The Sustainable Futures Report

The Sustainable Futures Report episodes:

• 11.30.2023

  And finally - time to move on.

  This is the Sustainable Futures Report for Thursday, the 30th of November, and finally, it's time to move on.   This is the 477th episode and the final episode after 15 years of publication. After careful consideration I’ve decided that...

  
• 09.20.2023

  Having a Think - Back in January

  I need to take stock and make the Sustainable Futures Report as relevant and interesting to you the listener as I can. I'm going to develop ideas for the theme and the content. To do that I'm taking a break...

  
• 08.17.2023

  The Greenpeace Debate with Anthony Day on TalkTV

  This is an unexpected bonus edition of the Sustainable Futures Report for Thursday 17th August. Last Saturday, I was asked if I would appear on TalkTV to talk about the Greenpeace action when they sat on the roof of the...

  
• 08.10.2023

  ACTIONS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE

  Sharon Lashley, managing Director of Climate Action North, explains how to make a difference. Choose things you can achieve. Attempting the impossible will only make you want to give up.

  
• 08.03.2023

  Why Just Stop Oil calls Rishi Sunak worse than a War Criminal

  "Sunak is worse than a war criminal," says Just Stop Oil. "He knows new oil and gas will impose unimaginable suffering and destroy the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. He knows that it will push the world past...

  
• 07.27.2023

  How Businesses Can Fix the Future

  I talk to Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of Futerra, author, sustainability expert and optimist. She explains how the professionals in PR, Marketing, Accountancy, Lobbying and the Legal profession can smooth the way for the fossil industries and major polluters, or...

  
• 07.20.2023

  Solving the Climate Emergency - is it too late?

  Thoughts on managing the message, political indifference, the UK's skills and infrastructure problems and a plea to the UN to act on inequality. Also the problems with charging your EV and startling insights from my barber.

  
• 07.13.2023

  Graphite: why this form of carbon is vital to a low-carbon future.

  Everyone knows about lithium, and about how it’s used in batteries for almost every electronic device, but lithium is only part of the story. I talk to John DeMaio, CEO Graphex Technologies and President of Graphene Division of the Graphex...

  
• 07.06.2023

  Just Stop Oil - Right or Wrong?

  Just Stop Oil. Are they getting it right or are they getting it wrong? I have a view from inside the oil industry. Can protest and free speech survive in the face of new laws, and legal procedures which can...

  
• 06.29.2023

  Net Zero Transition

  This week I'm talking about transitions with a webinar from Business Green and a warning from energy company, Ithaca. There's a report and a letter to the prime minister from the Climate Change Committee, and what did happen at that...

  
• 06.22.2023

  News from All Quarters

  There are still many people who are determined to deny the dangers of the climate emergency with refusal to face facts or even by supporting censorship. There are lots of stories at the moment about the climate, principally about soaring...

  
• 06.15.2023

  Watery World

  Today we have a follow-up on last week’s methane story, a reminder of World Refill Day and I reveal why we’re burning more coal this week. In other news I ask who’s in the driving seat, or is the seat...

  
• 06.08.2023

  Methane

  Today, I'll bring you items about electric cars, about Western Australia's personality of the year, and about the controversy over the President of COP 28. First, though, I'm going to talk about methane. 

  
• 06.01.2023

  The Global Good

  If you work hard on making your organisation sustainable, isn't it nice to be recognised? Karen Sutton founded the Global Good Awards. Here's how it happened.

  
• 05.25.2023

  Net Zero - and Other Stories

  A wide-ranging interview with James Murray, Editor in Chief of Business Green. Our conversation included the role of China, carbon capture and storage, the resignation of the CEO of Verra (the offset certification body) and even the sponsorship by Drax...

  
• 05.18.2023

  Getting Warmer

  The WMO warns that we will hit 1.5℃ within the next two or three years. How is the legal profession approaching climate issues and climate-damaging clients, and why are cyclists bad for the economy?

  
• 05.10.2023

  Locking On

  Yes, the King’s coronation has taken place and we’ll hear more about that a bit later. Well, not so much about the coronation itself as about what went on on the sidelines. If you can't stand the heat take it...

  
• 05.03.2023

  Consumer is King (or Queen)

  This week I talk to Tim Clover, CEO and founder of Glow, a consumer research technology company, about how ESG influences consumer choices. Comments also on that book - How to Blow Up a Pipeline - and a warning about...

  
• 04.26.2023

  The Big One

  Extinction Rebellion held a four-day demonstration in Whitehall last weekend. Will it make any difference? Or should we blow up a pipeline?

  
• 04.19.2023

  Food for Thought

  An interview with Leo Taylor, CEO of YumBug. A man who is bringing insect-based cuisine to a pub or restaurant near you.

  
• 04.12.2023

  Truth & Lies

  The Threat from Artificial Intelligence ... and a long promised review of micro-mobility             ...

  
• 03.29.2023

  Biodiversity - Risks to Directors

  Much of our environment is at risk from more than Climate Change. It is at risk from human activity damaging biodiversity, and in some cases driving parts of it to extinction. Who cares and who is responsible? Well increasingly governments...

  
• 03.22.2023

  Not a Moment to Lose

  The AR6 report from the IPCCwill be the main story today so I'm going to hold over micro mobility and 15 minute communities until I can spend enough time on them to do them justice. But we’ll also have time...

  
• 03.17.2023

  Special Edition - Insurance

  I recently had the opportunity to talk to Christophe Bourguignat about insurance in the context of natural disasters and the climate crisis.

  
• 03.15.2023

  Power of the Press

  This week I'm talking about the power of the press, about how the rich view the climate crisis and what are they doing about it, how NASA is saving the world and a different perspective on one of the...

  
• 03.08.2023

  Offsets - The Truth

  I promised you more detail on the carbon offset controversy which was started by a report in the press last month. Here's an interview with someone with firsthand knowledge of the market, Chief Impact Officer and co-founder of Compensate,...

  
• 03.01.2023

  Regenesis

  This week’s headline is Regenesis, the title of a book by George Monbiot. I'll tell you what I think and indeed what others think about his latest ideas. I'm also bringing you a few stories that you might have missed;...

  
• 02.22.2023

  WORDS

  Each week I write between 2,000 and 4,000 words to bring you an episode of the Sustainable Futures Report. I also write to the paper from time time and sometimes I get published...

  
• 02.15.2023

  The Role of Law

  Is the law an ass? Or is it something more sinister?

  
• 02.08.2023

  Just Stop It!

  Sustainability news doesn’t stop, nor does the weather, nor do GHG emissions. I’ve a bit of catching up to do, including XR, more extreme weather, wood burning stoves, the government’s environmental plan, FOMO and FOFO, the controversy over Verra and...

  
• 02.01.2023

  Sustainable Leadership

  If we are to preserve a habitable environment and successfully meet the challenge of the climate crisis our organisations need competent, sustainable leadership. I spoke to Clarke Murphy, who knows about these things.

  
• 01.25.2023

  Save Our Seas

  My guest this week, Leonardo Zangrando, wants to save the oceans and wants to inspire 100 million people to help him do that. Sounds a lot, although given that world population passed 8 billion last year is it really a...

  
• 01.18.2023

  ForestPlanet

  Trees are good for the planet. Hank Dearden explains how trees do so much more for us than just sequester carbon. We can all help too!

  
• 01.11.2023

  Shift to Clean Energy - on Land and Sea

  Today I'm talking to Paul Hughes about new applications for batteries. How they can store energy, save energy, save money and cut carbon emissions.

  
• 01.04.2023

  The Time is RIPE

  There are now 8,000 million people (8 billion) across the world. Every one of those has to be fed. The RIPE project has been ongoing for decades at sites in different parts of the world. Its aim...

  
• 12.28.2022

  rePurpose Global and your Plastic Footprint

  In the final part of our series on the management of waste I bring you an interview with Peter Wang Hjemdahl of rePurpose Global. As I mentioned last week, his organisation aims to help you get your plastic footprint under...

  
• 12.21.2022

  Christmas Review of the Year

  This week I’m looking back on 2022. I’ve published 62 episodes over the year - about 150,000 words. Thank you for listening and thank you for your feedback. In this episode I’m going to look at what concerned us this...

  
• 12.14.2022

  The Texas Trash Talker

  Waste has a cost. It's a cost to the environment in terms of pollution. It's a cost to the world as lost resources. Increasingly it's a cost to the producer, through  the cost of disposal or even through fines....

  
• 12.07.2022

  Special Edition - Barclays Seven Found Guilty

  In April 2021 seven women took hammers and chisels to the office of Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf, London and cracked the glass panels of the facade. They put up posters saying, “In case of climate emergency break glass.” They...

  
• 12.07.2022

  The Material Library of India

  The idea of the circular economy is to use, reuse and recycle materials to minimise the amount that we have to take from virgin resources. In an ideal world there is no such thing as a waste. When something is...

  
• 11.30.2022

  Cossham on Carbon (and many other things)

  To give you some pointers on how to control your carbon footprint I'm talking this time to John Cossham. And not just about being green and cutting carbon, but our wide-ranging discussions included population, changing the system, being vegan or...

  
• 11.23.2022

  COP27 - It's All Over

  It's over. Cop 27 has finished even though it ran on for several days after its scheduled closing. An agreement was reached at the last minute! But where have we heard all this before? ...

  
• 11.16.2022

  All Change in Australia

  I've been promising you a review of what's been going on from an environmental point of view since Anthony Albanese's Labor government took office in May. I spoke to Dr Simon Wright. He’s Director at Simply Sustainable Consulting and Research...

  
• 11.09.2022

  Highway to Climate Hell

  This week the United Nations climate conference, cop 27, opened and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres set the tone with the warning that, "We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.” UK Prime Minister...

  
• 11.02.2022

  Best Foot Forward

  Measuring your personal carbon footprint is a first step towards taking action to combat the climate crisis. It's a first step and a small step and there is much more to be done. Recent reports make that abundantly clear. So...

  
• 10.26.2022

  Meat: the Future

  Can we produce meat without farming and without slaughtering livestock? I spoke to Daan Luining, co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Meatable.       ...

  
• 10.19.2022

  LookingForward

  In the news this week: .. a couple of protests and plans for a further crackdown on protesters. Could there be yet another government U-turn, this time in favour of sustainability? There is a video you should see and I'll...

  
• 10.12.2022

  Sustainable Oceans

  An interview with Daniela Fernandez, founder of the Sustainable Oceans Alliance. Image by rawpixel.com

  
• 10.05.2022

  Good News!

  I've called this one Good News for two reasons, one is that I want to attract your attention and secondly because I don't want the Sustainable Futures Report to be seen as a litany of bad news.

  
• 09.28.2022

  On the Brink

  We're on the brink of massive changes. This week I'm going to talk about the UK government, though not about its financial management. There is a report from the world meteorological organisation as more extreme weather events are reported. A...