The Land & Climate Podcast

• Have wildfires become a major public health risk?

  Bertie speaks with Mark Parrington about this year’s record-breaking wildfires, and the health implications of increasing air pollution.  Mark is a senior scientist at the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, where he uses satellite imagery to monitor wildfire emissions in real-time.  He tells Bertie about the scale of the recent surge in wildfires across Europe, North America, and the Arctic, and the health impacts of particulate matter and long-range pollution transport. They also discuss the climate implications as wildfires – especially in Arctic peatlands - release millions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.  Further reading:  Arctic Climate Change Update 2024: Key Trends and Impacts, AMAP , 2024 State of Wildfires 2023-2024, Earth System Science Data, 2024 'Global, regional, and national mortality burden attributable to air pollution from landscape fires: a health impact assessment study', The Lancet, 2024  'EU wildfires worst on record as burning season continues', The Guardian, 2025 'Why are Europe and the Arctic heating up faster than the rest of the world?' Copernicus, 2025  'Current wildfire situation in Europe', The Joint Research Centre: EU Science Hub, 2025 Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Can the world regulate plastics?

  Next week, negotiators meet in Geneva to finalise the UN’s historic Global Plastics Treaty, originally announced in 2022. The additional session was scheduled after years of tense international disagreement.Bertie talks to Punyathorn ‘Arm’ Jeungsmarn, Plastics Campaign Researcher at the Environmental Justice Foundation. Arm attended previous rounds of the UN talks, and recently worked on research about problematic solutions to plastic pollution.Arm discusses his experience of the negotiations and the influence of industry lobbying, as well as issues around the implementation of policies addressing plastic waste – from bioplastics to recycling.  Further reading:  False solutions unmasking policy gaps in addressing plastic pollution in Thailand and Southeast Asia, Environmental Justice Foundation, 2025 A global treaty to limit plastic pollution is within reach – will countries seize the moment? The Conversation, 2025   Room for Reduction: Towards sustainable production and consumption of plastics in Thailand, Environmental Justice Foundation, 2024   There is so much to say about plastic pollution. Why are we not talking about it? Land and Climate Review, 2023 Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Is green shipping all plain sailing?

  In April, the International Maritime Organisation held the 83rd session of its Environment Protection Committee, where it established a system of penalties and rewards to advance shipping decarbonisation. This follows 2023 industry commitments to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030. Alasdair speaks with Simon Bullock about whether the recent agreement is strong enough to meet climate goals and explores practical actions that can be taken now without relying on greenwashing, expensive infrastructure, or scarce biofuels. Simon Bullock is an interdisciplinary climate change Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre, University of Manchester. He recently completed his doctorate, with his thesis focusing on "Accelerating shipping's climate change transition, and the role of UK shore power. Further reading:  Ten ways to cut shipping’s contribution to climate change, The Conversation, 2021 Update on the latest International Maritime Organization climate meeting, The Conversation, 2025 The need for action now on shipping and climate, Climate Policy, 2025 Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Can U.S. climate science survive under Trump?

  Yesterday, the U.S. Congress approved President Donald Trump's so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill'. This controversial federal budget is set to defund a huge proportion of the nation's climate and environmental science - what will the impacts be for America, and for global efforts against the climate crisis?Bertie spoke to John Holdren, who served as President Barack Obama's Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2009-2017, becoming the longest-serving Science Advisor to the President in U.S. history. He is now a Research Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Further reading: ‘How the G.O.P. Bill Will Reshape America’s Energy Landscape’, The New York Times, 3/7/25 ‘Key climate change reports removed from US government websites’, The Guardian, 1/7/25 ‘Turmoil at US science academy as Trump cuts force layoffs’, Nature, 1/7/25 ‘Here Is All the Science at Risk in Trump’s Clash With Harvard’, The New York Times, 22/6/25 ‘Time for Congress to save American science … and the nation’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 6/6/25 ‘The Trump administration has shut down more than 100 climate studies’, MIT Technology Review, 2/6/25 ‘The U.S. Under Trump: Alone in Its Climate Denial’, The New York Times, 19/5/25 ‘The Future of the U S Climate and Environmental Science Funding’, The Salata Institute, 14/5/25 [video] Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Colombia versus oil and gas: what’s the truth behind the transition?

  In 2022, Gustavo Petro became the first left-wing candidate to win the Colombian presidential election. During his election campaign, Petro pledged to end the granting of new oil and gas exploration contracts, a commitment his government has so far succeeded in maintaining. This week, Alasdair speaks with third-year doctoral student Guy Edwards who has interviewed over 50 people - from former government ministers to academics and industry representatives - about the impact of Petro’s pledge on Colombia’s energy transition.  Guy and Alasdair discuss what the pledge entails, how it was received by the fossil fuel industry and right-wing media and what will likely become of it following fresh presidential elections next year.    Guy Edwards is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of Sussex and a member of the Working Group on Natural Resources, Energy and Climate Obstruction in the Global South of the Climate Social Science Network Further reading: Commentary: The Petro government’s big gamble on ending fossil fuel licensing, University of Sussex, 2025 Climate obstruction in the Global South: Future research trajectories, PLOS Climate Journals, 2023 Supply-side climate policy: A new frontier in climate governance, WIREs Climate Change, 2024  El dilema de Colombia y el mundo: salir de la era fósil o sufrir sus impactos devastadores, Elespectador, 2023 Retrasar la transición energética podría costarle a Colombia 88.000 millones de dólares,  Elespectador, 2023 Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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