In just a couple of months European citizens will be heading to vote in both national elections and the 2024 European elections - and the stakes have never been higher! Hence, we are on a mission to try and figure out how to stop the far right from picking up a wave of parliamentary seats across the EU. And in today's episode, which is the first of…

Hello everyone! And welcome back to a new season of the Burning Case podcast! We're happy to be back in your ears and hope you had a lovely summer. Today's episode is a bit of a different one as the whole Burning Case podcast team aka both Chloé and Mélissa are hosting. We'll be recapping the hot (pun intended) news that happened over the summer an…

Did you know that about 8 percent of the world’s oil production is used to make plastic and power the manufacturing of it? And what's even more frightening is that figure is projected to rise to 20 percent by 2050. With our guest, Delphine Lévi Alvarès, Global Petrochemicals Campaigner Coordinator for #BreakFreeFromPlastic, Center for International…

Did you know that some studies have shown that individuals that are exposed to several hours of news coverage on a specific event have experienced more physical and mental issues than those who directly witnessed said event? In today’s episode our wonderful guest Seden Anlar, Climate Communicator, Climate Action Network Europe joins us to discuss h…

To round off our two-episode series on the state of the fashion industry today, we are taking a deep-dive into the current policies being discussed at EU level to tackle the environmental and social impacts of the industry. We welcome three amazing guests, Valérie Boiten, Senior Policy Officer, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Saskia Bricmont, MEP, Grou…

Ten years ago today, 1,134 workers lost their lives in the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh. It is considered the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history. To commemorate this tragic event, we are publishing a two-episode series on the fashion industry today. In today’s episode, we are joined by Delphine Williot, Policy and Campaigns Manager,…

Today we take a deep-dive (yes, pun fully intended) into the ocean and more specifically into what lies under it. We are joined in this episode by Anne-Sophie Roux, Deep Sea Mining Campaign lead to discuss the following: What is deep sea mining? What mining corporations are hoping to find? Whether deep sea mining is truly essential to power the ene…

$200 billion dollars. This is how much profit the big 5 fossil fuel companies have made in 2022. Shocked? Disgusted? Angry? Join the club… While major corporations are announcing record-breaking profits in 2022, more and more people are falling behind having to make difficult choices such as heating or eating. Clearly, corporations are not reading …

Did you know that there has been a 13% per cent rise in mental health conditions and substance use disorders in the last decade? And that 20% of the world’s children and adolescents nowadays have a mental health condition? Sadly, when it comes to the topic of mental health, the list of grim facts is long. In light of the European Commission's Presi…

Did you know that 600 million Africans are currently left without access to modern clean renewable energy and that this number is likely to increase if further gas and oil projects are undertook. To ensure that Africa is not locked into further fossil gas production a campaign led by activists across Africa ahead of COP27, is demanding "an end to f…

Have you ever taken part in a protest, signed a petition or shared a campaign on social media? Then you've already been accustomed to the different forms activism can take. In today's episode, we deep dive into what organising, mobilising and campaigning mean with two amazing guests: Ned Howey, CEO at Tectonica Digital Campaigning and Natasha Joset…

Welcome back to a new season of The Burning Case Podcast! We’re kicking off this season with an episode all about the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and the amazing campaign “Justice is Everybody’s Business”. With our two guests: Anya Verkamp (Campaign Coordinator - Justice is Everybody's Bu…

Have you heard of the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities? In short, it is a classification system aimed to help companies, investors and policymakers better understand which economic activities can be considered as environmentally sustainable. On paper it all sounds good, unfortunately dark forces (you know who we are talking about…) have been …

Did you know that around 1/3 of fruit and vegetables in the EU are contaminated with toxic pesticide residue? This staggering figure comes from the report “Forbidden Fruit”recently released by Pan Europe, in which they reveal that the amount of fruit contaminated with the most hazardous category of pesticides, linked to a range of chronic diseases …

The Ukraine war is, sadly, the latest conflict to once again shed light on the links between fossil fuel and global conflicts. While in this aforementioned case, the invasion is not justified by the seize of fossil fuel resources, Putin is able to get away with so much only because Europeans are so incredibly dependent on Russian oil and gas. We se…

Have you ever felt like traditional politics do not best serve your political rights? In this special 3-episode series we take a look at how people-powered politics might be better fitted to express political voices today. The first episode focuses on the complex relationship between young generations and traditional politics today. How contrary to…

Chemicals are everywhere today: in the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. But did you know the production of chemical products has multiplied by 50 since 1950, and that it is expected to triple again by 2050? Meanwhile, the total mass of plastics on the planet is now more than double the mass of all living mammals, and around 8…

Did your energy bill increase dramatically recently? Rest assured, you're not alone. Europe, and most of the rest of the world is experiencing "historically high energy prices" - with disastrous consequences for the millions of people who live in energy poverty. But why now? What caused this spike? And how does it affect our journey towards more re…

Have you ever seen an ad for Total, Shell or BP bragging about their climate commitments and thought "what the hell am I looking at and how can they be so shameless"? And those campaigns are not only designed and developed to influence individuals and convince us that the fossil fuel industry is doing a good job, they're also targetting policy make…

With #COP26 only days away, we decided to dive into the UK's government claim to "deliver the most inclusive COP ever". For a few months now, there's been a strong backlash from many activists and frontline communities on this promise as between vaccine inequality, difficult visa procedures and skyrocketing cost of travel and lodging, it's been an …

The climate crisis is a crisis against humanity. These are the first words of the summary of a new report published by NGO Global Witness on the state of violence against land & environment defenders across the world, those who are defending their homes, land and livelihoods, and ecosystems vital for biodiversity and the climate. In 2020, 227 murde…

Did you know that on the 31st of March 2021, 0.1% of Covid vaccines administrated worldwide had gone to low income countries? While 86%of doses had gone to high and upper income countries? That estimates show that many countries in South East Asia, Africa and South America won't achieve widespread vaccination coverage until late 2022 or even 2023 w…

At about the same time last year, George Floyd, an African-American man was murdered in the US. His death sparked an unprecedented wave of protests against police brutality and structural racism in the US but also across the world. A year later, what's the situation like when it comes to racial justice in Europe? While some politicians at EU level …

Ever hear of the Uighur community? There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang. Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps". There is evidence of Uighurs being used as forced labour …

Oat drink in your cappuccino, soy yoghurt, creamy plant based butter. If you live in Europe, these wording might soon become illegal. And so would a tweet or an advert mentioning scientific data showing that a product causes, for example, “half the carbon emissions of dairy butter”. Why? Because the dairy industry is hard at work to pass an amendme…

In Brussels, politics still mean white. The European Parliament currently only has 3% MEPs of colour while there has never been a Commissioner of colour. If you look into the thousands of people who work for the EU, you won’t find many more people of colour. The issue goes beyond the institutions. Browse the websites of the hundreds of NGOs, lobbie…

Welcome to #TooHotToHandle, the new format of episodes by the Burning Case that aims to bring you the hottest campaigns and political news on climate breakdown and environmental justice in less than 20 minutes! Our first edition is about ending corporate impunity. Imagine this: a world where companies could not hide behind "complex supply chains" o…

Did you know Latin America was a biodiversity powerhouse with over 30% of the world's fauna and flora? And that about 32 million people in the region identify as Indigenous? Yet, the area has never been under more pressure. From climate breakdown of course but mostly from man-made ecosystem destruction to secure more land for agriculture. South Ame…

The fashion industry has a really large and often negative impact on the environment and on people. Between the Rana Plaza disaster, in 2013, that killed over a 1000 textile workers to regular scandals about wages and working conditions and the environmental impact that range from extreme freshwater pollution to being responsible for 8% of the worl…

#VoteDownThisCap, a "machine for extinction", the "worst deal possible for the planet", the recent vote in the European Parliament on the Common Agricultural Policy has been called many things. This pillar of the European Union (think €400 billion over 6 years) is not only significant financially speaking, it's also an essential tool to achieve our…

Lobbying. A word that is often associated with corruption, conflict of interests and secrecy at the highest levels of power. Yes, almost like a spy novel! But can you really buy a vote by inviting a representative to Bali? Or influence decision making by sliding money under a desk? Rest assured, not really. While it may not be as exciting as movies…

We've seen a big surge in awareness on plastic pollution in the past few years. So much so that living a "zero waste lifestyle" became cool and the European Commission adopted one of the fastest legislation in its history on single use plastics last year. But then, Covid-19 happened and with it, masks, gloves, single use items mainly made of... pla…

"A new normal", "green recovery", "bailout people". These calls from activists, scientists and citizens to radically change our societies and economies post coronavirus have been heard all around the world. At a time when billions are literally poured into world's economies to prevent them from collapsing could this be an "opportunity" to radically…