logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2024
45m 49s

Can capitalism save the climate

NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION
About this episode
Worried about your carbon emissions? Don’t stress! You can pump out as much as you want - as long as you buy some offsets to balance it out. Scared of the collapse of wildlife? No problem! We can figure out how much money our ecosystems are worth, and let the market do the rest! Welcome to the logic of green capitalism. Fossil fuel giants claim to celebrate ... Show More
Up next
Dec 19
Is this government threatening our basic freedoms?
Two years’ ago, the UN human rights high commissioner issued the UK with a warning. He said that new restrictions being imposed on the right to protest were deeply troubling. Two years’ later, we have a new government in charge and now the police are due to get even more powers t ... Show More
36m 27s
Nov 26
What to make of the autumn budget - with James Meadway and Carys Afoko
After months of rumours, speculation and gossip, today the chancellor finally delivered her autumn budget - but not before an accidental leak of the budget document rendered the whole speech somewhat pointless. Alongside billions of pounds of tax rises came the long-awaited end o ... Show More
44m 50s
Nov 24
Is the AI bubble about to burst?
It’s a new technology that everyone’s desperate to get a piece of. CEOs say it’s going to change how we work, access information, and even relate to each other. Investors are showering companies with money - even when they aren’t turning a profit. You might think this is the sto ... Show More
40m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
How to Fix Capitalism
Is capitalism broken? A growing number of Americans think so amid declining social mobility and rising inequality. According to investor Ruchir Sharma, author of What Went Wrong With Capitalism, the United States has gone on a decades-long debt binge, with too many regulations an ... Show More
42m 24s
Aug 2025
Classic Debate: To Stop Climate Collapse, We Must End Capitalism
Capitalism is driving us to disaster. Our planet is heading for a terrifying environmental cataclysm – and our economic system is responsible. The defining characteristic of capitalism is perpetual economic growth. And while it has brought us wonderful benefits, including improve ... Show More
1h 9m
Jul 2021
154- The economics of climate change, the coming resource wars and what we can do about it.
Economists are dangerous, so says this week's guest iconoclastic economist,Professor Steve Keen and this is particularly the case if we think about climate change. What can we do to avoid a climate catastrophe? Carbon credits could be the answer, but we have to act quickly. ... Show More
34m 12s
Nov 12
The little green look: China’s energy revolution
America has boycotted this week’s COP climate talks, but China has sent a giant delegation. The world’s biggest polluter is increasingly pivotal to tackling global warming. Why young protesters around the world brandish a pirate flag. And since sports leagues cannot stamp out pir ... Show More
22m 27s
May 2025
Is the clean energy economy doomed?
So far, President Trump’s “drill, baby, drill,” agenda has proven to be a sharp turn from Biden-era climate initiatives, including the landmark spending bill the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). And thanks to President Trump’s attempts to claw back control over IRA funds, as well a ... Show More
24m 8s
Nov 12
The little green look: China’s energy revolution
America has boycotted this week’s COP climate talks, but China has sent a giant delegation. The world’s biggest polluter is increasingly pivotal to tackling global warming. Why young protesters around the world brandish a pirate flag. And since sports leagues cannot stamp out pir ... Show More
22m 27s
Sep 2025
The sun will save us
Bill McKibben has spent four decades warning us about climate change. Much of what he predicted has come true. And yet, his new book Here Comes the Sun is more hopeful than you might expect. That’s because, for the first time, we have a genuine alternative: Solar and wind energy ... Show More
47m 8s
Dec 2024
Good moos: cows could help the climate
<p><a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2024/12/12/what-has-four-stomachs-and-could-change-the-world?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel= ... Show More
23m 46s
Jun 2023
Simon Sharpe, "Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change" (Cambridge UP, 2023)
We need to act five times faster to avoid dangerous climate change. As Greenland melts, Australia burns, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, we think we know who the villains are: oil companies, consumerism, weak political leaders. But what if the real blocks to progre ... Show More
30m 22s
Jan 2024
Can you save a rainforest by paying people not to cut trees?
Come with us into B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest where Coastal First Nations are working to protect the trees using revenue from carbon offsets. But skepticism over the system may be putting the experiment at risk. We’ll hear about climate-friendly cookbooks to help you make a new ... Show More
54m 12s