The Economy, Land & Climate Podcast

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 ReviewsControversial 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, VersoClick here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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  Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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, 2019Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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.  Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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   Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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 2023Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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 2017Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, 2010Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 shocked global energy markets, and changed the EU's long and short-term plans for decarbonisation. But how have three years of conflict changed Ukraine's own policies and plans around energy security and net zero? Bertie discusses this issue with Ukrainian economist Maksym Chepeliev, Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Global Trade Analysis, Purdue University, USA. Read Professor Chepeliev's research: 'Net-Zero Transition in Ukraine: Implications for Sustainable Development Goal 7',  Aligning the Energy Transition with the Sustainable Development Goals, 2024'Can Ukraine go “green” on the post-war recovery path?', Joule, 2023'What is the future of nuclear power in Ukraine? The role of war, techno-economic drivers, and safety considerations', Energy Policy, 2023'The role of bioenergy in Ukraine's climate mitigation policy by 2050', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021See our previous episodes on: nuclear power and net-zero, in which we discuss security concerns about Zaporizhzhiamilitary emissions, in which we discuss the carbon cost of the Russia-Ukraine Warthe future of Russian oil, from 2022Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

In a recently published report, “Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests”,  Dr. Oscar Berglund and his colleagues identified four key mechanisms through which climate and environmental protests are repressed: the introduction of new anti-protest laws, the broadening use of existing legislation, excessive policing and killings and disappearances of activists. Alasdair and Oscar discuss the findings of the report and the ways in which the clampdown on climate protest represents a threat to both democracy and net zero targets. Oscar Berglund is Senior Lecturer in International Public and Social Policy in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol. He is an expert on climate change activism and civil disobedience.Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading:Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests, University of Bristol, 2024Civic Activism in an Intensifying Climate Crisis, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2024 Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action, Columbia University Press, 2024Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

“The capitalist system is necessarily built on creating ecological crises.” Bertie speaks to Ståle Holgersen about his new book Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World, in which he argues that, contrary to popular economic thought, economic crises are not triggered by ecological ones but instead the capitalist economy benefits from ecological crises. Bertie and Ståle discuss the ways in which crises are defined, the drawbacks to arguments for degrowth and the potential solutions to the climate emergency. Ståle Holgersen is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Stockholm University and a member of the Zetkin Collective, an ecosocialist group of scholars and activists primarily working on the political ecologies of the far right.Against the Crisis was published last month and is available to buy from Verso here.Further reading:Read an extract from Against the Crisis on Land and Climate Review. White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism, The Zetkin Collective, 2021Searching for “Solutions” to Crisis: A Critique of Urban Austerity and Keynesianism, Uppsala University, 2018Destroy what destroys the planet: Steering creative destruction in the dual crisis, Uppsala University, 2016Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

One month ago, Prabowo Subianto was inaugurated as the new president of Indonesia. An investigation by The Gecko Project has revealed that Subianto has invested in or owned companies involved with rainforest logging, coal mining, palm oil production, and industrial fishing - but many of the companies appear to be inactive. Do these investments representing potentially concerning conflicts of interest, or are they par for the course? Are his own claims of enormous wealth accurate or exaggerated? Alasdair speaks to the author of the Gecko Project research, Margareth Aritonang, who is also the Pulitzer Center's 2024 Rainforest Investigations Fellow for Indonesia. Further reading: Read Margareth's reporting here. 'Activists fear supercharged ‘business as usual' under Indonesia's new president', Mongabay, November 2024The 'Indonesian environmental activists keep dying in suspicious circumstances', Gecko Project, September 2024 Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

This year, Land and Climate Review's first investigative series has documented more than 11,000 breaches of environmental law at North American wood pellet mills. Alasdair MacEwen speaks to Camille Corcoran, whose recent reporting was published with The Times in the UK, and Bertie Harrison-Broninski, who normally co-hosts with Alasdair, but here discusses Land and Climate Review's Canadian investigations, which were featured on BBC Newsnight. They discuss the process of uncovering environmental violations at wood pellet mills owned by Drax Group, which operates the UK's largest power station, and how residents in Mississippi and British Columbia say they have been affected by the pollution from the mills. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski and Podcast House. Read the investigations: ‘Drax-owned facilities broke environmental rules more than 11,000 times in the US', Land and Climate Review, November 2024‘The Dirty Business of Clean Energy: The U.K. Power Company Polluting Small Towns Across the U.S.', The Intercept, September 2024‘Drax's pellet mills violated environmental law 189 times in Canada', Land and Climate Review, May 2024‘Drax faces penalty after Canadian biomass plant fails to submit pollution report', The Independent, October 2023Related episodes: Are Canada's sustainable forestry claims accurate? - with Richard Robertson from Stand.EarthDoes bioenergy increase CO2 emissions more than burning coal? - with John Sterman from MITWhat is BECCS and what does it mean for climate policy? - with Daniel Quiggin from Chatham HouseClick here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

As the UN Biodiversity Conference draws to a close Bertie speaks to María Arango, a lawyer at the international human rights organization Forest People's Programme, about the impacts of the sugar cane industry on Black communities in the Cauca River Valley region of western Colombia. A new report titled The Green Illusion finds that more than 80% of the region's wetlands have been drained in order to plant sugar cane, resulting in Afro-descendant peoples being displaced from their ancestral lands and stripped of vital resources.Bertie and María discuss the report's findings and how international summits such as COP16 present key opportunities to protect the rights of Indigenous people that live in biodiversity hotspots.Further reading: Read the full report: The Green Illusion: Impacts of the Sugar Cane Monoculture on the Biodiversity and Livelihoods of the Black People in the Cauca River Valley, October 2024The Green Monster: Human Rights Impacts of the Sugarcane Industry on Black Communities in Colombia, June 2021'Colombia's cane industry efficient but potentially damaging', Mongabay, March 2017Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

“In 2022, Indonesia only consumed about 70,000 tonnes of wood for electricity. In 2023, we consumed almost half a million.”Alasdair speaks to Timer Manurung, Chairman of the Indonesian NGO Auriga Nusantara, about a new report he worked on with five other environmental charities. Titled Unheeded Warnings, the report warns that the Indonesian government's plans for biomass power risk harming 10 million hectares of untouched primary forest, and "the deforestation of an area roughly 35 times the size of Jakarta — resulting in CO2 emissions almost five hundred times higher than current levels.”Alasdair and Timer discuss the investigation process, the scale of these potential impacts, and the Indonesian Government. To see photos from Timer's investigation, click here. Further reading: Read the full report, which includes maps outlining the threatened and logged forest areas: Unheeded Warnings: Forest Biomass Threats to Tropical Forests in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, Auriga Nusantara, October 2024'Rush to Burn Wood for Energy Threatens Indonesian and Southeast Asian Forests & Communities', Auriga Nusantara, October 2024'The President's new clothes', The Gecko Project, October 2024Bioenergy Explained, Land and Climate Review, 2022Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Bertie speaks to Sherri Goodman about her new book, Threat Multiplier:Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security. From 1993-2001, Sherri Goodman served as the first US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security, making her the Pentagon's Chief Environmental Officer. She then went on to help deliver influential reports that helped to establish climate change as a national security threat in the US.  Threat Multiplier documents key environmental and climatic challenges during her career, such as negotiations around the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, and managing geopolitical risk in the Arctic as melting permafrost changes the ocean landscape.Goodman is now Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, and a Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center.  Further reading: Click here to buy Threat Multiplier from Island Press. 'A career spent trying to make the military care about climate change', The Washington Post, August 2024'The US Department of Defense's Role in Integrating Climate Change into Security Planning', New Security Beat, May 2024'Changing climates for Arctic security', The Wilson Quaterly, 2017National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, 2007Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Last week, Greenpeace Africa published their new report “Fast Fashion, Slow Poison: The Toxic Textile Crisis in Ghana”. The report outlines the shocking environmental and public health impact of the second-hand clothing industry in Ghana - revealing that every week, up to half a million items of clothing from the Kantamanto Market in Accra end up discarded in open spaces and informal dumpsites.Bertie speaks to the report's author, Sam Quashie-Idun, about his findings, who is responsible for the harmful textile imports and what can be done to alleviate the problem. Sam Quashie-Idun is Head of Investigations at Greenpeace Africa and a member of Land and Climate Review's investigations unit. You can read the report here and watch Sam's Instagram video summarising its findings here.Further reading: Poisoned Gifts, Greenpeace, 2023How to Ensure Waste Colonialism is Not Written Into Law and That Fashion's Biggest Polluters Have to Change, The Or Foundation, 2023‘‘It's like a death pit': how Ghana became fast fashion's dumping ground', The Guardian, 2023‘European secondary textile sector ‘on the brink of collapse'', Recycling International, 2024Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

In 2015, 196 countries signed the Paris Agreement, a legally binding treaty with the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.Since then, climate planning has increasingly revolved around overshooting this target, with the hope that temperature levels can be brought back down in later decades. Temperature overshoot models are now the default, but also a cause of scientific concern, as the devastating impacts of crossing this threshold may not be reversible. In their new book Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown, Andreas Malm and Wim Carton study this risky approach to policy, and the economic interests that they theorise have led to it. Alasdair spoke to them both about the new book. Andreas Malm is Associate Professor of Human Ecology at Lund University, and the celebrated author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, among other works. Wim Carton is Associate Professor of Sustainability Science at Lund University, and the author of over 20 academic articles and book chapters on climate politics.Further reading: Buy Overshoot from Verso Books'The overshoot myth: you can't keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C', The Conversation, August 2024'Why Carbon Capture and Storage matters: overshoot, models, and money', Land & Climate Review, 2022'What does the IPCC say about carbon removal?', Land & Climate Review, 2022'Global warming overshoots increase risks of climate tipping cascades in a network model', Nature Climate Change, 2022'Overshooting tipping point thresholds in a changing climate', Nature Climate Change, 2021'Carbon Unicorns and Fossil Futures: Whose Emission Reduction Pathways Is the IPCC Performing?', in Has It Come to This? The Promises and Perils of Geoengineering on the Brink, 2020How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire, Verso Books, 2020Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Many governments are wary of providing transparency around their militaries' emissions, and campaigners can be hesitant to focus on the carbon footprint of conflicts, rather than more obviously humanitarian issues. But Ukraine has helped to shift opinion this year, after pushing for more accountability for wartime environmental harm. Recent estimates put the CO2e cost of Russia's invasion of Ukraine at 175 million tonnes, and day to day military operations - not including conflicts - at a staggering 5.5% of global emissions.Bertie spoke to Lindsey Cottrell, Environmental Policy Officer at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, about the military emissions gap in carbon accounting, and the campaign for UNFCCC rules to be changed to acknowledge it.  Further reading: 'Russia's war with Ukraine accelerating global climate emergency, report shows', The Guardian, June 2024'Revealed: repairing Israel's destruction of Gaza will come at huge climate cost', The Guardian, June 2024'National climate action plans must include military emissions', CEOBS Blog, June 2024'UNEA-6 passes resolution on environmental assistance and recovery in areas affected by armed conflict', CEOBS Blog, March 2024'Does reporting military emissions data really threaten national security?', CEOBS Blog, February 2024'Ticking boxes: are military climate mitigation strategies fit for purpose?', CEOBS Blog, February 2024 Estimating the Military's Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 2022Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Alasdair speaks to Jonas Algers about steel decarbonisation; what the options are, where there are challenges, and what is happening so far.  Jonas Algers is a PhD candidate at Lund University, Sweden, researching steel decarbonisation policy.  Further reading: 'Leading with Industrial Policy: Lessons for Decarbonization from Swedish Green Steel', Roosevelt Institute, 2024'Phase-in and phase-out policies in the global steel transition', Climate Policy, 2024'Building a stronger steel transition: Global cooperation and procurement in construction', One Earth, 2023'Paris compatible steel capacity: Contraction and replacement for zero emissions', Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund university, 2023Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Bertie speaks to fashion expert and journalist Alden Wicker about her book To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick - and How We Can Fight Back. Drawing from case studies in Alden's book, they discuss the health risks with chemicals modern clothing is often treated with, and whether there has been enough research and regulation on the issue.Further reading: Buy To Dye For from Penguin Random House. Visit Alden's website, EcoCult, for more reporting on these issues. 'Hitting the gym or going to yoga? Your workout clothes could be doing more harm than you realize', CNN, 2023 'That Organic Cotton T-Shirt May Not Be as Organic as You Think', New York Times, 2022'Sick of smelly, plastic clothes? Blame oil and industrial farming', Land & Climate Review, 2023Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Alasdair speaks to former politician and French investigating magistrate Eva Joly about corporate corruption, tax evasion, and how these issues relate to the climate crisis. They reflect on her investigation into financial corruption at the French oil giant Elf Aquitaine, and her current campaign work with the International Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT). Further reading: Tax Wars, ICRICT'Global minimum tax on multinationals goes live to raise up to $220bn', Financial Times, 2024'McDonald's to pay more than €1B to settle French tax case', Politico, 2022It is time for a global asset registry to tackle hidden wealth, ICRICT, 2022'L`affaire Elf en résumé', Challenges, 2007Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Ed speaks to Brett Christophers about his new book The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won't Save the Planet.Brett Christophers is a professor of human geography at Uppsala University's Institute for Housing and Urban Research and the author of four books on economic geography and political economy.Brett and Ed discuss the commodification of electricity, the role of the state in renewable energy projects and why markets can't be relied on to decarbonise the energy sector. The Price is Wrong  was published in February and is available to buy from Verso books here. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski. Further listening:  'Are markets the right tool for decarbonizing electricity?', Volts, 2024'Everything You're Told About Green Capitalism Is Wrong', Novara Media, 2024Further reading: 'Antimarket', London Review of Books, 2024'The Price is Wrong - Brett Christophers on saving the planet', Financial Times, 2024Other books by Brett:Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World, 2023Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It?, 2020The New Enclosure: The Appropriation of Public Land in Neoliberal Britain, 2018Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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 for 15% of farmland.Bhutan may be small, but on this issue it's a global outlier. Motivated by its policy to measure development in Gross National Happiness rather than GDP, the South Asian nation has been slowly working towards becoming 100% organic since 2012 - and now has a target date of 2035.Bertie spoke to Dr Sonam Tashi, an organic agriculture expert and Dean of Research & Industrial Linkages at the College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan, to hear about how Bhutan's organic transition is going.Further reading: 'Bhutan's challenges and prospects in becoming a 100% organic country', Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung Asia Global Dialogue, 2022Case Studies of Successful Farmers, Agri-enterprises and Farmers' Groups and Cooperatives in Bhutan, 2022'Farmers' perception on transitioning to organic agriculture (OA) in Tsirang district, Bhutan', Research Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 2022'Bridging the Gap between the Sustainable Development Goals and Happiness Metrics', International Journal of Community Well-Being, 2019'Gross national happiness in Bhutan: the big idea from a tiny state that could change the world', The Guardian, 2012Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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 forests, the power of trees to influence their local ecosystems and what modern forestry gets wrong.How Trees Can Save the World was published in March and is available to buy from Harper Collins here. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading:  'Climate crisis is exposing hard truths about commercial forestry', Land and Climate Review, 2024'What should we do if the spruce dies out as our supertree?' [German language], Der Standard, 2024'After the spruce dieback: Can the forest heal itself?' [German language], National Geographic, 2024'German forest under severe stress' [German language], Forest Condition Report 2022'The spruce tree is dying of thirst' [German language], Spektrum.de, 2022Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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 Faustine discuss the Nature Restoration Law, reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy and what the upcoming European elections might mean for the future of EU agriculture.Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading: NGOs unite against EU's rollback of green policies for the agrifood sector, EuractivEurope is not prepared for rapidly growing climate risks, European Environment Agency Open letter from the ECVC and IFOAM to Ursula Von der Leyen on CAP simplification, European Coordination Via Campesina  European Pact for the Future, European Environmental Bureau Orbán-backed Think Tank Courts Farmers Linked to Far Right Ahead of EU Poll, DesmogClick here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

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 discuss the future of the US farm bill, the adverse climate effects of crop insurance and the influence agrochemical lobbies have on agriculture across America. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading:Peter's recent articles for the American College of Environmental Lawyers:Building on the IRA's Farm Policy MomentumHarvesting Climate Benefits from the 2024 Farm BillRipe for Change The Real Cost of FoodPeter's book:Farming for Our Future: The Science, Law, and Policy of Climate-Neutral AgricultureClick here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 the world's first long term nuclear repository, Onkalo. His book about that fieldwork, Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now, explores the idea of "shallow" and "deep" time thinking. Dr. Ialenti uses Onkalo as a case study for how policy can involve ongoing work over decades, and look ahead towards potential impacts hundreds of thousands of years into the future - if expertise is as trusted and depoliticised as it is in Finland. Bertie spoke to Vincent about the book, and how policymakers and the climate sector can think beyond the next generation or electoral cycle. Dr. Vincent Ialenti is a Research Associate at California State Polytechnic University Humboldt's Department of Environmental Studies. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading: Buy Deep Time Reckoning from MIT Press here. 'The Art of Pondering Earth's Distant Future', Scientific American, 2021'The benefits of 'deep time thinking'', BBC Future, 2023'Temporality, fiction and climate – reading Mark Bould's Anthropocene Unconscious', Land and Climate Review, 2022Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Joe Biden during his presidential campaign. Bertie and Austin discuss lobbying and state capture in the US, the history of farming deregulation, and the environmental impact of food monopolies. Barons was published last week and is available to buy from Island Press here.Further reading: Book excerpt: ‘Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry', Minnesota Reformer ‘Hidden costs, public burden: The real toll of Walmart's "always low prices"', Salon‘Do You Know Where Your Strawberries Come From?', The New Republic‘Why Austin Frerick Is Taking On The Grocery Barons', ForbesClick here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 investigation found that key promises have not been met around intercropping, and collected testimonies of alleged expropriation driven by Eni's business partners. T&E say farmers are now giving up on the projects. To hear more details, Alasdair welcomed Agathe Bounfour back to the podcast, Oil Investigations Lead at T&E. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.   Further reading: Read Agathe's op-ed about the investigation on Land and Climate Review. Read T&E's full investigation.Read The Continent's front page cover story about the investigation. Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 at Stand.Earth, and recently contributed to a report prepared by numerous NGOs, which accused the Canadian government's own forestry report of being “akin to an industry ad, promoting questionable and misleading claims.”Bertie and Richard discuss these findings, the biomass industry, certification and regulation, and whether Canadian forestry deserves its leading reputation. Further reading: Read the report by Canadian environmental organisations:  The State Of The Forest In Canada: Seeing Through The SpinRead the Canadian government's own report, which the new publication responds to: The State of Canada's ForestsRead Stand.Earth's report about their old growth satellite monitoring tool: Forest Eye: An Eye on Old Growth Destruction'Drax: UK power station still burning rare forest wood', BBC, 28/2/24Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 discuss past and future EU policy and its impact in South East Asia, and use Thailand as a case study to discuss the issue of durability with environmental reform. The Thai fishing sector's reliance on forced labour and overfishing reduced dramatically in the 2010s, but reforms may now be overturned. Further reading:'Europe already has the tools it needs to end forced labour', Land and Climate Review, 2023'Civil society urges Thai government to stop deregulation of the fisheries industry', Environmental Justice Foundation, 2023Thailand's progress in combatting IUU, forced labour & human trafficking, 2023The ever widening net: mapping the  scale, nature and corporate structures of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by the Chinese distant-water fleet, 2022A manifesto for our ocean, 2023'Denmark and Sweden press Brussels to act against UK in fishing dispute', Financial Times, 2024Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 stored underground. The extent to which carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology should be a part of climate planning is contentious, but advocates often point to Norway's long-running CCS plants as proof that it can work. Are Equinor's North Sea gas field facilities the gold standard for successful CCS, or have they had issues too? Last year, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) published a report exploring that question. Bertie spoke to the report's author and IEEFA's Strategic Energy Finance Advisor for Asia, Grant Hauber, to hear about his findings. Further reading: Norway's Sleipner and Snøhvit CCS: Industry models or cautionary tales?, IEEFA, 2023Blue hydrogen: Not clean, not low carbon, not a solution, IEEFA, 2023'Carbon capture key to reaching net-zero, but climate chief urges caution', Euronews, 7/2/24'What is happening with Carbon Capture and Storage?', Land and Climate Review, 2022'Why Carbon Capture and Storage matters: overshoot, models, and money', Land and Climate Review, 2022'Capturing and storing problems', Land and Climate Review, 2022Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 Society Centre. Dr Quiggin is an expert in the analysis of how national and global energy systems will evolve to 2050 and author of recent research on Net zero and the role of the aviation industry.Further reading:Net zero and the role of the aviation industry, Chatham House, November 2023'First net zero flight takes off but decarbonisation remains on runway', November 2023Link to the Chatham House webinar on the research:3pm GMT on Wednesday 31st January 2024Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 pollutant. After oil industry lobbying and research, the new regulated limit from 2024 will be ten times higher than the original suggestions from scientific agencies.  Read the full investigation here. Podcast editing by Vasko Kostovski. Further reading:'Action to tackle air pollution failing to keep up with research', The Guardian, 2023'Benzene and worker cancers: ‘An American tragedy'', The Center for Public Integrity, 2014Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway, 2012Doubt is Their Product: How industry's assault on science threatens your health, David Michaels, 2008 Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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.  He asked about the recent research and what value offset projects might actually have.The Land and Climate podcast is produced by Vasko KostovskiRecommended reading:‘Revealed: top carbon offset projects may not cut planet-heating', The Guardian, September 2023 ‘Gas-Lit: No, the Dubai Climate Talks Did Not Save the Planet', Newsweek, December 2023 '10 myths about net zero targets and carbon offsetting, busted', Climate Home News, December 2020‘Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation', Science, August 2023 ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Carbon Crediting',Berkeley Public Policy, September 2023  ‘The Verra Scandal Explained: why avoid deforestation credits are hazardous' London School of Economics Blogs, January 2023‘The Land Gap Report', Various, 2023 'The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets'Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 renew the controversial approval of glyphosate for another 10 years. What happened? Alasdair talks to Dr Martin Dermine, Executive Director of Pesticide Action Network Europe, about why EU regulation of agrochemicals is moving so slowly.Further reading: 'Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, is showing up in pregnant women', The Conversation, December 2023'EU Commission hosts a secret 3-day meeting with the pesticide industry as their exclusive guest', Pesticide Action Network, December 2023'Green Deal is dead', Pesticide Action Network, November 2023'Beneath the orange fields: Impact of Glyphosate on soil organisms', Pesticide Action Network, November 2023'Conservative backlash kills off EU's Green Deal push to slash pesticide use', Politico, November 2023'EU to renew herbicide glyphosate approval for 10 years', Reuters, November 2023'Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture', Nature Sustainability, 2022Listen to our previous episodes on Monsanto, EU lobbying, and Neonics.Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 title. Further reading: Read Legacy for free here. Video presentations and slides on the book's components can be found here. The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen (Harvard University Press, 2011).Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 changing climate and weather, and the deadly costs of poor planning.Also featuring our new theme music - let us know what you think! Further reading from Stephen Robert Miller: Buy Over the Seawall from Island Press.'When Climate Adaptation Backfires' in Discover Magazine'Why Are We Paying for Crop Failures in the Desert?' in Apocalypse Soon'‘White gold': why shrimp aquaculture is a solution that caused a huge problem' in The Guardian 'What Should Farmers Grow in the Desert?' in Mother Jones 'Arizona's water supplies are drying up. How will its farmers survive?' in National GeographicClick here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 Policy Research Unit, and the Chair of nonprofit institute the Nuclear Consulting Group. Dr. Dorfman is an expert in nuclear risk and has advised the Irish, UK, French and EU governments on nuclear policy. Further reading: 'Is nuclear power the key to reaching net zero?', by Paul Dorfman in The New Statesman, August 2023'Saudi nukes: A desire for energy, weapons, or just leverage?' by Stasa Salacanin in The Cradle, October 2023'The end of Oppenheimer's energy dream' by Allison Macfarlane in IAI News, July 2023'The West hasn't gone after Russia's nuclear energy. Here's why' by Clare Sebastian in CNN, March 2023'The Debate: Nuclear is already well past its sell-by date' by Paul Dorfman in The New Statesman, May 2022'Nuclear energy isn't a safe bet in a warming world – here's why' by Paul Dorfman in The Conversation, June 2021'Things fall apart' by Paul Dorfman in The Ecologist, October 2021Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 to tackle its advance.Fire Weather tells of the catastrophic wildfire in Fort McMurray in Canada in May 2016, and asks if the fire's surprising power and devastation is a harbinger for greater threats to our climate as we know it.John Vaillant's recommended further reading:Less is More by Jason HickelEnergy and Civilisation by Vaclav Smil 'Shell Knew Fossil Fuels Created Climate Change Risks Back in 1980s, Internal Documents Show' by Inside Climate NewsAudio production by Vasko Kostovski. Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 this news, Alasdair talked to Professor Jonas Fossli Gjersø (University of Stavanger) about the history of Equinor - previously Statoil - and the way it has shaped Norway's economy, history, and environmental policy.Audio production by Vasko Kostovski. Further reading: 'Britain approves huge, controversial oil and gas field in the North Sea', CNN, 27/9/23'The Great Leap Offshore: Sino-Norwegian Relations and Petro-Knowledge Transfers, 1976–1997'  by Jonas Fossli Gjersø in Enterprise and Society, 2022Commerce and politics: Statoil and Equinor 1972-2001, Eivind Thomassen, 2022'Norway wants to lead on climate change. But first it must face its legacy of oil and gas', Vox, 15/1/21'A greener shade of black? Statoil, the Norwegian government and climate change, 1990—2005' by Ada Nissen in Scandinavian Journal of History, 2021Det svarte skiftet, Eivind Trædal, 2018 [Norweigan]'A Short History of the Norwegian Oil Industry: From Protected National Champions to Internationally Competitive Multinationals' by Helge Ryggvik in Business History Review, 2015Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

 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 world.  Bart Elmore is a professor of environmental history at Ohio State University, as well as an award-winning author. Alasdair spoke to him about his 2021 book on the history of Monsanto, Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future. Further reading:Click here to buy Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future Click here to buy Bart's latest book, Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet'The herbicide dicamba was supposed to solve farmers' weed problems – instead, it's making farming harder for many of them', The Conversation, January 2022'Coca-Cola's biggest challenge in greening its operations is its own global marketing strategy', The Conversation, May 2023Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town, Ellen Griffith Spears, 2014Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2016Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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, in order to "hijack Africa's just energy transition".  Their criticism paid particular mention to international management consultancy McKinsey & Company, who were removed from the summit website and events calendar shortly after. Bertie spoke to one of the campaign leaders, Omar Elmawi, about these issues.  President Ruto has denied that the summit has been "hijacked by foreign interests", telling the BBC that "African people will truly be represented" at the summit. McKinsey declined to comment, or answer our questions, but directed us to this press conference, and the question at 0:57. Further reading:You can find the 'Real Africa Climate Summit' campaign website here, which includes the original letter.'Africa Climate Summit: Kenya's green growth pitch sparks justice concerns', African Arguments, 21/08/23'Why fury has met McKinsey's return in Nairobi summit', Daily Nation, 15/08/23'Omar Elmawi Believes In an Africa Free From Fossil Fuels', Sierra, 27/4/23The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies, Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington, 2023On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa, Léonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce, 2022Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

 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 companies may similarly be passing off unsustainable, imported vegetable oil as used cooking oil (UCO). This would have severe implications for emissions, deforestation, and the viability of a key EU climate initiative.The findings were reported by Eli Moskowitz from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Mira Sys from Follow the Money, along with Mubarek Asani from the Bosnian Center for Investigative Reporting. Bertie caught up with Eli and Mira to get the full story. Further reading: Read Eli, Mira and Mubarek's story on OCCRP here.'Multimillionaire convicted of tampering with biodiesel', Follow the Money, 22/7/23 (Dutch) 'Europe Battles Flood of Green Fuel Suspected to Be Fraudulent', Bloomberg, 27/4/23'Industry suspects fraud as flood of Chinese biodiesel destabilises market', Euractiv, 8/6/23Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 2024. Ahead of the conference, Alasdair spoke to Professor Mats Ingulstad, who is leading the TripleDeep research project at the Norweigan University of Science and Technology. They discussed the history of extraction in Norway & the development of discussions around deep sea mining, as well as the risks and rewards of this new frontier.Audio editing by Vasko Kostovski.  Further reading: 'Deep sea mining: Here's which countries oppose and support the controversial practice', Euronews, 2/8/2023'Experts agree – deep sea mining is not worth the risk', Land and Climate Review, 13/7/2023'A historical perspective on deep-sea mining for manganese nodules, 1965–2019', Ole Sparenberg'The Mining Industry: Expanding, Deepening, and Widening since the 1750s', Ingulstad et al., 2023'Marine minerals' role in future holistic mineral resource management', Ingulstad et al., 2022Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 - and that the group uses its unrivalled influence to block climate and environmental reform, and lobby for industrial farmers at the expense of smallholders. Bertie spoke to award-winning journalist Thin Lei Win, Lighthouse's Lead Food Systems Reporter, about the story.Audio editing by Vasko Kostovski. Further reading: 'Europe's Potemkin Lobby' - Lighthouse Reports 'The truth behind Europe's most powerful farmers lobby' - Politico View Copa-Cogeca's specific figures on lobbying spending on lobbyfacts.eu here.Greenpeace's Out of Balance report, mentioned in the interview.'EU Investigating Agribusiness Lobby Group Copa-Cogeca Over Potential Transparency Breach', DeSmogRomanian language reporting on the story from Libertatea here and here.Danish language reporting on the story from Danwatch here.Polish language reporting on the story from OKO.press here.Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 Copper Workers, International Business and Domestic Politics in Cold War Chile (Penn State, 2008). Podcast Editing by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading: 'The ‘Alterlives' of Green Extractivism: Lithium Mining and Exhausted Ecologies in the Atacama Desert', International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de développement. Stay tuned for our upcoming collection on www.landclimate.org, The future unrefined, coming next week - including content about Chilean mining!Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 still be saved - and why should still have hope. Dr Gergis draws on her experience as the lead author of Working Group 1, of the IPCC's latest assessment report (AR.6), as well as on her own experiences of facing up to the scale of the challenges posed by a rapidly warming natural world. She speaks to Edward Robinson. Podcast editing by Vasko Kostovski.  You can read more about Joëlle, including about her new podcast series at the Conversation, here and you can her order Humanity's Moment from Island Press, here. Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 wary of populationist narratives in climate planning. Audio editing by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading: 'A feminist exploration of ‘populationism': engaging contemporary forms of population control''Confronting populationism: Feminist challenges to population control in an era of climate change''Malthus's specter and the anthropocene'Anne Hendrixson and Diana Ojeda's article on population for Uneven Earth Betsy Hartmann's webpage PopDev's short documents series'For reproductive justice in an era of Gates and Modi – the violence of India's population policies' by Kalpana Wilson Libby Lunstrum's work'Angry Young Men, Veiled Young Women: Constructing a New Population Threat' by Anne Hendrixson Jade Sasser's workClick here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 Kostovski.Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org

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 Uyghur genocide for several years, since researchers publicised how much polysilicon was produced by Uyghur forced labour. Professor Murphy's work has now found that the electric vehicle industry is risking a similar path, and that China uses Xinjiang as a production zone exempt from climatic or environmental regulation.Podcast edited by Vasko Kostovski.Read Professor Murphy's reports: Driving Force: Automotive Supply Chains and Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region (2022)Built on repression: PVC building materials' reliance on forced labor and environmental abuses in the Uyghur region (2022)Financing & Genocide: Development Finance and the Crisis in the Uyghur Region (2022)In broad daylight: Uyghur forced labour in global solar supply chains (2021)And more on the Helena Kennedy Centre website.Click here to visit The Future Unrefined, our curated collection of articles and podcasts on raw materials and extraction. Find more podcasts and articles at www.landclimate.org