapp is a Professor at the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.  

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It is becoming common for the fossil fuel industry to sue governments that attempt to decarbonise over “lost future profits.” They do so via an obscure part of international law called international-state dispute settlements (ISDS) that can allow them to extract billions in public money. 

Alasdair speaks to Eunjung Lee, a senior policy advisor at think tank E3G. The two discuss how ISDS began, how the international treaties came to being predatory, and what measures countries should take to prevent the exploitation of the claims.  

Eunjung Lee is a senior policy advisor at think tank E3G and is the lead investigator of international investment governance. She previously served as a South Korean diplomat and has worked in the Korean embassy in London. 

Further reading:  

• Investment treaties are undermining the global energy transition  - E3G 
• The climate crisis requires a new approach to international investment treaties - E3G 
• The Energy Charter Treaty remains the most dangerous investment treaty to the energy transition - E3G 
• Clean investments shun Investor-State Dispute Settlements - E3G 
•  Investor-state disputes threaten the global green energy transition | Science 
• “Shocking and sad”: how corporations use investment agreements to block decarbonisation in the Global South - Land and Climate Review 
•  How Exxon is using international law to sue the Dutch government   

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With India kicking off 2025 with an historic space-docking experiment, and Elon Musk's growing power in the US government raising questions over the future of his spacecraft and satellite companies SpaceX and Starlink, we may be at the dawn of a new era for space exploration.

Unlike the 20th Century Space Race, however, it will likely be private companies that cross new mildstones - not public agencies. But who will regulate mining on the moon and tourism in space, and what are the environmental implications? 

Bertie talks about these issues with D. Raghunandan, Director of the Delhi Science Forum, as well as discussing the positive contributions of the space sector towards climate and environmental science. 

Further reading: 

• 'Indian Space Sector on a High This Year', News Click, February 2025
• 'Mining the moon for minerals could be worth billions, but astronomers warn it's bad news for science', Business Insider, February 2025
• 'India File: Jostling for position in the space race', Reuters, January 2025
• 'How Elon Musk’s partnership with Trump could shape science in the US — and beyond', Nature, December 2024
• 'Donald Trump’s approach to US space policy could throw up some surprises, especially with Elon Musk on board', Durham University, November 2024
• 'The dark side of SpaceX’s flight of innovation', People's Dispatch, November 2023

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Alasdair speaks to journalist Margot Gibbs about her investigation into a US government-funded PR firm that profiled pesticide scientists. 

Last autumn, Lighthouse Reports - in collaboration with media partners across Europe - published an investigation into v-Fluence, a US-based PR firm that worked to discredit anti-pesticide scientists and campaigners.

Alasdair speaks to Margot Gibbs, a journalist who led the investigation, about its findings and what it reveals about the agro-chemicals lobby.

Margot Gibbs is an investigative reporter at Lighthouse Reports focusing on money trails and food systems reporting. Before joining Lighthouse she was a reporter for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Finance Uncovered. 

 Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.

Further reading:

• 'US-funded ‘social network’ attacking pesticide critics shuts down after Guardian investigation', The Guardian, February 2025
• 'Poison PR', Lighthouse Reports, September 2024
• 'How the US agrochemical lobby is meddling in the future of Kenyan farming', The New Humanitarian, September 2024
• 'Secret files suggest chemical giant feared weedkiller’s link to Parkinson’s disease', The Guardian, October 2022
• '"Monsanto papers": the pesticide giant's war against science', Le Monde, June 2017
• Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, 2010

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