Planet Possible

In this episode, we explore how the change in our climate is likely to change the economics of free resources, as well. Niki is joined by Adam Lovell - Executive Director at The Water Services Association of Australia, and Karma Loveday - Water sector journalist and Founder and Editor, at The UK Water Report.   Credits   Presented & Produced by Niki Roach Executive Producer Andy Taylor -...

David Shukman is shocked. Both at the climate change induced extremes that Britain now faces... and the nation's lack of preparedness. In his new book 'The Response - A Story of Fire and Flood in Britain's New World of Extremes' makes the argument that things are probably worse than we think... but also that there's more than can be done than we realise. David joins host Niki to discuss his new bo...

In this episode of Planet Possible News, Niki is joined by Lee Pitcher, MP for Doncaster East & the Isle of Axholme. The topics being discussed are: -The UK national water safety campaign. - The hidden human health costs for the decline of bees. - News that the UK government has set a target of 87% of a cut in carbon emissions, by 2042. Credits   Presented & Produced by Niki Roach Executi...

Guests and themes: New ways to fund nature-based solutions at a catchment scale with Jonathan Moxon from The Aire Resilience Company Tim Armour & Johnny Phillips from United Utilities show Niki a variety of projects designed to make Liverpool more flood resilient Garden Designer Leon Davis on making rainwater management in gardens more effective and beautiful Mary Long-Dhonau OBE on the latest tec...

Niki Roach is joined by Steve Elderkin - Director of Environmental Sustainability for National Highways and Evan Bowen-Jones, Chief Executive - Kent Wildlife Trust and MD of Wilder Carbon, co-founder of Rebuilding Nature. In this episode, our guests speak to Niki about a visit to the Netherlands to see how the Dutch were delivering on their nature objectives. Inspired by what they learnt, they wen...

'Dirty Business' is a Channel 4 docudrama, released a few weeks ago, that focuses on England's water companies and sewage spills.  The docudrama reported on real life dramas that have surrounded the water industry over the last five years.  Environment harm, sewage spills, pollutions, and customerscommunities saying that these are no longer acceptable.  Lizzie Frost and host Niki discuss their rea...

Planet Possible News - once a month an environmental expert joins Niki to highlight 3 big recent news stories in climate, nature and water from around the world. This month's guest is George Wade, co-Founder and COO of Zevero (helps companies calculate their carbon footprint) and blogger behind the Grumpy Optimists (collates climate positive news) Find out more about Zevero here Find out more abou...

The winners of the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge, part of the OFWAT £600 million Water Innovation Fund, have just been announced. In this episode, Hannah Muirhead joins Niki to discuss some of winners. Together, they highlight the emerging themes in innovation in the UK water sector, and some of the most exciting concepts. Find out more about the OFWAT Innovation Fund here Credits   Pres...

Jim Tan is CEO of Kuzuko Private Game Reserve, which has connected and rewilded 35,000 acres of un-economic and over-farmed areas in the Eastern Cape of South Africa since 2001. In this episode you’ll hear how Kuzuko is now a thriving wildlife reserve home to elephants, buffalos, lions and three of South Africas 9 biomes. Kuzuko has enabled local flora and fauna to re-populate huge swathes of land...

In this week’s episode, we dig into soils - both literally and metaphorically. Soils aren’t really visible to us, but they underpin every single life system on planet earth. Soil is one of our most important carbon sinks, critical to water, home to 60% of all bio-diversity and helping to produce 98% of our food. In this episode, Niki goes on location to a soil-progressive farm where Yorkshire Farm...

Each month Planet Possible News will bring you an update on the latest big environmental stories. Host Niki will be joined by an expert guest to discuss recent events in climate, nature and water. In this episode... Climate adaptation in the UK - what's coming in terms of reports, policy and progress How the Iran conflict is impacting the environment Crisis management - are extreme weather and flo...

Niki is joined by Amandeep Kaur Maan, Founder of EcoSikh UK and Mumin Islam, a water industry leader with a passion for water demand management, equity, diversity and environmental and social justice to explore the relationship between faith, culture and our environment. Both guests have worked on the delivery of a groundbreaking project with Cambridge Central Mosque - the first 'eco Mosque' in th...

Monica Feria-Tinta is a lawyer based in England and Wales but with an international outlook . She has a passion for, and a world-leading expertise in, representing climate, nature, water and indigenous peoples in high-profile legal cases.  In this episode she discusses: how she was the first lawyer to bring climate claims to court successfully. her famous work with indigenous people around the wor...

New York City is the most densely populated city in the USA and, famously the "concrete jungle" of all those famous movies and TV shows. Surrounded by water on 3 sides and with old infrastructure, how does the Big Apple cope with rising sea levels, pressure on water quality and very little room for nature? Vincent worked on high profile projects like Hunter's Point and Little Island - pairing beau...

Al Chisholm is CIWEM's Director of Policy, though he will be soon be leaving to take on a new role at a different organisation.  In his last appearance on the podcast in his current role, he gives his thoughts on 3 big current nature, climate and water news stories. Niki and Alastair discuss:  The new strategic policy statement for the Environment Agency and Natural England. How citizen science is...

The King’s Foundation, founded by His Majesty King Charles III in 1990, was inspired by his philosophy of Harmony: that by understanding the balance, order and relationships between ourselves and the natural world, we can create a more sustainable future. Niki heads to Dumfries House, home of The King’s Foundation, to see how the concept of Harmony comes to life.  Hear from Dr Simon Sadinsky, Exec...

On this MiniPod episode, Niki Roach is joined by The Guardian’s Biodiversity correspondent - Phoebe Weston. Together, they discuss: 1) Why honey bees aren’t necessarily good for ecosystems and the Italian island that’s banned them. 2) China’s carbon dioxide emissions fall by 1% in the final quarter of 2025. 3) And a radical project in Belgium that’s turning off street lights to preserve wildlife....

To meet future water demands we will have to embrace water reuse and advanced water recycling. What's possible? What's best practice? What do the public think? Traditionally there has been a public perception challenge over reusing water (the so-called "yuck factor") - how do we get past that? The UK is just starting to really get going on water reuse, while in the USA they're further ahead. So, i...

The Planet Possible MiniPod focuses on big current stories in climate, water and nature, providing a detailed update in just 15 mins.  Our guest on this episode is Lee Pitcher, the Labour MP for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme, who also chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Water.  Water is firmly in the spotlight in the UK, with recent supply outages in the South East Water region ma...

In this month’s Planet Possible, Niki Roach is joined by Ruth Chambers OBE - a Senior Fellow at Green Alliance, and honorary professor of practice at the UCL Centre for law and the environment. Ruth, and host Niki, metaphorically travel around the nations of the UK - identifying what will be making the headlines in UK environmental policy, in 2026. In Wales, the Environmental Governance Bill will...

Our last Minipod of 2025 welcomes John Curtin, the president of CIWEM. John joins Niki Roach in this 15 minute episode, to discuss the following 3 current stories in Water, Climate and Nature: Infrastructure Risks - How should we approach building new infrastructure in a world shaped by climate change, and shifting environmental issues and politics? And how do we move beyond short-term fixes and i...

In this month’s Planet Possible, we’re going beyond the specifics of COP30 and reflect on the shifting geo politics of climate leadership, and what it could mean for our future generations. Niki Roach is joined by two experts in this field - Dr Clare Richardson-Barlow, a Political Economist with a focus on the Asia specific region, and Professor of International Politics at the University of Leeds...

In this MiniPod episode, Niki is joined by freelance environmental journalist Jo Caird, whose portfolio includes Editor of The Environment Magazine - a CIWEM publication. They discuss: 1) Using geoengineering to repair the climate, and how the technology has the potential to adjust global temperatures. The process of solar radiation modification could see injecting aerosol compounds and potential...

On this month’s Planet Possible, Niki is joined by co-host Polly Cook - Chief Officer for Climate, Energy and Green Spaces at Leeds City Council.   And for our deep dive interview, on this episode into Heat Networks, Niki and Polly are joined by David Riley - Head of Carbon and Climate Adaptation within Anglian Water and Michael Avant Smith - Senior VP for Decarbonisation at BMA.   This Episode is...

The stories on this week's Minipod are: Finnish researchers have been exploring what happens when we bring a little more wild back into our everyday lives. Their “rewilding” experiment shows the link between increasing our nature exposure and better microbiome biodiversity. There’s good news, and perhaps some not so good news, about renewables. Solar power has now been the largest source of new el...