The Land & Climate Podcast

"In 2019, the use of United States sourced wood pellets in the UK was accountable for 16 million to 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, mostly burned by Drax. That is roughly equivalent to a quarter of all the emissions from the UK power sector."Edward speaks to Duncan Brack, Associate Fellow at Chatham House and author of numerous reports into industrial-scale biomass  and forestry policy.Read the report here. Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

"If you follow the developments at Glasgow, everyone's looking for the Big Idea. This, in my mind, is an obvious one."Bertie talks with veteran climate journalist Edward Struzik about his new book, Swamplands: tundra beavers, quaking bogs, and the improbable world of peat. They talk COP, burning peat for energy, the process of rewetting peatland, and Edward gives a cultural & historical background to peatlands, arguing that we still need to change cultural perspectives of our bogs, fens and marshes. Buy Swamplands from Island Press here. Read Bertie's review of the book here. Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Alasdair talks to Phil MacDonald, Chief Operating Officer of energy think-tank Ember, about new analysis which places Drax as the UK's single biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the UK and among the top 5 emitters in Europe.  Phil provides a startling explanation of how a huge amount of carbon emissions are being missed, and how incentives exist for governments to use biomass for power because of an apparent accounting loophole around its use.Read Ember's research here. Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Alasdair talks to Lina Burnelius of Protect the Forest Sweden about the Swedish forestry model and the threat that industry poses to biodiversity and the survival of ancient Forests.Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Alasdair speaks to Dr Dan Quiggin, Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House  currently researching the implications of using Bioenergy with Capture and Storage or BECCS .He then asks Ember, Chief Operating Officer, Phil MacDonald [NB after 43mins] for his analysis of negative emissions,  BECCS and Dr Quiggin's findings.   They reach sobering conclusions about the potential impact of pursuing BECCS to remove carbon from the atmosphere.Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Gareth Redmond-King, COP26 lead at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), talks to Alasdair about the preparations for the next climate talks in November.  He explains what the crucial discussions will be on, the UK's role as a climate leader, recent odd missteps leading to the talks,  his take on existing progress and how he thinks talks will go.Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Chief Operating Officer of energy think tank Ember, Phil MacDonald, talks to Alasdair about the new challenges of decarbonising the global energy sector and what has been achieved so far in Europe in the UK.  He explains how the gradual phasing out of coal use has switched the focus to other fossil fuels and how the UK's need to show climate leadership for the next COP may be creating unnecessary pressures for finding so called "negative emissions".Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Edward and Alasdair speak to Sasha Stashwick, climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), on how the Biden Administration is  gearing up to tackle climate change and  issues with the use of biomass for tackling climate goals.Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Edward speaks to Prof Michael Norton, outgoing  director of the environment programme at the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC). Mike speaks about the need to understand what 'transformative change' actually is, the gap between science and policy urgency on environmental boundaries and on the flawed concept of GDP. Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

Alasdair speaks to Doug Parr, Chief Scientist and Head of Policy at Greenpeace UK about how British climate policy has changed and what might happen after the pandemic.  Doug also speaks about greenhouse gas removal technologies, what 'negative emissions' are and the risks of rising 'institutional greenwash' in climate policy and business. Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.