The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) was signed in 1959, and will not be modified until 2048. Climate diplomacy expert Dhanasree Jayaram tells Bertie about the environmental risks that could threaten Antarctica before then, including illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, militarisation, bioprospecting, increased tourism, and resource extraction. Dr. Jayaram is Assistant Professor at the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, and Co-Coordinator of the Centre for Climate Studies, in Manipal Academy of Higher Education, and an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation International Climate Protection Fellow. Further reading: In 30 years the Antarctic Treaty becomes modifiable, and the fate of a continent could hang in the balance, The Conversation By Dr. Jayaram:'Geopolitics, Environmental Change and Antarctic Governance: A Region in Need of a Transformative Approach to Science Diplomacy', Assessing the Antarctic Environment from a Climate Change Perspective'Geopolitical and geoeconomic implications of climate change in the Arctic region: the future of contestation and cooperation', Understanding Present and Past Arctic Environments 'Geopolitics, Science and Climate Diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific: An Assessment', Science Diplomacy ReviewClimate Diplomacy and Emerging Economies: India as a Case StudyClick here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Long before Elon Musk's takeover drew accusations of increased disinformation on the platform, there was already a rapid growth of climate scepticism and denial on Twitter, according to research by The IRIS Academic Research Group.Their analysis studied climate discourse during the annual UN Climate Change Conferences (COPs), and found that criticism of climate action had grown from 1% of influential accounts during COP20 in 2014, to 16% of accounts during COP26. Bertie spoke to two of the researchers, Professor Andrea Baronchelli and Dr. Max Falkenberg, to discuss this trend, and what might be driving it. Futher reading: Read the paper in Nature Climate ChangeRead Andrea and Max's commentary about the research on the LSE blogRead the IRIS blog about misinformation'Climate-sceptic tweets surge after Musk’s Twitter takeover', The Times, 2/12/22Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Alasdair speaks to Kelly Stone, Senior Policy Analyst at ActionAid, about her time at COP27 and where international diplomacy is taking offset markets and their governance. Further reading: CLARA's resources on 'net zero', including info on Article 6. Read Kelly's articles on the ActionAid blog 'Silicon Valley's non existent offsets', in Land and Climate Review Visit our new collection, The Negative Emissions GambleClick here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Afforestation projects are being used worldwide as a nature-based solution to climate change.  Afforestry is the practice of planting trees on otherwise arid, barren land. Harvard scholar Rosetta Elkin explains how large-scale tree planting in otherwise treeless environments rarely makes ecological sense. In many instances throughout history, these projects have also been used as instruments of colonial forestry, used by the coloniser as a way of staking claim to the land. Elkin argues for a better understanding of our ecosystem on the scale of one single tree rather than whole forests. Further ReadingBuy "Plant Life: The Entangled Politics of Afforestation" from Minnesota Press "The Long Shadow of Colonial Forestry is a threat to savannas and grasslands""Hygienic Nature: Afforestation and the greening of colonial Hong Kong"Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Lauren Sneade talks to Thane Gustafson about the future of Russian oil through the climate crisis and the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Gustafson is a professor of political science at Georgetown University, and an author of numerous books about Russia's fossil fuel dependence, the most recent being 2021's Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change. Lauren and Professor Gustafson discuss the question: is Putin promoting a geopolitical narrative of Russian supremacy over the country’s national economic future?Further readingBuy Klimat: Russian in the Age of Climate Change  from Havard University Press.Professor Gustafson's Substack.'Russia can no longer ignore the threat posed by climate change', LSE Blog, January 2022Part 1 and  Part 2 of a Washington Post interview with Professor Gustafson in September 2022. Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

A major report published ahead of COP27 analysed national climate policies and found that "over-reliance on carbon removals could push ecosystems, land rights and food security to the brink." Alasdair spoke to Dr. Kate Dooley, one of the Land Gap Report authors and a Research Fellow at Melbourne University’s Climate & Energy College, to hear about what policymakers are getting wrong.Further reading from Dr. Dooley: Read the full Land Gap Report. 'Nature restoration no substitute for cutting fossil fuels'; Pursuit, 2022'No more excuses: restoring nature is not a silver bullet for global warming, we must cut emissions outright'; The Conversation, 2022'Forests can’t handle all the net-zero emissions plans – companies and countries expect nature to offset too much carbon'; The Conversation, 2022'COP27: Urgent need to respect human rights in all climate change action, say UN experts', 2022Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

As COP27 begins in Egypt following historic floods in Pakistan and a summer of international droughts, will this finally be the year rich governments begin to take climate finance seriously? Bertie speaks to Karim Ahmed about his recent white policy paper on loss and damage, which is being presented at COP27. Dr. Ahmed is a director of the Global Council for Science and the Environment, and a Professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He has previously had high level roles at NRDC, US Government departments, UN environmental bodies, and the World Bank.Further reading from Dr. Ahmed: The Impact of Global Climate Change on Vulnerable Communities: Climate-Related Loss & Damage and Financial Reparations, a Policy White Paper (2022)Climate Justice, Humans Rights, and the Case for Reparations, Health and Human Rights Journal (2021)Why we need a Global Climate Reparations Fund, ELCI (2022)What is the financial cost of loss and damage from climate change?, ELCI (2022)Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Governments and the aviation industry have been promising for decades that fuel made from plants could solve the transport sector's CO2 emissions. Why hasn't it happened? John DeCicco, Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan, has been studying transport emissions & biofuels for decades. Alasdair asked him about the alarming findings of his research: liquid biofuels could be worse for the climate than fossil fuels.Further reading: 'Biofuels turn out to be a climate mistake – here's why' - The Conversation 'U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline, study finds' - Reuters 'Cellulosic ethanol falling far short of the hype' - Forbes 'Biofuel isn't as carbon neutral as we want it to be' - GreenBizTwo of Professor DeCicco's papers: 'Reconsidering bioenergy given the urgency of climate protection'; 'Carbon balance effects of U.S. biofuel production and use'Also see our podcasts with John Sterman (forest bioenergy) and Finlay Asher (sustainable aviation fuel), and browse our online bioenergy hub. Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

Bertie talks to science journalist Matt Simon about his upcoming book; A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies. Further reading: pre-order Matt's book from Island PressPlastic: A Toxic Love StoryRead Wired's reporting on plasticRead Beyond Plastic's report on the link between plastics and climate changeThe Human Planet: How We Created the AnthropoceneThe Waste MakersClick here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

After being "stonewalled" by his bosses over concerns about decarbonisation claims, Finlay Asher quit his job as a senior aviation engineer at Rolls Royce to found Safe Landing, an organisation that campaigns against growing the aviation sector. Alasdair spoke to him about this journey, the reasons technological and market-based solutions to aviation emissions are not going to get us to net-zero, and what the sector should be doing instead. Further reading: Check out Finlay's Youtube channelStay Grounded’s greenwashing fact sheet seriesT&E’s EU Aviation 2050 roadmapICCT’s ‘Aligning Aviation with the Paris Agreement'Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.