Fossil vs Future Podcast By James Cameron and Daisy Nicholls cover art

Fossil vs Future

Fossil vs Future

By: James Cameron and Daisy Nicholls
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This is Fossil vs Future, a warm conversation between generations on climate change. - Each podcast episode will be focusing on a different climate-related challenge, as godfather and goddaughter, James and Daisy, share their individual experiences and perspectives, with the hope of fostering understanding between generations. - James is at the later stage of his working life dedicated to dealing with climate change, through law, finance, and social entrepreneurship, and Daisy is at an earlier stage of her career, equally focused on the climate and how to drive systemic change through her experience in the finance, business, and non-profit sectors. - We want to use intergenerational dialogue as a tool to learn, inspire, and get stuff done! - LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/fossil-vs-future Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/fossil_vs_future TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@fossil_vs_future© 2026 James Cameron and Daisy Nicholls Biological Sciences Earth Sciences Science
Episodes
  • WHAT ABOUT SUPER POLLUTANTS? A quick fix or an overlooked threat?

    WHAT ABOUT SUPER POLLUTANTS? A quick fix or an overlooked threat?
    Mar 17 2026
    Although we often focus on carbon dioxide, a group of powerful pollutants is also driving a large share of today’s warming… In this episode, James and Daisy talk about super pollutants. Why are they important? Why are they worse for the climate? How can we reduce their use? SOME RECOMMENDATIONS: The Global Methane Pledge (GMP) – Launched at COP26 by the EU and the US, the GMP now has 160 participants who agree to take voluntary actions to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, potentially eliminating over 0.2ºC warming by 2050. Methane has caused 30% of warming since the Industrial Revolution.The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) – A voluntary partnership of over 200 governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, scientific institutions and civil society organizations committed to protecting the climate and improving air quality by reducing short-lived super pollutants (methane, black carbon, tropospheric ozone and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)). The CCAC drives efforts to implement known practices and existing technologies that can achieve global reductions of at least 40% of methane by 2030 (vs 2010); 70% of black carbon by 2030 (vs 2010); and 99.5% of HFCs by 2050 (vs 2010).OTHER ADVOCATES AND RESOURCES:UNEP (2024) – Interactive cartoons explaining the science of super pollutants. UNEP – Parties to the Montreal Protocol (2016 Kigali Amendment) agreed to phase down HFCs by 80-85% by the late 2040s.CCAC (2024) – Super pollutants are a “flow” problem (controlling how fast the planet warms) whereas carbon dioxide is a “stock” problem (controlling the maximum extent of warming).CCAC – Methane has an atmospheric lifetime of 12 years (much shorter than CO2) but per unit of mass, has a warming effect 86x stronger than CO2 over 20 years and 28x over 100 years.UNEP – The International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) launched the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) at COP27– the first public global satellite detection system providing actionable methane emissions data.PR Newswire (2026) – A group of companies including Amazon, Autodesk, Figma, Google, JPMorganChase, Salesforce, and Workday announced a $100 million Superpollutant Action Initiative.Carbon Brief (2025) – Super pollutants are responsible for around 45% of global warming to date, as well as millions of premature deaths each year. Human-caused methane emissions come from: (1) Agriculture (~40%), such as from livestock and rice production; (2) Fossil fuels (~35%), as a by-product of fossil fuel extraction, storage and distribution; and (3) Waste (~20%), from food and other organic materials decaying in landfills and wastewater.UK Government (2025) – The UK’s Methane Action Plan notes that UK methane emissions have reduced by 62% between 1990 and 2023. IPCC (2023) – “Global Warming Potential (GWP) is an index measuring the radiative forcing following an emission of a unit mass of a given substance, accumulated over a chosen time horizon, relative to that of the reference substance, CO2.” National Grid (2025) – Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) has a GWP of 24,300 and an atmospheric lifetime of 3,200 years. 80% of the SF6 used globally is in electricity transmission and distribution.European Commission – The EU Methane Regulation (EU/2024/1787) entered into force on 4 August 2024. It aims to reduce methane emissions into the atmosphere, both in the EU and in global supply chains, and to minimise leaks of methane by fossil energy companies operating in the EU.EMSA – From 1 January 2026, the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) has incorporated methane and nitrous oxide for maritime transport.Thank you for listening! Please follow us on social media to join the conversation: LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTokYou can also now watch us on YouTube.Music: “Just Because Some Bad Wind Blows” by Nick Nuttall, Reptiphon Records. Available at https://nicknuttallmusic.bandcamp.com/album/just-because-some-bad-wind-blows-3Producer: Podshop StudiosHuge thanks to Siobhán Foster, a vital member of the team offering design advice, critical review and organisation that we depend upon.Stay tuned for more insightful discussions on navigating the transition away from fossil fuels to a sustainable future.
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    39 mins
  • WHAT ABOUT WOMEN? Vulnerable or vital?

    WHAT ABOUT WOMEN? Vulnerable or vital?
    Mar 3 2026
    With International Women’s Day on 8 March, this episode explores both the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and the critical role women play in driving climate action.In this episode, James and Daisy discuss and celebrate women. How are women disproportionately affected by climate change? And why are they central to climate solutions?SOME RECOMMENDATIONS: Women Leading on Climate (WLOC) – A global coalition of women leaders. Women are 2.5x more likely to demand government climate action, twice as likely to engage civically, and 60% more likely to use their voice for good. Project Drawdown – Makes the case for recognizing family planning and girls’ education as effective long-term climate adaptation strategies.Conciliation Resources (2024) – A workshop in Nigeria found women often show greater climate adaptability, partly due to exclusion from conventional inputs. Women farmers used manure fertiliser amid unpredictable weather, while men typically used harmful pesticides women cannot access.OTHER ADVOCATES AND RESOURCES:International Women’s Day – 2026 theme: ‘Give To Gain’. UN – Women aged 25-34 are 25% more likely than men to live in extreme poverty.UN – Women make up the majority of the world’s poor, who are highly dependent on natural resources. Women and children are 14x more likely to die than men in climate disasters. In wealthier societies, women drive 70-80% of consumer purchasing decisions.UN (2025) – One study found a 28% rise in femicide during heatwaves. UN Women – Women carry out at least 2.5x more unpaid household and care work than men.UN Women (2025) – As of September 2025, 29 countries have women Heads of State and/or Government (32 women total). FAO (2023) – Women produce 60-80% of the food in most developing countries.EIB (2023) – Countries with more women in Parliament are more prone to ratify environmental treaties. Companies with more women on boards are more likely to improve energy efficiency, reduce firms’ overall environmental impact and invest in renewable energy. At COP26, men held 10 of 12 UK leadership roles. Earth Day (2025) – 62% of women are climate voters in the US (vs. 37% of men). “Greenness” is often linked with femininity. Women generally purchase eco-friendly products more frequently, consume less carbon, are more likely to recycle, minimize waste, and save more water and energy. In one study, women became more concerned climate impacts and more supportive of mitigation policies when asked to consider future generations; men experienced no such change.IRC (2023) – Climate change has been linked to a 39% surge in child marriage in Bangladesh. After disasters, 86% of girls face increased domestic workloads, affecting their studies.Hidden Connections – Documentary on climate change and child marriage in Bangladesh. LSE (2025) – Women’s food and transport carbon footprint are 26% lower than men’s in France. CEO Magazine (2023) – With 10 new female CEOs in the S&P 500 index, women finally outnumbered CEOs named John.Vegan Society (2025) – More women (3.60%) than men (1.89%) say they are vegan or have a plant-based diet. Financial Alliance for Women – Non-performing loans from women are 53% lower than from men.One Earth (2025) – The Paris Agreement and its guiding principle of 'net zero emissions' was shaped by women leaders (the "lionesses") including Farhana Yamin, Christiana Figueres, and Tessa Tennant.Cara Daggett (2018) – Introduced “petro-masculinity” to describe the hypermasculine mode of support for fossil fuels in rising authoritarian movements.McKinsey (2023) - Top-quartile companies for gender diversity were 39% more likely to financially outperform. Thank you for listening! Please follow us on social media to join the conversation: LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTokYou can also now watch us on YouTube.Music: “Just Because Some Bad Wind Blows” by Nick Nuttall, Reptiphon Records. Available at https://nicknuttallmusic.bandcamp.com/album/just-because-some-bad-wind-blows-3Producer: Podshop StudiosHuge thanks to Siobhán Foster, a vital member of the team offering design advice, critical review and organisation that we depend upon.Stay tuned for more insightful discussions on navigating the transition away from fossil fuels to a sustainable future.
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    36 mins
  • WHAT ABOUT ENERGY? Burning fuel or moving electrons?

    WHAT ABOUT ENERGY? Burning fuel or moving electrons?
    Feb 17 2026
    Our lives are intertwined with energy. It comes in many forms and, while it can never be lost, it can be converted from one form to another to do useful work. The energy transition is the process of shifting energy production away from sources that release greenhouse gases and towards sources that emit little or none.In this episode, James and Daisy explore all things energy. What exactly is energy? What does a good energy system look like? And how do fossil fuels compare with green energy?SOME RECOMMENDATIONS: Ember (2025) – The annual slide deck from Kingsmill Bond and the Ember Futures team unpacks how electrotech is rewriting the economics and geopolitics of energy. Electrotech is around three times more efficient than fossil fuels. Around 80% of the world’s population lives in fossil-fuel-importing countries, with more than 50 countries importing over half of their primary energy as fossil fuels. In contrast, 92% of countries have renewable energy potential more than ten times their current demand.Our World in Data – Data, visualizations, and writing relating to energy. This article explains primary, secondary, final and useful energy – the four stages of the energy chain – and why these distinctions matter. BloombergNEF (2025) – Michael Liebreich makes the case for a pragmatic climate reset, showing what happens if clean energy outgrows energy demand by 3% per year for the next four decades. OTHER ADVOCATES AND RESOURCES:John Elkington (2025) – A blog on ‘How—And Where—To Channel Our Energy?’Cleaning Up (2025) – A visual showing how much energy Egypt can buy for $1m, comparing oil, LNG, solar, wind, and nuclear. RMI (2024) – Today’s fossil energy system is incredibly inefficient: almost two-thirds of all primary energy is wasted during energy production, transportation, and use, before any useful work is done. That’s over $4.6 trillion per year, nearly 5% of global GDP and 40% of total energy spending, effectively lost to fossil fuel inefficiency. Around 45% of total shipping demand is for transporting fossil fuels, with roughly $42 billion per year spent on fossil fuels to ship other fossil fuels.Xlinks – A 2,500-mile subsea cable to bring renewable energy from Morocco to the UK. Sulfurcell – A German company founded in 2001 to develop and produce thin film solar cells based on copper indium sulfide (CIS) technology. The company went into administration in 2012. NESO – ‘Energy 101’ by the UK’s National Energy System Operator. Our World in Data (2021) – Energy sources are often reported using different metrics. This article explains how primary energy is measured. A typical coal plant in the US has an efficiency of 33% – only one-third generates electricity, while the rest is lost as heat. Gas performs slightly better, at around 45% efficiency. In popular datasets, coal and gas are reported in primary energy terms (the fuel going into the power plant), while renewable electricity – such as solar and wind – is reported based on electricity output.Ember (2025) – China’s wind generation was 992 TWh in 2024, accounting for 40% of global wind generation.Ember (2026) – India is electrifying faster and using fewer fossil fuels per capita than China did when it was at a similar stage of economic development.Ember (2025) – Solar and wind outpaced the growth in global electricity demand in the first half of 2025, resulting in a very small decline in both coal and gas compared to the same period last year.BBC (2025) – The price of silver hit a record high ahead of an expected US Federal Reserve interest rate cut, driven in part by strong demand from the technology sector.Thank you for listening! Please follow us on social media to join the conversation: LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTokYou can also now watch us on YouTube.Music: “Just Because Some Bad Wind Blows” by Nick Nuttall, Reptiphon Records. Available at https://nicknuttallmusic.bandcamp.com/album/just-because-some-bad-wind-blows-3Producer: Podshop StudiosHuge thanks to Siobhán Foster, a vital member of the team offering design advice, critical review and organisation that we depend upon.Stay tuned for more insightful discussions on navigating the transition away from fossil fuels to a sustainable future.
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    40 mins
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