Let Me Sum Up

Give the gift of LMSU BoCo to your loved ones!In the awkward position of forgetting a Christmas gift for your beloved? Want to set your climate conscious friends up for success in 2026? Look no further than a one year subscription to LMSU’s Patreon which gets you bonus, subscriber-only episodes - unpacking the sector decarbonisation plans with special guests - and all manner of additional absolute silliness, like our recent bonus episode of Luke, Tennant and Frankie’s Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Hop to it!—The 2025 Wonky AwardIt’s that time of the year when your intrepid hosts dole out the Wonky award for our favourite paper of the year! We revive the recurring argument about the criteria for the award and don’t let the fact that two of our three finalists weren’t even papers stop us. Our finalists and highly commended for 2025 are:‘Abundance’ by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson‘Quarterly Essay 99: Woodside Versus The Planet’ by Marianne Wilkinson‘The New Energy Trade: Harnessing Australian renewables for global development’ by Reuben Finighan at The Superpower Institute.While there was no denying the zeitgeisty vibe impact of Abundance on the political discourse in Australia and all-round appreciation for Marianne Wilkinson’s thoughtful provocation on the influence of gas giant Woodside, your intrepid hosts all rallied around the seminal ‘New Energy Trade’ paper from the Superpower Institute as having a clear-eyed vision and significant and ongoing impact on policy thinking around Australia’s green export potential. Bravo to Reuben Finighan and colleagues at TSI for winning the 2025 Wonky Award! A custom meme will find its way to your socials in the not-too-distant future!Holiday Movie SpecialWe’ve always wondered how many of our eagle-eyed Summerupperers got the movie reference in our podcast title ‘Let Me Sum Up’, taken from none other than the iconic, swashbuckling fantasy fairy tale "The Princess Bride" - so it was INCONCEIVABLE that we choose any other movie for our 2025 Holiday Special. From the origin story around choosing the pod name (including the names that didn’t make the cut), how this movie has influenced us and where we saw it first, to our favourite moments from an all-star cast and the endless choice of banger quotes, we go long! Such is our mutual love for this movie, there was no containing the joy of this Holiday Special. One more thingsTennant’s One More Thing is: a bit of light holiday reading with the equally zeitgeisty and current The Secret History by Procopius? You tell us which current Australian political figure comes to mind when you hear Tennant’s quote from the book.Frankie’s One More Thing is: a very late to the party endorsement for Stranger Things on Netflix, which she is just getting around to watching. Better late than never!Luke’s One More Thing is: Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another which is nothing short of masterpiece and still showing in the odd cinema. LMSU says – see it on the big screen.And that’s it until the New Year, Summerupperers. Don’t forget we are convening a summer book club, diving into ‘Existential Politics: Why Global Climate Institutions Are Failing And How To Fix Them’ by Jessica F. Green, and will be recording an episode to discuss sometime in January together with sometime co-host Alison Reeve. And don’t forget there is now a one-stop-shop for all your LMSU needs: head toletmesumup.netto support us on Patreon, procure merch, find back episodes, and leave us a voicemail!P.S. don't big shout out to our friends at The NEMchat Singers, who have a proud tradition of summing  the energy year in song. We hope you enjoy one of their 2025 contributions at the end of this episode, and be sure to check out the other here!  

Subscribe to LMSU’s Patreon for a sector plan BoCo bonanza!  All aboard folks! Team LMSU is continuing our BoCo odyssey, adventuring through each of the six sector decarbonisation plans. AND we’re bringing friends! That’s right, we’re calling in even nerdier reinforcements. This week, we’ll be joined by Ag sector knower Steve Hatfield-Dodds to unpack the Agriculture and Land Sector Plan. And if somehow that isn’t temptation enough for you crazy climate cats, we can reveal that episode two of our dungeons and dragons odyssey is incoming in time for the Christmas listening of Super Summerupperers... so hop to it!—Main topic(s)While we have been occupied with Conferences of Parties, developments in Australian energy and climate policy have been coming thick and fast. So what is a summing up podcast with one substantive episode left before the end of the year to do? Why, a demolition derby of All The Things, of course! Buckle up, and tune in for:Klimate Krampus, AKA the Coalition’s abandonment of a net zero by 2050 target (to really get the vibe of the thing, we encourage a close read of the Liberal and National positions, such as they are )Climate Christmas, specifically the Albanese Government’s 2025 Climate Statement, the Climate Change Authority’s 2025 Annual Progress Report and DCCEEW’s 2025 Emissions Projections.Energy Eisteddfod, featuringAEMO’s Draft 2026 Integrated System PlanCSIRO’s Draft 2025-26 GenCost ReportAEMO’s 2025 Transition Plan for System SecurityTim Nelson and friends' NEM Review final reportMinisters various’ ECMC CommuniqueGas Market Review rumblings and reservation speculationHome Battery Program rechargedElectric Car Discount reviewedAnd for dessert, Environment Efflorescence...EPBC reforms passed!One more thingsFrankie’s One More Thing is – jumping on a favourite hobby horse, the imperative to tackle methane emissions, noting promising activity in NSW that could help build national momentum!Tennant’s One More Thing is – a big spruik for our 2025 Wonky Awards! Yes that’s right, we are once again surveying the papers we covered on the podcast over the last 12 months and picking our favourite! But this year we are inviting you, dear summerupperers, to stick your oar in – leave us a voice note and tell us which paper should reign supreme!Luke’s One More Thing is – the announcement of the first annual LMSU summer book club! Because this podcast clearly doesn't have enough corners, angles and side hustles already, Tennant, Frankie, Luke and Alison will be curling up with a climate themed read over summer and once we’ve read it, we'll chat about it on a special summer episode of the pod for release sometime in January. And what is our inaugural read for book club? Why it is Existential Politics: Why Global Climate Institutions Are Failing and How to Fix Them by Jessica F Green. Available on Kindle for a surprisingly high price! Or for a free taster, hear Jessica chat about the book on the Shift Key podcast!Plus in special bonus spruiking, Frankie highlights the upcoming LMSU Holiday Special, in which we watch a movie and talk about it. And this year we’re changing things up – we are going to talk about a classic movie that we have heavily referenced on LMSU! But obviously it is rich pickings, so which one? Well that is up to you! Vote in our handy dandy poll now!That was a lot. But that’s it for now, Summerupperers. There is now a one-stop-shop for all your LMSU needs: head toletmesumup.netto support us on Patreon, procure merch, find back episodes, and leave us a voicemail!

We conclude our Quokka of 2025 COP episodes by sitting down Australia's Climate and Energy Minister – and incoming COP President of Negotiations – Chris Bowen! Referenced in this episode (in order of importance):Luke's COP bid parody songChris' summer reading recommendationTürkiye-Australia Partnership Modalities—And that’s it for now, Summerupperers. There is now a one-stop-shop for all your LMSU needs: head toletmesumup.netto support us on Patreon, procure merch, find back episodes, and leave us a voicemail! 

All aboard folks! Team LMSU is continuing our BoCo odyssey, adventuring through each of the six sector decarbonisation plans. AND we’re bringing friends! That’s right, we’re calling in even nerdier reinforcements and experts to join us as we venture on. We're four in, two to go and luminaries helping us sum up so far include Dylan McConnell, Davina Rooney, Helen Rowe and Alison Reeve! And if somehow that isn’t temptation enough for you crazy climate cats, the only way you’ll see evidence of Luke, Tennant and Frankie’s cosplay efforts at our recent Chaos Trivia event is by subscribing on Patreon, so hop to it!--We make our best attempt to sum up all the thrills and spills of week two of COP30, and boy there were some twists in the tale: a resolution to Australia’s bid to host COP31 that no-one had on their bingo card; literal conflagrations in the COP30 pavilions; and arguably the most dramatic closing plenary of any COP, ever.—And that’s it for now, Summerupperers. There is now a one-stop-shop for all your LMSU needs: head toletmesumup.netto support us on Patreon, procure merch, find back episodes, and leave us a voicemail!

All aboard folks! Team LMSU is continuing our BoCo odyssey, adventuring through each of the six sector decarbonisation plans. AND we’re bringing friends! That’s right, we’re calling in even nerdier reinforcements and experts to join us as we venture on. We're four in, two to go and luminaries helping us sum up so far include Dylan McConnell, Davina Rooney, Helen Rowe and Alison Reeve! And if somehow that isn’t temptation enough for you crazy climate cats, the only way you’ll see evidence of Luke, Tennant and Frankie’s cosplay efforts at our recent Chaos Trivia event is by subscribing on Patreon, so hop to it!--We woke up expecting to record an episode about how to run a successful COP, but news reports suggested Australia may not get to host a COP at all! So ably assisted by Alex Scott – longstanding COP maven and current Senior Associate for Climate Diplomacy at the climate think tank ECCO – we talk a bit about the bid and ways for Australia to maintain a leadership position in a scenario in which it doesn't hold the presidency, the latest from the negotiations on the Big Four™️, and take some live questions from the audience.And that’s it for now, Summerupperers. There is now a one-stop-shop for all your LMSU needs: head toletmesumup.netto support us on Patreon, procure merch, find back episodes, and leave us a voicemail!