Claim Ownership
Inconvenient Chats
Inconvenient ChatsSubscribed: 5Played: 90
Subscribe
© Kaisa Virolainen, Jan Kleine
Description
Climate change is real, accelerating, and profoundly urgent - yet the world isn’t changing quickly or deeply enough.
In our experience, many important conversations are being avoided, maybe unintentionally. They're inconvenient: messy, emotionally charged, a little uncomfortable, ideologically polarized, or simply complex.
This is why we have started Inconvenient Chats, our podcast to create room for some of these conversations – not with all the answers, but with honest questions. We believe that if something makes you uncomfortable, that’s often a sign it’s worth exploring.
We’re two friends who both have been working with climate change and sustainability for a number of years. Each week we’ll explore a new topic, we break it down, discuss different perspectives and explore solutions – and hopefully feel more comfortable talking about them.
The episodes will be short and will come out every week.We want to challenge ourselves to think, understand and question our assumptions about the world and ourselves. And learn a bunch on the side.
So join us when we are making space for the voices in our own heads - the doubts, fears, wonderings. We invite you to come along in that exploration.
By having uncomfortable conversations openly, with curiosity, we hope to invite and encourage dialogues that explore difficult topics with critical thinking, emotional honesty, and kindness in a world that often prioritizes perfection and certainty.
If it’s inconvenient, let’s chat.
In our experience, many important conversations are being avoided, maybe unintentionally. They're inconvenient: messy, emotionally charged, a little uncomfortable, ideologically polarized, or simply complex.
This is why we have started Inconvenient Chats, our podcast to create room for some of these conversations – not with all the answers, but with honest questions. We believe that if something makes you uncomfortable, that’s often a sign it’s worth exploring.
We’re two friends who both have been working with climate change and sustainability for a number of years. Each week we’ll explore a new topic, we break it down, discuss different perspectives and explore solutions – and hopefully feel more comfortable talking about them.
The episodes will be short and will come out every week.We want to challenge ourselves to think, understand and question our assumptions about the world and ourselves. And learn a bunch on the side.
So join us when we are making space for the voices in our own heads - the doubts, fears, wonderings. We invite you to come along in that exploration.
By having uncomfortable conversations openly, with curiosity, we hope to invite and encourage dialogues that explore difficult topics with critical thinking, emotional honesty, and kindness in a world that often prioritizes perfection and certainty.
If it’s inconvenient, let’s chat.
29 Episodes
Reverse
This week is special. We say hello to our first (of hopefully many) interview guests.
And it’s a privilege that it’s Christian Sparrevohn. Christian lives and breathes sustainability. Having made it his life’s work not least by founding a leading sustainability consultancy in the Nordics. But also apart from that he is outspoken and listened to on the topics of sustainability, chairing the non-profit Rådet for Grøn Omstilling in Denmark
So who better to talk to about ‘individual responsibilities in fighting climate change' also known as ‘what can I even affect when it comes to climate change?’
We talk about all the facets of life where the answer to that question might differ: as a private person, a professional, a citizen.
Firstly, wars are horrible for countless reasons, carbon emissions are certainly not on top of the list of the terrible things that result from armed conflicts. Today, we try to zoom into the carbon emissions that come out of wars and leave the humanitarian aspects of them to proper experts in that field to discuss.
Did you know that emissions from the military are exempted from reporting? That leaves a huge gap in emission transparency that we do not even know about properly. So join us this week as we try to uncover the emissions coming from 1st order, 2nd order, and 3rd order effects of armed conflicts.
It will be as inconvenient as you can imagine. But there is a small silver lining in the very end, we promise.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
Today, we pick up a topic recommendation from a listener: a carbon value added tax. This tax aims to encourage environmentally friendly consumer behaviors while generating financial flows for sustainable transitions. We unpack arguments for and against this policy, and explore its potential impact on society and the economy, e.g., recent studies have found significant benefits from a meat VAT for human health, societies’ economies, and the climate. Consumer-facing tax can be uncomfortable projects for politicians, and we ask what role that can play.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This time it's a full wizard episode. Geoengineering! What is it? What's the latest? And is it a viable alternative to climate mitigation or just science fiction to keep researchers busy? Also, why did a think-tank see the need to define some global catastrophic risks for, in particular, solar radiation management?
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
In this episode, we ask whether human rights should have a business case. In a world where competitiveness and security agendas seem to take priority while sustainability regulation is being rolled back, we look at what research says about how protecting human rights can benefit companies’ bottom line. But is it dangerous to frame human rights as a business case, as they should be respected at no matter what cost?
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This week, we talk about arguably the most successful climate regulation in the EU: the emissions trading schemed and how a few political comments managed to drop the price of CO2/ton nearly 10%. We discuss what happened, what the ETS has achieved so far (and why it will still not be enough), and what the planned review later this year promises.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
In this episode, we ask ourselves why we personally care about climate and sustainability more broadly. From exploring personal values and what makes “sacrifices” worth it - and why sacrifice is perhaps the wrong word to begin with - we reflect on values and personal connections that make climate-friendly choices more meaningful and thus easier. Understanding and framing the conversation about sustainability in a more personal way could be a way of finding more common ground - maybe?
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This week we discuss small bit of feedback on our IC 17. Then for the main question we look at the battery industry in the EU all with the previously discussed strategic autonomy in mind. We explore the EU's dependency on raw materials and its cost disadvantage and ultimately look at whether the current regulatory framework around batteries can be a blueprint for sustainable strategic autonomy going forward.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll try to make it less inconvenient for all of you.
In this episode, Kaisa brings back last week’s discussion about geopolitics taking over from sustainability. We go through several ways how climate action makes sense from a geopolitical perspective, i.e. protecting state interests from external pressure (did anyone say ‘strategic autonomy’?). Green energy fits the bill well, but how do human rights and biodiversity protection fit under the “geopolitical packaging” of sustainability?
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll try to make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This week, we take a first stab at probably one of the biggest topics we have discussed so far: geopolitics and how it currently overshadows sustainability. The problem is clear as public perception shapes political urgency, climate action has clearly taken a step back. We look at the World Economic Forum in Davos and take it as an example of where currently the spotlight in the public debate is. Then, we also talk about where sustainability talks where hidden in Davos and what would be a good reframing for the sustainability agenda going forward. All in less than 30 mins. It won't be the last time we talk about this.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
In this episode, we explore the complexities of balancing personal responsibilities with global issues, particularly in the context of climate change. We discuss cognitive bandwidth, the challenges of staying engaged with climate activism, and the evolving nature of political engagement as we grow older.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This week we try to take a blind eye to the "in" in "inconvenient" and try to look at a few positives that happened in climate action in 2025, including the integration of climate education in school curricula., significant advancements in renewable energy, and a landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice emphasising climate protection as a human right.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This week, we look into two recent decisions from Ecosia, a really great not-for-profit search engine that make every Euro they earn available for climate action. We focus on their recent proposal and funding for a Climate Nobel Prize and their decision to integrate AI capabilities in their search engine by buying them from OpenAI. For both we look into what this is costing the immediate climate action and whether the decisions were a good one. As always it is very complicated and inconvenient.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
Welcome 2026! Inconvenient Chats kicks off the new year with a primer conversation about the challenges of growth - or de-growth - and explore its implications for sustainability. If growth requires resources, but we’re running out of them, shouldn’t we be considering all available options? We discuss the lack of mainstream conversation of de-growth and post-growth world, why that may be, and why we should talk about it more.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendation and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
Last episode before the winter break. In this week's Inconvenient Chats, we explore the complex relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change. We discuss the significant energy consumption of data centres, the environmental impacts of AI, and the challenges of balancing technological advancement with sustainability. How big of a problem is our use of AI for the climate? Has it the potential to become its biggest? And what has that to do with data centres?
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendations and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This time, we discuss Bill Gates' recent essay on climate change, which sparked significant debate and controversy ahead of COP30. We analyse Gates' main points, the public's reaction, and the implications of his statements. The essay has been irritating (inconvenient, even) for the climate community for obvious reasons, though the fuel among climate denialists was probably an unplanned outcome and perhaps a little inconvenient for Bill Gates himself too. In the end, we ask what is the responsibility of someone so influential, and how much is that even worth debating?
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with your topic recommendations and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
What is the right way to react when climate reports are signaling we are going in the right direction - big time? The Planetary Boundaries Health Check report reported in September that a 7th boundary out of nine has been breached, and the UNEP Emissions Gap report recently concluded that the world is ‘off-track’ to meet Paris climate targets and well on its way to overshoot 1.5 degrees of warming in 2030. We discuss in today’s episode how gloomy macro-news easily makes one, very understandably so, feel powerless. The risk of avoidance and/or cynicism is real, but also very unproductive when the situation calls for change. We ask ourselves what would be productive ways instead, and how it’s also fine to feel sad.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail with topic recommendations and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This week is Part II of our first two-parter! And it's an important one (at least for us).
If you have not listened to Part I yet, go there first before returning here (Episode IC9.1).
In this two-parter, we talk about how the constant onslaught of bad news can be overwhelming and which psychological effects on individuals are at play.
In Part I, we dive into the concept of 'numbness' in response to constant bad news, the finite pool of attention and the finite pool of worry, and some key barriers of (science) communication.
Part II will deal with the importance of hope, agency, and personal responsibility in science and especially climate communication.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail as well with topic recommendations and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
This week is Part I of our first two-parter! And it's an important one (at least for us).
In this two-parter, we talk about how the constant onslaught of bad news can be overwhelming and which psychological effects on individuals are at play.
In Part I, we dive into the concept of 'numbness' in response to constant bad news, the finite pool of attention and the finite pool of worry, and some key barriers of (science) communication.
Part II will deal with the importance of hope, agency, and personal responsibility in science and especially climate communication.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
This week, we discuss the Earth Overshoot Day, which marks the date when humanity has used up all the resources the Earth can regenerate in a year. We ask ourselves why the day goes unnoticed so easily despite its presumably very alarming message (maybe that’s why?), and what would it require to shoot a bit less over the boundaries of the planet.
If you want to give feedback you can write to **kaisa@inconvenientchats.com** or **jan@inconvenientchats.com**.
If you have a topic on your mind that you have always wondered about, send us an e-mail as well with topic recommendations and we’ll make it less inconvenient for all of you.
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States