Climate fight part 3: the left behind

10/20/21 • 37 min

Know Your Place | The Conversation Documentaries

In the shift away from fossil fuels, how do countries make sure not to widen inequalities in the process? In part three of our series Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiations, we travel to the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven on England’s north-west coast that could soon host the UK’s first deep coal mine in more than three decades. We talk to local people for and against the mine, as well as experts in the concept of a just transition, to explore how regions like west Cumbria that have suffered from decades of deindustrialisation can thrive in the shift to a low-carbon economy.

Featuring Rebecca Ford, senior lecturer in politics at the University of Strathclyde, Rebecca Willis, professor in Practice at the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University and Kieran Harrahill, PhD candidate in bioeconomy at University College Dublin.

The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune is by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. A transcript of this episode is available here.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Cumbria coal mine could usher in a net-zero-compliant fossil fuel industry – or prove it was always a fantasy, by Myles Allen, University of Oxford
Ending coal use blighted Scottish communities – a just transition to a green economy must support workers, by Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow
How to make climate action popular, by James Patterson, Utrecht University and Marie Claire Brisbois, University of Sussex

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Cumbria coal mine could usher in a net-zero-compliant fossil fuel industry – or prove it was always a fantasy, by Myles Allen, University of Oxford
Ending coal use blighted Scottish communities – a just transition to a green economy must support workers, by Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow
How to make climate action popular, by James Patterson, Utrecht University and Marie Claire Brisbois, University of Sussex

Previous Episode

Climate Fight part 2: the path to net zero

In part two of Climate Fight: the world’s biggest negotiation, we’re talking to experts about the grand goal of the negotiations: reaching net zero emissions by 2050. We explore what net zero means, and the technologies that will be needed to get the world there.

Featuring Mercedes Maroto-Valer, assistant deputy principal for research & innovation and director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions at Heriot-Watt University, James Dyke, senior lecturer in global systems at the University of Exeter and Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science and director of Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford. Our producer Tiffany Cassidy also visits the Boundary Dam coal-fired power plant in Saskatchewan, Canada, to see carbon capture and storage technology in action.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

A global carbon removal industry is coming – experts explain the problems it must overcome, by Johanna Forster and Naomi Vaughan, University of East Anglia
Climate crisis: what can trees really do for us?, by Rob MacKenzie University of Birmingham and Rose Pritchard, University of Manchester
Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap , by James Dyke, University of Exeter; Robert Watson, University of East Anglia and Wolfgang Knorr, Lund University
Net zero: despite the greenwash, it’s vital for tackling climate change, by Richard Black, Imperial College London; Steve Smith and Thomas Hale, University of Oxford

Next Episode

Climate Fight part 4: the youth movement grows up

Locked out of conferences and company boardrooms, young people have tried to influence the international response to the climate crisis with strikes and protests. In part four of Climate Fight, the world's biggest negotiation, we explore what effect this youth activism has, and where the movement will go next.

Featuring Harriet Thew, researcher in climate change governance at the University of Leeds, who speaks to youth climate activist Abel Harvie-Clark about his experiences. And Lynda Dunlop, a senior lecturer in science education at the University of York.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading