The world's newest environmental treaty will protect the high seas - those parts of the ocean that belong to no nation. These marine waters extend over about half the planet.

This ambitious treaty recently won the world's most prestigious environmental prize - the Earthshot prize for reviving our oceans.

The prize was accepted on behalf of the treaty by the director of the High Seas Alliance - Rebecca Hubbard. In this episode, Track Changes hosts Franziska and Murray do a virtual 'trip' to Rio to recreate that well-deserved prize-winning moment at the 2025 Earthshot prizes. And then we chat with Rebecca, who explains how the treaty was developed and what it will do.

It's an inspiring episode - enjoy!

The proposed Melanesian Ocean Reserve is an ambitious proposal to protect more than six million square kilometres of incredibly biodiverse ocean, centred on the waters of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia.

In this episode, we talk to globally renowned politician Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's Climate Change and Environment Minister, who is playing a leading role in bringing the Reserve into being.

Ralph was a leading figure in securing UN General Assembly support to seek an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the climate change obligations of nation states.

And he is now spearheading efforts to make that landmark ICJ opinion the baseline for policy-making and decision-making on climate change.

Enjoy the episode!

Will the UN COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, be a success?

Will it be a COP that explicitly aims for 'Tropical Forests Forever' and tacitly leaves the world in a 'fossil fuels forever' mindset? Or will it be a COP where there is action across the board?

And what is likely to happen on the crucial issue of providing finance to developing countries to help them reduce emissions and adapt to climate change and disruption?

In this episode, two senior journalists from the Carbon Pulse news service - Allison Gacad and Mark Tilly - share their insights about this make-or-break COP.

It's important to face up to the destructive nature of the Queensland LNP's so-called energy roadmap, and related LNP moves that make it much harder for renewable energy projects to get assessed, let alone approved.

The LNP has gone rogue on energy, barely maintaining any pretence of treating the renewables sector fairly. And if there is to be an energy transition in Queensland, it will be despite the LNP state government, not because of it.

In this special episode, Queensland Opposition Leader Steven Miles discusses the LNP's roadmap, and talks about what it means for the state, and for the nation.

Some industry groups have for years succeeded in undermining effective climate policies. And there's no sign of them stopping.

In this episode, Christian Downie discusses his impressive work on how these industry associations operate - and his findings on the eye-watering amounts of money they spend. Plus we do a deep dive on some of them - including the Australian Energy Producers, and the Minerals Council of Australia. And we also discuss Manufacturing Australia's current fossil gas campaign.

Christian is a Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University, and he's also director of the ANU's Governing Energy Transitions Lab. As well as teaching at ANU, he's taught at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics. Christian has also been an advisor to several government departments, and he's co-edited a new book called Climate Obstruction - A Global Assessment.

And particularly relevant to today's chat, he has a strong research interest in how some business associations have stymied good climate policy. Enjoy!

The most feasible short-term approach to decarbonising commercial shipping is not green ammonia or green methanol - and definitely not LNG - it's wind, says Andrew Dickson.

Andrew has worked on big solar, hydrogen and wind projects, and he reckons high-tech wind assisted shipping propulsion is the easiest place to start. That's because scaling green maritime fuels - while it needs to be done - is so complex and will take such a long time. With wind, there's no fuel supply (bunkering) issues, no dangerous substances, no complex new crew training requirements, and it's retrofittable. And it can result in a meaningful cut in emissions. (And no, it's not a deck covered in turbines, and it's not your standard sail). And a bonus chat with Carbon Pulse Asia Pacific editor Mark Tilly, who gives a policy perspective on cutting maritime emissions, with the goal of net zero by 2050.

Co-hosted by Murray Griffin and Dr Franziska Curran.

A panel-pod on the scourge of climate disinformation and misinformation - "the firehose of falsehoods" as one panellist poetically puts it!

We need to understand which groups are running climate change disinformation and misinformation campaigns - and who is funding them - if we are to make progress.

"We don't need to change the minds of everyone in society to get climate action - we just need to activate enough people!"

Featuring three people involved in a landmark new book called Climate Obstruction - A Global Assessment - out from Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/climate-obstruction-9780197787144?cc=au&lang=en&

Timmons Roberts is a co-editor of the book, and Melissa Aronczyk and John Cook are two of the many contributors to it. Tune in (and read the book too - it's terrific!)

Track Changes is a podcast for those active in the climate and sustainability bubble, and for the bubble curious. It features chats with climate and sustainability experts, and it's presented by Melbourne-based communications advisor - and former climate journalist - Murray Griffin.

Tony Chappel, chief executive of the NSW EPA, talks about the authority's groundbreaking new proposals to help make sure NSW meets its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

Tony talks about the steps the NSW EPA will take to ensure large emitters cut carbon pollution, and to make sure these companies tell the public what they emit and what they're doing about it. And he talks about how the NSW proposals differ from federal emissions reduction legislation, and how the two regulatory regimes will interact.

You can find the proposed NSW greenhouse gas guidance materials at https://yoursay.epa.nsw.gov.au/climate-change-licensee-requirements.

Then, Carbon Pulse North America editor Allison Gacad has some great insights to share on what the US EPA achieved under the Obama and Biden Administrations, and what has happened under the Trump Administration. She'll also talk about how US states are responding to the Trump Administration rollbacks.

A wide-ranging interview with Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta.

The President talks about climate change, the country's oil and gas reserves, and the nation's support for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative. And he also talks about inequities in the global financial system, as well as his expectations for this year's UN 'COP30' climate summit, and next year's 'COP31' summit.

You can find out more about the President on his official website https://ramoshorta.com/.

You can find out more about Rai Matak here https://pollinationgroup.com/rai-matak/.

In this episode, Productivity Commissioner Barry Sterland chats about the Commission's new, interim clean energy and net zero report - and he touches on the other major new Commission report he has co-authored, on tax and regulatory reform. Tune in to hear what this very productive Productivity Commissioner - who is one of Australia's top climate and economic policy experts - has to say about the electricity market, environmental approvals, large emitters, carbon credits, and housing resilience!

You can find the Commission's report at https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/net-zero/interim.

Here at Track Changes we love feedback! Email your comments, episode suggestions etc to [email protected]. And if you like the episode, please rate it, and share it with colleagues - it helps us grow into a bigger, better podcast - thanks for tuning in!