Environmental destruction is often framed as harm, oversight, or bad practice. But what if we started calling it what it really is. Crime.
In this season finale of the Earth Set podcast, we are joined by Dr Julia Shaw, criminal psychologist, author, podcast host, and presenter, for a conversation that reframes how we think about crimes against the planet.
Julia is the author of Green Crime, a global investigation into the psychology behind environmental crime. Drawing on cases from around the world, she explains why these crimes keep happening, who commits them, and why society consistently underestimates their severity.
From corporate scandals like Dieselgate to illegal mining, poaching, and organised crime at sea, Julia shows how environmental crime is systemic, enabled by weak enforcement, social norms, and very human behaviour.
In this episode you’ll learn:
Why environmental crimes are treated as lesser crimes, and why that matters
The six psychological drivers behind environmental crime
How corporate and organised environmental crimes really operate
Why enforcement and regulation are critical to accountability
How psychology can help change behaviour, not just policy
This episode marks the end of Season 1 of Earth Set. Thank you to everyone who has listened, shared, and joined us so far. Season 2 and more live events are coming in the new year.
📚 Resources & Links
Green Crime by Julia Shaw
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In this episode we continue our Green Skills audio only series. Fiona speaks with Mat Ilic, CEO of Greenworkx, an organisation building the workforce needed to deliver the transition. Mat’s work sits at the intersection of industry, social impact and public policy, and he brings one of the clearest views on what the UK must do to avoid a skills bottleneck that could slow climate progress for years.
The scale of the challenge is stark: around 4 million workers will need to retrain in the next five years if the UK is to stay on track for net zero. Some jobs will disappear. Others will transform. Entirely new sectors will emerge, from low carbon heating to home energy upgrades to the electro technical work that underpins everything from data centres to EV charging.
This conversation dives into what it will take to build a workforce capable of meeting that moment.
🔍 In this episode you will learn:
Whether you are an employer, policymaker, L and D leader, or someone exploring a move into the green economy, this is a practical and ambitious guide to one of the most urgent challenges of the transition.
📚 Resources and Links
Explore Greenworkx:
https://greenworkx.org
🎟️ Join Earth Set Live
We host monthly live events in London featuring founders, policy leaders and thinkers shaping the transition to a resilient, regenerative economy. First Tuesday of every month.
Grab tickets here:
https://earthset.co
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It really helps more people discover the show. Thanks for listening, and see you at the next live event or in your feed soon.
In this live recorded episode, Amy sits down with Michael Liebreich — founder of New Energy Finance, CEO at Liebreich Associates, co-managing partner at EcoPragma Capital, adviser to governments and industry, and host of Cleaning Up — to explore his call for a Pragmatic Climate Reset.
Michael argues that the climate conversation has drifted into extremes. Doom on one side. Techno-optimism on the other. His reset calls for something different: more realism, less noise, and a clearer focus on the solutions already working at scale.
This conversation moves through politics, COP, UK energy strategy, grid bottlenecks, hydrogen hype, data centres, and the economics of electrification. Michael brings a rare mix of engineering logic, market insight and straight talking honesty — offering one of the clearest explanations of where the transition stands today.
In this episode you’ll learn:
Why the climate debate needs a reset
What Michael means by a Pragmatic Climate Reset
Why electrification becomes inevitable when you follow the economics
Why the hard “4 percent problem” distracts from the easy “96 percent”
How political narratives shape the pace of climate action
Why locational pricing could avoid billions in grid waste
What data centre growth really means for energy demand
Why hydrogen has become a seductive distraction
Why behaviour change and public sentiment now matter more than ever
What a realistic, practical path to faster deployment looks like
What Michael is genuinely optimistic about heading into 2026
📚 Resources & Links
Michael Liebreich – Cleaning Up podcast
The Pragmatic Climate Reset – Part 1 and Part 2
🎟️ Join Earth Set Live
We host monthly live events in London featuring founders, policy leaders and thinkers shaping the transition to a resilient, regenerative economy. First Tuesday of every month. Tickets: earthset.co
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What if the biggest story of the net zero transition isn’t technology, policy or investment, but jobs?
Jobs that disappear, jobs that transform, and millions of jobs that don’t exist yet.
In this episode, Fiona sits down with Julian Critchlow, advisory partner at Bain & Company, former Director General for Energy Transformation & Clean Growth in UK government, and one of the architects of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy.
Julian’s work at Bain on green skills reveals something most people haven’t yet grasped: the transition to a clean economy is going to reshape around 4 million jobs across the UK. That includes roughly 1 million entirely new roles, and 3 million people who will need significant reskilling as industries electrify, retool and reinvent themselves.
This conversation connects the dots between climate ambition, industrial strategy and the real human workforce behind the transition.
In this episode you’ll learn:
Whether you're an employer, policymaker, student, or someone thinking about your next career move, this is one of the clearest explanations of the real workforce implications of net zero you’ll hear.
Resources & Links:
Bain & Company – Green Skills Report
Join Earth Set Live:
We host monthly live events in London featuring founders, policy leaders and thinkers shaping the transition to a resilient, regenerative economy. First Tuesday of every month.
Grab tickets here: 👉 earthset.co
If you enjoyed this episode:
Please take a moment to:
Thanks for listening — see you at the next live event or in your feed soon.
In this bonus episode, we step behind the headlines of the latest UN climate talks with writer, editor, and climate activist Grace Pengelly — collaborator on the late Peter Betts’ remarkable book The Climate Diplomat: A Personal History of the COP Conferences.
Recorded in the immediate aftermath of the most recent COP, this conversation digs into what really happened, why the negotiations felt particularly fraught, and what Pete’s decades of experience can teach us about multilateral climate diplomacy — even when it looks messy, slow, or “on life support.”
Grace shares:
How she came to work with Pete Betts during the final year of his life
Why Pete believed COP — for all its flaws — is still the only global forum capable of delivering progress at scale
What he might have made of the latest summit
How “side processes” and quiet relationship-building often drive real breakthroughs
Why reforming COP doesn’t mean abandoning it
And the role civil society, media, finance, and long-term negotiators must play in what comes next
If you’ve ever wondered whether the COP system is still fit for purpose — or why anyone keeps turning up — this is a thoughtful, human, and deeply grounded look inside the world of climate diplomacy.
📚 Resources & People Mentioned
🎟️ Join Earth Set Live
We host monthly live events in London with founders, thinkers, policy leaders, and climate innovators. First Tuesday of every month.
Grab tickets here: 👉 https://www.earthset.co
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In this powerful live episode filmed at Bain & Company London, Earth Set co-founder Fiona Howarth sits down with Neil Shearing, Group Chief Economist at Capital Economics and author of The Fractured Age, to unpack one of the biggest economic shifts of our time: the end of globalisation as we’ve known it.
From the rise of China to the role of semiconductors, rare earths, green tech, and the geopolitical tug-of-war reshaping supply chains, Neil offers a clear-eyed look at how the world is dividing into competing blocs — and what that means for business, climate, and global security.
Together, they explore:
🌏 Why the last 30 years of global cooperation are over — and what replaces them
🇨🇳 China’s economic model, Belt & Road strategy, and dominance in green tech
🇺🇸 How the US is reshaping alliances, tariffs, and industrial policy📉 Why Taiwan is the global economy’s most vulnerable chokepoint
🔋 The critical minerals race: cobalt, rare earths, aluminium, and EV supply chains
⚡ How fracturing could reshape the energy transition — for better or worse
🏭 What Western governments must do now to stay competitive
🔮 Who the winners and losers could be in a world split in two
Neil brings nuance, data, and clarity to a topic often dominated by headlines. If you want to understand the forces reshaping the global economy — and the future of climate action — this is essential listening.
🎧 Listen if you’re curious about:
Economics, geopolitics, supply chains, China, the US, semiconductors, industrial strategy, climate tech, the energy transition, and how global politics will shape the next decade.
🎟 Join our live events
Earth Set hosts monthly conversations in London with the people accelerating a net-positive future. Be part of the room where ideas collide and solutions emerge. Visit earthset.co for information and tickets
Recorded live at the Blue Earth Summit 2025, this episode captures the energy, optimism, and innovation driving climate action today.
Join hosts Amy Rennison and Fiona Howarth as they speak with founders, thinkers, and changemakers across the event — from the Internet of Energy to plastic-free design, community power, steward ownership, and climate tech for good.
You’ll hear from:
Dan Travers, Open Climate Fix, on AI and decentralized energy
Sian Sutherland, A Plastic Planet, on designing waste out of the system
Howard Johns & Reg Platt, People Owned Power and Emergent Energy, on bringing solar to every street
Sophie Lambin, Kite Insights & Hurd, on unlocking employee-led climate action
Patrick Andrews & Erica Neve, Yoak & Steward Ownership Alliance, on reimagining business through nature
And more innovators from across the Blue Earth community
From the buzz of the summit floor to the big ideas shaping our regenerative future — this episode is a celebration of the current of change flowing through people and projects redefining what’s possible.
📅 Attend our live events in London: earthset.co
💬 Follow us on LinkedIn
In this live Earth Set founder session, Fiona Howarth, Founder and Director of Octopus Electric Vehicles, joins her Earth Set co-founder Amy Rennison to share how a simple idea—and one Google search—grew into a business that’s helped thousands make the switch to electric.
From setting up a leasing company during lockdown to raising over £1.4 billion in finance for EVs, Fiona’s story is a masterclass in scaling with purpose. She talks about the messy middle of startup life—the “Batphone” days, the 2,000 unexpected leads, and building a team culture that puts people before problems.
This episode was recorded live at Blue Garage as part of the Earth Set founder community series.
🎧 Listen in to hear:
The origin story of Octopus EV and how it scaled from idea to impact
Why culture and purpose drive growth that lasts
Lessons for founders navigating uncertainty and rapid scale
How the energy and transport transition is converging faster than we think
About Earth Set Earth Set is a network and live podcast series where the people accelerating a net-positive future come together to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and build real-world solutions.
🎟️ Attend our monthly events – held on the first Tuesday of every month in London🌍 Find upcoming events, speakers, and community highlights at earthset.co
In this live Earth Set conversation, we check back in on the UK’s journey to net zero — one year on from our first climate progress panel — to find out who’s winning, who’s lagging, and what it will really take to hit our 2030 and 2050 targets.
Our guests bring the data, the context, and the challenge:
Emily Nurse, Head of Net Zero at the Climate Change Committee
Dave Jones, Co-founder and Global Insights Director at Ember
Ben Westerman, Policy and Advocacy Director at Electrify Britain
Together, they unpack what’s changed in the past year — from the halving of UK emissions since 1990 to the surge in clean power and electric transport. You’ll hear that:
UK emissions fell another 2.5 % in 2024, marking a tenth straight year of cuts.
Surface transport is now the UK’s biggest emitter — but one in five new cars is fully electric.
Battery costs dropped 40 % last year (and may fall another 40 % in 2025), transforming the economics of clean power.
Yet 71 % of new homes were still built with fossil-fuel heating in 2024.
The discussion explores why battery tech is scaling faster than anyone expected, why heat pumps are still lagging, and how shifting the way we price electricity could unlock real public support for the transition.
It’s a conversation about progress and perception — because the road to net zero isn’t just about targets and technology, it’s about making people feel the benefits of the transition in their homes, their bills, and their daily lives.
Welcome to Earth Set, the podcast where the people accelerating a net positive future come together to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and build real-world solutions.
In this episode, hosts Amy Rennison and Fiona Howarth sit down with James Arbib — investor, futurist, and co-author of Stellar: A World Beyond Limits — and How to Get There.
James argues that we’re standing at the edge of a transformation bigger than any industrial revolution:
Together, they explore how technologies like solar, wind, and AI might unlock what James calls a “stellar world” — one that functions more like a star, radiating energy and value without constant extraction. It’s a conversation about economics, innovation, and human behaviour — and how we can shape the transition rather than be swept up in it.
Each episode of Earth Set is recorded live at our monthly events in London, where founders, investors, scientists, and policymakers gather to imagine what comes next.
If you’re curious about the future of work, energy, and civilisation itself — and want to stay hopeful while taking action — this one’s for you.
Welcome to Earth Set, the podcast where the people accelerating a net positive future come together to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and build real-world solutions.
In this trailer, hosts Amy Rennison and Fiona Howarth introduce the vision behind Earth Set and what listeners can expect each month - from live events to in-depth conversations with the changemakers shaping a regenerative economy.
You’ll hear what “net positive” really means (spoiler: it’s about making things better, not just less bad) and how Earth Set connects founders, investors, scientists, policymakers, and innovators who are reimagining how we live and work on a changing planet.
Each episode is recorded live at our monthly Earth Set events in London, where ideas collide, networks grow, and collaboration sparks real impact. The podcast brings those conversations to you, wherever you are.
If you care about the future of the planet - and want to stay hopeful while taking action - this is your community.