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The Land & Climate Podcast — Government
The Land & Climate Podcast

The editorial team from The Land and Climate Review interview thinkers and policymakers in the world of economics, land-use and climate policy. Find more on our site at www.landclimate.org

Copyright: © 2026 The Land & Climate Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Is biofuel fraud undermining EU climate policy? Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

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, 8/6/23

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Find all our latest investigations, features and interviews at www.landclimate.org

Should we mine the deep sea? Aug 04, 2023

Show notes

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., 2022

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How is EU lobbying blocking climate farming reform? Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

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 Balancereport, mentioned in the interview.
'EU Investigating Agribusiness Lobby Group Copa-Cogeca Over Potential Transparency Breach', DeSmog
Romanian 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.

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Does mining bring wealth to Chile, or harm? Jul 07, 2023

Show notes

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!

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Is there still a case for hope on climate change? Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

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.

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Is overpopulation a climate risk, or dangerous rhetoric? Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

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 work

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What are the politics behind nuclear energy in France? May 26, 2023

Show notes

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.

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Chinese forced labour and renewable supply chains: how big is the problem? May 12, 2023

Show notes

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:

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Is the UK losing its leadership status on net zero? Apr 28, 2023

Show notes

The UK was the first major power to sign net zero into law in 2019, and was once considered a global leader on climate policy. After Brexit and a change of government, is the country failing to live up to its promises?
Alasdair speaks to Dr. Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's Chief Scientist, about the UK's place on the global stage, how its net zero policies are progressing, and how the country is taking dangerous risks with nuclear and aviation.
Podcast editing by Vasko Kostovski.

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How is EU policy on carbon removal developing? Apr 14, 2023

Show notes

Bertie speaks to Wijnand Stoefs, Carbon Market Watch's policy lead on Carbon Removal, about how EU policy is developing around greenhouse gas removals.
They discuss the Carbon Removal Certification Framework, along with other legislation like the Innovation Fund and the Sustainable Carbon Cycles Communication, as well as talking about risks with bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and failures of France's Label Bas-Carbone.
Futher reading:

Read Carbon Market Watch's position paper on the Carbon Removal Certification Framework here.
'Environmental stewardship yes, ‘carbon farming’ no', Social Europe
'EU’s carbon farming plan comes under fire', Politico
'EU’s Carbon Removals Certification Framework is certifiably problematic', Carbon Market Watch
'EU member states’ haphazard approach to carbon removals puts climate goals and nature at risk', Carbon Market Watch
Le Label Bas-Carbone : outil d’optimisation ou de transition? , Le Réseau Action Climat [French]
'What are the European Commission’s plans for negative emissions?', Land and Climate Review

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