The Land & Climate Podcast

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: Deep Time Reckoning hereThe Art of Pondering Earth’s Distant FutureScientific American, The benefits of 'deep time thinking'BBC Future, Temporality, fiction and climate – reading Mark Bould’s Anthropocene UnconsciousLand and Climate Review, 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 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 ReformerHidden costs, public burden: The real toll of Walmart's "always low prices"SalonDo You Know Where Your Strawberries Come From?The New RepublicWhy Austin Frerick Is Taking On The Grocery BaronsForbesClick 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-edLand and Climate Review. Read T&E's full investigationRead The Continent's front page cover storyClick 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: The State Of The Forest In Canada: Seeing Through The SpinThe State of Canada’s ForestsForest Eye: An Eye on Old Growth DestructionDrax: UK power station still burning rare forest woodBBC, 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

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, Civil society urges Thai government to stop deregulation of the fisheries industryEnvironmental Justice Foundation, Thailand’s progress in combatting IUU, forced labour & human trafficking, The ever widening net: mapping the scale, nature and corporate structures of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by the Chinese distant-water fleet, A manifesto for our ocean, Denmark and Sweden press Brussels to act against UK in fishing disputeFinancial Times, 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

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?Blue hydrogen: Not clean, not low carbon, not a solutionCarbon capture key to reaching net-zero, but climate chief urges cautionEuronews, What is happening with Carbon Capture and Storage?Land and Climate Review, Why Carbon Capture and Storage matters: overshoot, models, and moneyLand and Climate Review, Capturing and storing problemsLand and Climate Review, 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

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'First net zero flight takes off but decarbonisation remains on runway'Link to the Chatham House webinar on the research: 3pm GMT on Wednesday 31st January 2024 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 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 researchThe Guardian, Benzene and worker cancers: ‘An American tragedy’The Center for Public Integrity, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, Doubt is Their Product: How industry's assault on science threatens your healthClick 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 Kostovski Recommended reading: Revealed: top carbon offset projects may not cut planet-heatingThe GuardianGas-Lit: No, the Dubai Climate Talks Did Not Save the PlanetNewsweek 10 myths about net zero targets and carbon offsetting, bustedClimate Home NewsAction needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigationScience Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Carbon Crediting’Berkeley Public Policy The Verra Scandal Explained: why avoid deforestation credits are hazardousLondon School of EconomicsThe Land Gap Report’The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon MarketsClick 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 womenThe Conversation, EU Commission hosts a secret 3-day meeting with the pesticide industry as their exclusive guest', Green Deal is deadBeneath the orange fields: Impact of Glyphosate on soil organismsConservative backlash kills off EU’s Green Deal push to slash pesticide usePolitico, EU to renew herbicide glyphosate approval for 10 yearsReuters, Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture'Nature Sustainability, MonsantoEU lobbyingNeonicsClick 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 herecan be found hereThe Idea of JusticeClick 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 When Climate Adaptation BackfiresDiscover MagazineWhy Are We Paying for Crop Failures in the Desert?Apocalypse Soon‘White gold’: why shrimp aquaculture is a solution that caused a huge problemThe Guardian What Should Farmers Grow in the DesertMother Jones Arizona’s water supplies are drying up. How will its farmers survive?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?'The New Statesman, Saudi nukes: A desire for energy, weapons, or just leverage? The Cradle, The end of Oppenheimer's energy dreamIAI News, The West hasn’t gone after Russia’s nuclear energy. Here’s whyCNN, The Debate: Nuclear is already well past its sell-by dateThe New Statesman, Nuclear energy isn’t a safe bet in a warming world – here’s whyThe Conversation, Things fall apartThe Ecologist, 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 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 MoreEnergy and CivilisationShell Knew Fossil Fuels Created Climate Change Risks Back in 1980s, Internal Documents ShowAudio 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 SeaCNN, The Great Leap Offshore: Sino-Norwegian Relations and Petro-Knowledge Transfers, 1976–1997 Enterprise and SocietyCommerce and politics: Statoil and Equinor 1972-2001,Norway wants to lead on climate change. But first it must face its legacy of oil and gasVox, A greener shade of black? Statoil, the Norwegian government and climate change, 1990—2005Scandinavian Journal of History, Det svarte skiftet, A Short History of the Norwegian Oil Industry: From Protected National Champions to Internationally Competitive Multinationals'Business History Review, 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

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 buySeed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future Click here to buy Bart's latest bookCountry Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the PlanetThe herbicide dicamba was supposed to solve farmers’ weed problems – instead, it’s making farming harder for many of themThe Conversation, Coca-Cola’s biggest challenge in greening its operations is its own global marketing strategyThe Conversation, Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town, Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects, 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

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: find the 'Real Africa Climate Summit' campaign website hereAfrica Climate Summit: Kenya’s green growth pitch sparks justice concernsAfrican Arguments, Why fury has met McKinsey’s return in Nairobi summitDaily Nation, Omar Elmawi Believes In an Africa Free From Fossil FuelsSierra, The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies, On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa, 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

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 hereMultimillionaire convicted of tampering with biodieselFollow the Money, Europe Battles Flood of Green Fuel Suspected to Be FraudulentBloomberg, Industry suspects fraud as flood of Chinese biodiesel destabilises marketEuractiv, 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

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 practiceEuronews, Experts agree – deep sea mining is not worth the riskLand and Climate Review, A historical perspective on deep-sea mining for manganese nodules, 1965–2019The Mining Industry: Expanding, Deepening, and Widening since the 1750sMarine minerals' role in future holistic mineral resource managementClick 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 LobbyLighthouse Reports The truth behind Europe’s most powerful farmers lobbyPolitico on lobbyfacts.eu hereOut of Balance EU Investigating Agribusiness Lobby Group Copa-Cogeca Over Potential Transparency BreachLibertatea here hereDanwatch hereOKO.press hereClick 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