The Sustainable Futures Report

My guest on today’s Sustainable Futures Report is David Emslie of Novalux LED. He explains how much money you can save by changing your lighting. Before that, we consider a world in transition. Are we truly transitioning away from fossil fuels? Jeremy Leggett thinks so. Moody’s, the ratings agency, seems to think so. There’s still no clear picture on the oil price, there’s confusion on environment...

 Energy’s in the headlines again, both the oil price and the UK energy policy. It’s not been the best week for Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for Energy. The World Economic Forum met in Davos last week. Apparently 62 people now own as much of the world’s wealth as is owned by the poorer 50% of the world’s population. I wonder if all 62 were there. I know I wasn’t. Stop laughing at the back. Among...

This week’s episode of the Sustainable Futures Report is mainly about Employee Engagement. I’m very pleased to have Simone Hindmarch-Bye, Director of Commercial Ltd, as my interview guest. She introduces her company where they not only motivate their staff to be focussed on sustainability, they get their clients and their suppliers on board as well. They’ve been running their CSR days for nearly 1...

This week I’m looking at a new book by Seth M. Siegel about how Israel has made the best of very limited water resources and is now sharing expertise - and water - with countries all over the world.  More unexpected consequences of the York floods and why controlling carbon emissions may not be the answer to climate change but geo-engineering perhaps is.  Apologies from Jeremy Leggett. And HS2. Is...

This week I take stock of the recent floods and look at them as a case study in sustainability. York made all the headlines over Christmas, but people in Cumbria had already been flooded three times in December, buildings had been washed away in Manchester and there were floods in Scotland and Wales. Elsewhere floods have devastated parts of South America, tornadoes have destroyed houses in the US...

The big sustainability story is the floods in the North, but that’s still going on so I’ll leave it until next week. This time I look backwards at the 50 or so episodes which I’ve published this year and I remind you of the topics covered and the experts that I interviewed. I’ll share their views of the future as well. This time last year I invited your prediction of the oil price. My guess was $6...

Merry Christmas! I hope you’re not going to listen to this on Christmas Day. Much better on Boxing Day with a few mince pies and a brimming glass!  This week, more reports from COP 21 but certainly not the last word on that. An analysis of whether hamster power could be the answer to our energy needs and what’s ET short for?  

COP21 is over, so where do we go from here? Is this the beginning of the end of fossil fuels? And this week let’s reduce, re-use and recycle. In fact let’s go a lot further than that. I’ll introduce you to Mark Shayler  ( thisisape.co.uk ) who blows the whistle on child soldiers and Tracey Rawling Church ( greenlight.kyocera.co.uk ) who explains why you might not need a new printer.  Matt Dredger ...

This week the energy minister and the prime minister have been under fire as COP21 moves forward. While the main negotiating sessions continue, many other meetings take place as well. Mark Carney of the Bank of England has a view. The group of 77 nations  (G77) plus China has a view as well, and so do the 48 Least-Developed Countries. Caroline Lucas of the Green Party is concerned. Can we standard...

Yes, COP21, the Paris climate change conference, is finally here. No results expected before the end of next week so I'm going to take the opportunity to review what this conference means for us, for our businesses, for families and for our future. Also in this episode, the minister takes control of fracking, business views of the climate conference and plans for a ministry of the future. Should w...

Although recent episodes of the sustainable futures show might lead you to think that it's all about energy, that's certainly not the case. This week I do talk about energy, potential energy under our feet, and also about water: groundwater. Desalination, solar energy, failing monsoons, Moroccan salt and Californian almonds are also on the agenda. And the UK has abandoned plans for carbon capture...

This week I want to remember the people of Paris. Those who died, those who were injured, their friends, their families, their loved ones.  Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, Solidarité. We are all in this together. Also in this episode, some thoughts on the Paris Climate Conference and a new direction for UK energy policy. The minister speaks.  

This week, the heat is on for Exxon but may be off for the Swiss. When is a keystone not a Keystone? I look in detail at why climate change is important and what countries are likely to do about it at the Paris conference. And what citizens at large will do about it if they don’t. Why has a minister got a ruddy complexion? What’s a trilemma? And what’s Jeremy Leggett doing in that locked room?  

The University of Birmingham says we should make more things colder, but warns that making things colder makes other things hotter. David Cameron’s been in Iceland. No, not to hug a husky this time, but to embrace technology. It involves a very long lead. Techies at the University of Cambridge are talking about going farther than ever for less. The UN says that the Paris protocol probably won’t go...

The Royal Academy of Engineering reports that time is rapidly running out for the UK to develop its energy policy and expresses serious doubts about fracking. One of the junior ministers at the Department Of Energy and Climate Change says she understands it all now. We have the draft agreement text for COP21 - the international climate change conference coming up in Paris in December. The Oil and...

The sustainable futures show website has just had a makeover. You'll find it at www.susbiz.biz and there's now a facility for a keyword search as well as access to all the archives, which go back to 2007. In this week’s episode we look at steel and the Chinese; electricity, and the Chinese and the circular economy comes round again. There are more doubts about the department for Energy and Climate...

  I'm working on a White Paper: “How will climate change your business in 2016?” Here’s a preview. Some thoughts, news and ideas which will feature in the final version.  Is the car industry a good investment after VW? Or should we be investing in coal, oil or other commodities? Did Goldman Sachs really say we can look forward to oil at $20? Should we sell our investments in fossil fuels and put p...

We're on the road to Paris. About 6 weeks from the start of COP21, the international climate change conference. Climate Action Tracker is monitoring progress. So is Jeremy Leggett. The latest instalment of "The Winning of the Carbon War" is out. jeremyleggett.net George Osborne has been sharing plans for the UK's infrastructure at the Conservative Party Conference and Amber Rudd is clearly going t...

This week’s keynote interview is with Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York. He’s concerned about the health of the world’s oceans and he tells us why we should be concerned too.  First, Drax is coming out of Carbon Capture and Storage, Shell is coming out of the Arctic, Lisa Nandy comes out fighting, Al Gore is puzzled and Mark Carney is concerned. Find out wh...

Is CSR dead? Maybe not, but the VW emissions scandal has seriously damaged it. We read a postcard from George Osborne in China. And we round off with a conversation about the practicalities of renewables with James Spencer, MD of Portland Analytics. www.portland-analytics.co.uk Also see enertrag.com - a wind farm generating hydrogen.  

One in - one out. Jeremy Corbyn is the new leader of the Opposition at Westminster and Tony Abbott is no longer Prime Minister of Australia. What does all that mean for climate change? It's an ill wind in Scotland. We’re coming to the end of Community Energy Fortnight, with events across the country. I’ll be reporting on two of them. Will the Supreme Court finally clear the air and are we going to...

The world is getting hotter, the ice is melting and sea levels are rising, and we still have a problem with energy.

This week we learn more about the UK’s nuclear programme, community energy, a giant polar bear, another refugee crisis, wasted food and the price of oil.

As we prepare for the bank holiday weekend, the last one before Christmas, here is another episode of the Sustainable Futures Show. It's not all bad. We've got Halloween and half term to look forward to. And then there’s the Comprehensive Spending Review scheduled for 25th November. This time we’re talking about renewables, both here and in the US. Hear what President Obama said this week. Will th...

Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for Energy, has been writing in the Sunday Times. Jeremy Corbyn, front-runner in the Labour leadership race, has been thinking about re-opening British coal mines and nearly 1,000 members of the medical profession have written an open letter to the Wellcome Trust about fossil fuel investments. We’ve heard the latest on the powerhouse in the North, Shell in the Arctic...