Community of Practice

The ecosystems of the land and ocean absorb around half our planet warming emissions. But these are being destroyed by human activity. At the same time, climate change is a primary driver of the destruction of these habitats and biodiversity loss. If biodiversity is our strongest natural defence against climate change (as it’s been described), what’s stopping us from doing more to protect it?

Bornholm – a Danish island in the Baltic Sea – is trying to go carbon neutral by 2025. It is a lofty ambition that would put the island decades ahead of most countries. This dream has been 15 years in the making; a crash in fish stocks meant Bornholmers had to reinvent themselves and they chose to become ‘the bright green island’. Since then, they have been making biogas from pig manure, building wind turbine after wind turbine, and now they are piloting new ways of storing this renewable energy, including in a battery made of salt.

In this last episode of the series, we’ll be exploring how stories work for and against climate change.

In this series of podcasts Rashid Gabdulhakov and Yelena Kilina welcome guests from both regions to discuss exciting new research and the latest developments in Europe and Central Asia. Guests range from academics to policymakers and from journalists to civil society activists. What is happening in Europe that Central Asians should know about? What events are unfolding in Central Asia that Europeans should understand? Together, we discuss society trends, political developments, and economic turns while assessing the past and looking ahead to what may unfold.