Climate Unf*cked

Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

Aurélie Maréchal is the Director of Positive Money Europe, an organisation working to reform the economic system so that it works for people and the planet. She's spent 15 years inside the European policy machine, watching the Green Deal go from a fringe idea to the headline of the European Commission, and then watching it disappear from political discourse entirely in just five years. She now spends her time showing policymakers, central banks, and businesses why the way we handle money, interest rates, and investment is one of the most powerful climate levers we're not using properly.

This conversation unpacks the relationship between climate and economics that almost nobody explains clearly: why fossil fuels drive inflation, why raising interest rates to fight that inflation actually makes renewable energy harder to finance, and why the European Central Bank's standard playbook is accidentally locking us into the very system we're trying to escape.

We talk about fossil inflation and climate inflation, why renewable energy projects are more sensitive to interest rate changes than fossil fuel infrastructure, and why the Green Deal went from mainstream policy to politically toxic in the space of two election cycles. Aurélie also shares what it's like working as an insider in Brussels, why lobbying isn't a dirty word but power imbalances make it dangerous, and why the arguments that work today aren't about saving the planet, they're about sovereignty, security, and competitiveness.

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This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

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Find Positive Money at: https://positivemoney.org

Follow Positive Money Europe on LinkedIn, Facebook, Bluesky, and TikTok

Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/

And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/

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Chapters

00:00 Why are we talking about money?

06:30 What is monetary policy?

12:45 What is fossil inflation and climateflation?

18:20 Why raising interest rates makes renewables harder to finance

24:10 Evidence that renewables reduce electricity prices

29:40 The rise and fall of the Green Deal

35:50 Why climate arguments don't work anymore

41:15 The insider/outsider strategy

47:30 How lobbying actually works

54:00 What can you do after this episode?

Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

Christophe Hodder is the world's first UN-appointed Climate Peace and Security Advisor, working in Somalia, the 5th most climate-vulnerable country on Earth. He's spent six years on the frontlines of where climate breakdown meets armed conflict, helping communities navigate droughts, floods, displacement, and violence in a country that contributes just 0.08% of global emissions but bears some of the heaviest consequences.

This conversation goes deep into what climate insecurity actually looks like on the ground: two goat herders fighting over shrinking grazing land, clans feuding over water access, young men with guns caught in cycles of violence made worse by collapsing ecosystems. Christophe explains why climate change doesn't directly cause conflict, but it intensifies every existing tension, and why restoring land, building trust between communities, and creating economic opportunities are all part of the same solution.

We also talk about what climate finance pays for when it's done right, how Al-Shabab uses resource control as a weapon, and how the instability happening in Somalia can eventually show up on Britain's doorstep through migration, terrorism, and disrupted global trade.

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This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

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Find out more about the UN Climate Security Mechanism and follow Chris on LinkedIn

Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/

And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/

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Chapters

00:00 What is a Climate Peace and Security Advisor?

04:15 How climate impacts show up as violence on the ground

08:45 Somalia's conflict context and why it matters

13:20 How drought and flooding drive resource competition

18:10 The Mataban project: building trust between clans

24:30 Somalia's first £100 million in climate finance

29:50 How Al-Shabab exploits resource scarcity

35:15 Why half of Somalia's population is under 30

40:20 Kenya vs Somalia: stable ecosystems vs conflict spirals

46:10 What surprised Chris most in six years

51:30 Success stories: from small trials to big programs

56:45 Why this matters to someone in the UK

1:07:10 What Chris wishes more people would ask

1:10:30 Where to learn more and get involved

Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

General Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE spent 35 years in the British military, rising to the executive committee of defence. He's now one of the most important voices connecting climate change to national security, arguing that the biggest threats to Britain aren't just missiles and tanks, but water scarcity, food system collapse, migration flows, and the geopolitical contests opening up in a melting Arctic.

This conversation was recorded twice. The first time was on the day the Iran war started. Given that Richard's expertise sits at the intersection of conflict, energy security, and climate, we decided to re-record a few weeks later to capture how the war has changed the global energy landscape and what it means for the UK's climate and security strategy going forward.

We talk about why national security is much more than defence spending, why the Straits of Hormuz closing should terrify anyone who cares about food or fuel, and why building renewable energy isn't just good for the planet, it's one of the smartest military strategies we could deploy. Richard also explains why electric tanks are a stupid idea, why biodiversity loss is the crisis nobody's talking about, and why pragmatic optimism is the only mindset that works when facing a problem this big.

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This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

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Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/

And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/

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00:59 Impact of Iran War

05:34 Will the war speed up renewables?

09:18 Africa's hidden fertilizer crisis

12:08 Defence spending vs the green transition

18:52 What national security actually means

20:49 Food, water and energy are already under threat

23:37 The 5 types of climate security

25:35 The Arctic: a new geopolitical battleground

26:58 Migration is where the rubber hits the road

43:49 Biodiversity: the dog that hasn't barked

50:00 Iraq, heat and a military turning point

56:15 How do you make the military care about climate?

1:02:46 The company that proved sustainability is cheaper

1:11:20 Why electric tanks is the wrong question

1:14:45 $250 a litre: fuel cost soldiers' lives

1:19:49 The UK port responsible for 25% of our energy

1:25:54 Pragmatic optimism: the military mindset

1:31:01 "UK is only 2%" — Richard's answer

1:39:20 Hope and opportunity: what to take away

Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

Dr Simon Clark is a climate YouTuber with 720,000+ subscribers who's spent 15 years translating climate science for audiences who didn't know they needed it. He's a physicist by training, a communicator by choice, and someone who's watched misinformation campaigns evolve from fringe conspiracy theories into sophisticated, well-funded operations that now shape how millions of people understand the climate crisis.

This conversation goes deep into why lies are winning, why the truth resists simplicity, and why the platforms we rely on to spread information are fundamentally designed to reward the wrong things. We also talk about what's actually working when it comes to UK climate policy, why Ed Miliband might be the most underrated figure in British politics right now, and why Simon thinks the Iran crisis could be Asia's Ukraine moment for clean energy.

We cover:

Why climate misinformation is so successful: it's simple, it fits social media, and it tells people what they want to hear

The fundamental shift from debunking to pre-bunking, and why signal-boosting bad arguments by responding to them is a trap

Why food misinformation has escaped scrutiny in a way fossil fuels haven't, and how Big Tobacco's playbook was inherited by the food industry

The conditions that created the misinformation crisis: a deficit in media literacy, platforms designed to reward sensationalism, and billionaires buying up media to control the algorithm

Why democratic oversight of discovery algorithms is one of the most important climate conversations we're not having

Trojan Horse videos: how Simon packages climate content to look like skeptic material, then pulls the rug two minutes in to reach people outside the choir

Why the UK has reduced domestic emissions by over 50% since 1990, and why almost nobody knows that

Simon's honest assessment of the UK government's climate policy: energy gets four stars out of five, nature and biodiversity gets two

Why Ed Miliband knows his stuff, why carbon capture isn't as stupid as people think, and why the decision not to introduce zonal pricing was actually defensible

The Iran crisis as a potential turning point: why this could be Asia's Ukraine moment for renewables, and why it's extraordinary good fortune that the world's largest emitter is also the country building all the clean technology

Why Trump might go down in history as the president who accidentally accelerated the energy transition by creating an oil crisis

The balance between hope and despair, why Simon hates being asked that question, and why the only way to guarantee we don't make it is by stopping

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This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

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Find Simon's work at www.youtube.com/@SimonClark

Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/

And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/

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Chapters

00:00 Why is climate misinformation so successful?

08:30 How do you tackle it?

15:42 Food misinformation and the Big Tobacco playbook

23:15 What conditions created the misinformation?

32:40 Should algorithms have oversight?

38:20 Using a Trojan Horse to break out the echo chamber

47:15 The UK’s climate wins most people don’t realise

54:30 How well is the UK gov. really doing?

1:06:20 Carbon capture, zonal pricing, and Ed Miliband

1:18:45 The Iran crisis as Asia's Ukraine moment

1:27:30 Why Trump might accidentally accelerate the transition

1:35:10 The hypothetical video with £100,000

1:42:50 Hope, despair, and why stopping guarantees failure

Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

This is a slightly different ep. The first ½ is a more traditional podcast chat. But the 2nd ½ is me putting Phil to the test by roleplaying as 4 different people: A secondary school teacher, a middle-class retiree, a young professional and a right-wing politician

Phil Korbel is the co-founder of the Carbon Literacy Project, a Manchester-based charity that has trained over 153,000 people across 50 countries in climate action. Starting from a shared desk with no salary and a big idea, Phil and his co-founder Dave Coleman have built one of the most powerful climate education movements in the world - reaching everyone from security guards to IPCC scientists, wedding planners to funeral directors.

We cover:

Why recycling is near the bottom of the list, and what actually moves the needle

The Carbon Literacy formula: how does acting on climate help you thrive in your specific role?

Why polar bears are banned from Phil's training (and what that says about climate communication)

The emotional structure of a carbon literacy day and why doom without agency is dangerous

How 153,000 people got trained mostly through word of mouth

Why professional advisors - lawyers, accountants, financial advisors - need to understand climate as a core competency

The "Burt the security guard" story that perfectly captures what a culture shift actually looks like

How to handle a denier in the room without letting them suck up all the oxygen

What Phil says to a right-wing politician who thinks clean energy means living in caves

Why anger about climate might be your most useful tool - if you channel it right

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This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here:

https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth

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Find out more about the Carbon Literacy Project and get trained at carbonliteracy.com

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Chapters

00:00 Why Phil banned polar bears from carbon literacy training

03:30 What is the Carbon Literacy Project?

09:30 Why does ‘relevance’ matter?

12:40 From a shared desk with no salary to 153,000 people trained

15:42 Why they gave away the IP and became a charity

17:44 What caused the hockey stick growth

20:08 Do you work with high-emitting companies?

22:26 How to handle a denier in the room

25:50 Why doom without agency is dangerous

28:41 Phil’s approach to skeptics

37:02 Role-play 1: The secondary school teacher

46:15 Role-play 2: The middle-class retiree

1:00:26 Role-play 3: The young professional

1:09:32 Role-play 4: The right-wing politician

1:11:05 Energy sovereignty, batteries and the Reform mayor who quietly signed up

1:19:36 The 97 engineers on the bridge