G'day COP31

About G'day COP31

Bula COP31 is a podcast for anyone wanting to understand what it means for Australia and the Türkiye to co-host COP31 in 2026, and why this moment is influential in the UNFCCC process. Australia will be putting the Pacific Islands at the forefront of the climate negotiations to ensure adaptation and infrastructure investments flow to the region. Your hosts are Heidi Dumesich and Jack Whelan. Jack is a proud boomer who started his sustainability career long before it was considered ‘cool’. His experience spans the earliest COPs and reaches across business, industry, government, development agencies, NGOs, and the UN. He’s worked with the International Chamber of Commerce and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development; and across Asia-Pacific with the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility, Asian Development Bank, and World Bank. Jack was nominated by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the design team that established the IRIS initiative, supporting climate- and disaster-resilient infrastructure in Small Island Developing States — work that sits at the heart of Pacific climate priorities. Heidi Dumesich is a millennial environmental scientist focused on implementing practical solutions. She’s the seasoned podcaster behind Life on Planet A, and currently a Sustainability Manager at Ventia, leading an Infrastructure Sustainability Council rating for a major road project. Heidi brings a fresh, grounded perspective on climate action and how sustainability plays out across communities and sectors. Bula COP31 explores what really happens behind the scenes of a COP — with a special focus on how Pacific leadership, values, and voices shape the global climate agenda. Through candid conversations with stakeholders across Pacific governments, Australian agencies, industry, civil society, youth, and community groups, we unpack how climate diplomacy in our region is driven by relationships, resilience, and shared responsibility. Whether you're a policymaker, business leader, activist, Pacific climate champion, or simply COP-curious, this podcast is your guide to getting the most out of COP31 — and understanding how it can deliver for the Blue Pacific Continent. Tune in, get engaged, and say Bula COP31!

Publisher

Heidi Dumesich and Jack Whelan

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Jun 2025

Latest episode

20 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

21 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Aug 2026

   Episode 'T' for Tonga: Plastics, Policy and the Pacific with WWF John Duncan

   This episode, we're joined by John Duncan, Global Initiative Lead for WWF's No Plastics in Nature program, to unpack the Global Plastics Treaty — often called the most significant environmental agreement since Paris. John breaks down why voluntary corporate action hasn't moved the needle, how a 330+ company business coalition is pushing governments for binding rules, and why extended producer responsibility (EPR) could be the single biggest lever for change. We dig into the sticking poi...

2. 

   9 Aug 2026

   Episode 'S' for Solomon Islands: The Case for Electrification - Part 2 with Jon Jutsen

   Jon Jutsen returns to Bula COP31 to unpack the messier middle of the energy transition: where biofuels and biogas still have a role in hard-to-abate sectors like mining, farming and remote transport, and whether Australia's electricity grid is actually ready for the wave of EVs and heat pumps about to hit it. Jutsen makes the case that biodiesel is a short-term bridge at best, that biogas is underused in agriculture and rural industry, and that our networks — built for a world of dozens of ne...

3. 

   26 Jul 2026

   Episode 'S' for Samoa - Electrification target of 35% - Realistic or Aspiration for Australia?

   Can Australia hit net zero without a clear plan to get there? In this episode of Bula COP31, we sit down with energy transition expert Jonathan Jutsen to unpack what it will really take to electrify Australia's economy by 2035. Jon has spent decades working at the intersection of energy policy and business, and he doesn't pull punches: Australia's energy transition remains deeply politicised, market forces (not policy) are currently driving renewables adoption, and without a detailed, bottom-...

Podcast Authority Score: 7 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

13

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.