Climate Breakdown is offered to you by the Climate Expertise Centre of the VU Amsterdam. Hosts Mathieu Blondeel and Paulina Raniecka are joined by world-leading scientists, activists and practitioners. Together they explore some of the most complex and urgent challenges of the global climate crisis, bringing in the focus on existing solutions. Want to learn more? Visit the Climate Expertise Centre website!
How universities can go 'fossil free': lessons from VU Amsterdam
VU Amsterdam's Fossil Free Campaign leaders Professor Philipp Pattberg and Dr. Petra Verdonk share lessons on how universities can break free from fossil fuels and take bold action on the climate crisis.
14 Dec 2024
Energy cooperatives: Energy from the ground up
Energy cooperatives expert Siward Zomer and Assistant Professor Eduardo Muniz Pereira Urias explore how decentralized initiatives can drive a more just and inclusive energy transition.
5 Dec 2024
Transformative power of urban agriculture: Community, innovation, activism
Urban agriculture expert Lia van Wesenbeeck and farmer-activist Edu Hernandez Nualart discuss the transformative power of community-driven initiatives that bring people together through farming and social connection.
29 Nov 2024
Part II: What can EU do to go green? Scaling up corporate climate action
Mathieu and Tim Bleeker, an Assistant Professor of Corporate Law, explore the EU's green policy packages and their implications for corporate climate action.
27 Nov 2024
Part I: What can EU do to go green? The Shell vs Milieudefensie case [BONUS]
Climate change expert Tim Bleeker explores the implications of the Shell v. Milieudefensie case on climate activism and the fossil fuel industry.
21 Nov 2024
The Green Energy Paradox: On Critical Raw Materials, Dependencies, and Circularity
Mathieu discusses the green energy paradox with experts Lingli Zhou and Jan Brusselaers, exploring critical raw materials, dependencies, and circularity for a low-carbon economy.
13 Nov 2024
Season 2 Trailer
Are you ready for Season 2 of our Climate Breakdown podcast? Our hosts Mathieu Blondeel and Paulina Raniecka are joined by diverse VU experts and practitioners, working on solutions to the ongoing climate crisis. Tune in to see what to expect!
7 Mar 2024
A World to Win? On Global Climate Politics - with Philipp Pattberg
Is there a better way to wrap up our first series than delving into the wonderful world of global climate politics and diplomacy?!
At COP28 in December 2023, negotiators officially agreed for the first time ever the need to ‘transition away from fossil fuels.’ This was deemed historic and it supposedly signalled the ‘end of the fossil fuel era’. But how historic is this decision really? And why did it take so long to politically acknowledge the role of fossil fuels in the climate crisis?
Mathieu is joined by IVM (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/ivm)Professor Philipp Pattberg (https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/ph-pattberg) to answer these questions, and many more. They try to grasp what makes climate negotiations and finding agreement at the global level so difficult. After all, aren’t we all in the same boat?
Questions or want to know more? Visit our Climate Expertise Centre (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/climate-expertise-centre) website or e-mail us at m.c.blondeel@vu.nl.
29 Feb 2024
Science & Activism (Part II) - with Marthe Wens
We're back with Part II of our double whammy on Science & Activism!
Today, Mathieu is joined by Dr. Marthe Wens (https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/marthe-wens), Assistant Professor of Water Security at the Institute for Environmental Studies (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/ivm) of VU Amsterdam. She's an academic and a very active member of Scientist Rebellion (https://www.scientistrebellion.nl/) in the Netherlands. She's taken part in a lot of civil disobedience actions of SR and shares her ideas on reconciling her roles as scientist, concerned citizen and activist.
Questions or want to learn more? Visit the Climate Expertise Centre (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/climate-expertise-centre) website or e-mail us directly at m.c.blondeel@vu.nl.
22 Feb 2024
Science & Activism (Part I) - with Davide Iannuzzi
We're back with a double episode on a very hot topic!
Can scientists and universities be activists or must they remain neutral? But what does ‘neutrality’ mean in the face of an ever growing climate crisis, with facts and evidence about causes and consequences so abundantly clear? Does this neutrality argument still hold up then? Or, in the words of Albert Einstein, does the privilege to know, entail a duty to act?
In Part I, Mathieu is joined by Professor Davide Iannuzzi (https://vu.nl/en/news/2023/science-to-impact), Chief Impact Officer at VU Amsterdam. He played a crucial part in the VU's decision last year to break research ties with the fossil fuel industry. They talk about the different societal roles that universities can(not) play in addressing the climate crisis.
As always, questions or want to learn more? Visit the Climate Expertise Centre (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/climate-expertise-centre) website or e-mail us at m.c.blondeel@vu.nl
8 Feb 2024
Beyond the Climate Crisis (Part II) - with Marije Schaafsma and Ina Lehmann
Welcome to round two in our double episode 'Beyond the Climate Crisis'!
In today's episode, we talk about biodiversity! How biodiversity is 'governed' globally, nationally and locally, the extent of the biodiversity crisis that we're in, but also -importantly- what we can do to get us out of the crisis we find ourselves in.
Guests today are Marije Schaafsma (https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/marije-schaafsma), Associate Professor of Environmental Economics and Ina Lehmann (https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/ina-lehmann), Assistant Professor of Global Governance of Biodiversity. Both work at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/ivm)) of VU Amsterdam.
As always, if you have questions or want to know more, visit our Climate Expertise Centre (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/climate-expertise-centre) website or e-mail Mathieu directly at: m.c.blondeel@vu.nl
1 Feb 2024
Beyond the Climate Crisis (PART I) - with Kristiaan Kok
Today and next week we have a two-parter in store for our listeners!
It is clear that we are not just in the midst of a climate crisis. A lot more is at stake. Last year, environmental scientists warned (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458) that the earth is now ‘well outside the safe operating space for humanity’ because multiple ‘planetary boundaries’ have been broken.
In the first part of our double 'Beyond the Climate Crisis' episode, Mathieu is joined by Kristiaan Kok (https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/kristiaan-kok), Assistant Professor at the Athena Institute (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/athena-institute) of VU Amsterdam. They discuss the environmental, social and economic impacts of the global food system, as well its relation to the climate crisis. Kris also talks about how we can truly transform the system to make it more fair and sustainable.
If you have questions or want to learn more, visit the website of the Climate Expertise Centre (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/climate-expertise-centre) or e-mail us at m.c.blondeel@vu.nl
26 Jan 2024
Lies, Lawyers & Litigation - with Clemens Kaupa and Sjoukje van Oosterhout
There’s a new tool in the toolbox of climate activists: litigation. Increasingly, fossil fuel companies and governments are being sued for their lack of climate action. It makes one wonder, what are the advantages and disadvantages of taking these companies and governments to court?
In this episode, Mathieu is joined by two guests. VU Assistant Professor Clemens Kaupa is an expert in climate law. Together with students, he has launched a successful complaint (https://vu.nl/en/news/2021/law-students-demonstrate-misleading-shell-advertising)with the Dutch Advertising Code Committee against Shell’s misleading
advertising practices. Our second guest, Sjoukje van Oosterhout, is Lead Researcher in Milieudefensie’s ongoing landmark case against Shell.
If you have questions or want to learn more, visit the website of our Climate Expertise Centre (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/climate-expertise-centre) or e-mail us at m.c.blondeel@vu.nl
17 Jan 2024
A World on Fire? The State of the Climate - with Bart van den Hurk
2023 was the hottest year on record. The extreme weather we have witnessed will become more common and more severe as the Earth further warms. What is ‘the state of the climate’ as we enter a new year? What can we expect in the (near) future and what can be done about it?
In this first episode, Mathieu is joined by VU professor of climate change and adaptation, Bart van den Hurk, a world-leading climate scientist. Professor van den Hurk is also Co-Chair of Working Group II for the IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle. He navigates us through the scientific knowledge on the climate crisis and the fascinating world of the IPCC.
If you have questions or want to learn more, visit our Climate Expertise Centre website (https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/research-institutes/climate-expertise-centre) or e-mail us at m.c.blondeel@vu.nl.
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