Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)

In this Think Sustainable Europe podcast, produced by IEEP, we discuss COP30, review the conference outcomes, and examine the politics of climate target-setting from the perspectives of two 2025 Council presidencies, Poland and Denmark. Moderated by Krystyna Springer, IEEP Senior Policy Analyst in the Climate team and with the participation of Antoine Oger, IEEP Executive Director; Zofia Wetmańska, Chief Strategy Officer at the Reform Institute; and Jens Mattias Clausen, Director of EU Division at CONCITO.

In this podcast, we will dig a bit more into the challenges of financing the transition towards sustainable agri-food systems and exploring existing tools and policy instruments that could help us to increase indirect public and private financing for the much needed transformation of our food systems.

In this podcast we talk about the COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity which takes place in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024 and which is defined as the "implementation COP" as negotiations will focus on finalising and agreeing on mechanisms for implementation of the GBF. Our IEEP Biodiversity analyst, Gabrielle Aubert, speaks with Nigel Dudley, whose work focuses particularly on ecosystem services, landscape approaches to conservation, planning and management of protected and conserved areas and measurement of the ecological and social impacts of conservation.

In this podcast we talk about the United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP28 - which took place in Dubai in December, and which marked a the latest milestone in the global effort to address climate change and put our societies on a path towards a sustainable future. The conference was held against the backdrop of increasingly alarming scientific reports, emphasising the need for immediate and decisive action to limit global temperature rise and protect the planet's ecosystems.   This  COP agreement represent a significant shift as it is now the first-ever in 28 years of international climate negotiations to address fossil fuels  and put the alignment with science on the forefront of the fight against climate change. To discuss this and more, we talked with Maria Jose Sanz, Scientific Director at BC3 and Gillian Bowser, Associate Professor at the Colorado State University. Moderated by IEEP's Policy Analyst Krystyna Springer.

As droughts and floods are increasing and severely affecting agriculture production, EU agriculture ministers debated how to respond, so far mainly via the use of ‘crisis’ funds. These short-term fixes demonstrate the need for a longer-term vision and plan for the sector to become sustainable and resilient. With EU policymakers gearing up for next year’s elections and debates already beginning around the reform of the next EU budget and Common Agricultural Policy, there is momentum to fundamentally rethink EU policy in this area to support a transition of agri-food systems. In this podcast, Juliette Pagnon, Policy Analyst at IEEP talks to guest experts Aurélie Catallo and Artur Runge Metzge about the current issues affecting the agricultural sector in Europe, how EU policy can help to address these, and what is needed for the post-election policy framework. In particular, they share their views on what reforms are needed the next Multiannual Financial Framework expected in July 2025 and the Common Agricultural Policy.