In this final episode of Voices in Global Environmental Politics, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Kumi Naidoo, a lifelong activist for social, environmental, and climate justice. Kumi has served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, and is now President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.

Their conversation reflects on how to turn knowledge into meaningful action—how to choose where and how to work for change, how to sustain activism in the face of systemic failure, and how to balance moral clarity with strategic power. For students and practitioners alike, Kumi offers wisdom on perseverance, purpose, and the long view of social transformation.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).

In this episode, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Professor Julian Agyeman (Tufts University), a leading scholar of environmental and food justice.

Julian’s research has powerfully shown that environmental agendas can reproduce inequality when they overlook the social and economic contexts in which they’re implemented. In this conversation, he explains how movements for local food sustainability in the Global North sometimes unintentionally exclude marginalized groups or harm farmers elsewhere—and how we might do things differently. Together, they discuss what it means to build food systems that are not only sustainable, but also fair and inclusive.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).

In this episode, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Professor Maria Ivanova, Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, and a leading expert on global environmental governance and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Their conversation explores what the turbulent negotiations over a global plastics treaty reveal about the broader state of multilateralism today. As confidence in international cooperation falters, plastics politics have both reflected and challenged these tensions—showing how new coalitions, divides, and institutions are shaping global environmental action.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).

In this episode, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Professor Elke Weber, a world-leading scholar of behavioral science and environmental decision-making at Princeton University.

Together, they explore what drives and hinders climate action—why facts alone rarely change behavior, why stories move people more than statistics, and how emotions like hope, pride, and fear shape public engagement. Elke also explains how personal experience of climate impacts can be a powerful motivator for change, and what this means for designing more effective climate communication and policy.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).

In this episode, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Dr Susana Batel, a social psychologist at the University Institute of Lisbon whose research has reshaped how we think about public responses to renewable energy projects.

Their conversation explores why energy transitions are never just technical fixes—they’re political struggles over justice, identity, and participation. Drawing on her work in communities affected by renewable energy developments, Susana shows how questions of power, colonial legacies, and collective memory shape both resistance and support for change, and why a truly sustainable energy transition must also be a democratic one.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).

In this episode, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Professor Mizan Khan, Deputy Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) in Bangladesh, and a long-standing participant in the UN climate negotiations.

Their conversation explores the politics of climate finance — a story of promises made and too often broken. Mizan reflects on the concept of climate debt, the persistent imbalance between the Global North and South, and the ongoing struggle to secure fair funding for adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).

In this episode, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Dr. Sander Chan, a political scientist at Radboud University, the Netherlands, who has spent more than 15 years studying how non-state actors—such as cities, businesses, and NGOs—cooperate to tackle climate change and advance sustainable development.

They discuss the rise of “cooperative climate initiatives” beyond the UN process, exploring what these diverse actors are doing, why an “all hands on deck” approach has become essential, and how to assess whether such initiatives genuinely deliver on their promises.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).

In this episode, Hayley Stevenson speaks with Dr Joanna Depledge (University of Cambridge), a scholar of international climate diplomacy with more than three decades of experience observing and analysing the UN climate negotiations.

Their conversation explores how environmental multilateralism weathers political turbulence—from shifting national priorities to abrupt changes in leadership and ideology. Drawing on lessons from the history of climate diplomacy, Joanna reflects on how institutions, negotiators, and smaller states help maintain momentum even when major powers disengage, and what this reveals about the resilience—and fragility—of global cooperation.

Learn more about the ideas discussed in this episode in Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy, and Practice (Cambridge University Press).