The Land & Climate Podcast

Felix Schulz, a postdoctoral research fellow at Lund University, dives into the intricacies of public opinion on climate policy. He reveals how neoliberal values often overshadow socioeconomic factors in shaping attitudes toward climate action. Discussing the rise of far-right ideologies and their denial of climate science, Schulz emphasizes the need to address job security concerns in traditional industries as they transition to greener practices. The conversation highlights the crucial link between political trust, public beliefs, and effective climate policies for both the Global North and South.

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

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 for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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 for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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 for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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 for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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 for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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 for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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 for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.