Living Planet

Is carbon removal a fantasy?

Every time you drive a car, heat your home or board a plane, carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere. A growing industry says it can pull that CO₂ back out again. Living Planet reporter Sam Baker visited two companies behind direct air capture to see whether this much-hyped technology is on the verge of a breakthrough - or headed for a reality check.

How this super pollutant became as ‘lucrative as cocaine’

At some point today, you’ve probably used an appliance that relies on HFCs, also known as refrigerants. They're many times more potent than CO2, which is why the EU, US and others are phasing them out. Planet A reporter Tim Schauenberg went undercover to explore the black-market boom in these gases now worth hundreds of millions of euros in Europe alone.

Europe’s chemical recycling gamble

A new generation of chemical recycling plants promises to turn hard-to-recycle plastics back into new packaging and keep waste out of landfills and incinerators. But as Europe pours millions into the technology, critics are questioning whether it can really deliver on those promises. This investigation examines the gap between the industry’s recycling claims and the reality on the ground.

The Feldheim experiment: The village that took back its power

Wind turbines, pig manure, people power – and one radical idea. Feldheim may look like an ordinary farming village, but it’s become world famous for its unique energy system, where residents pay far less for power than most Europeans. So what can the rest of the world learn from the German village that decided to go it alone?

Rats, revisited

We thought we were done talking about rats. Then your questions came in. From plague myths to poisoned predators, population growth and climate change to urban allotment gardens in Helsinki, this bonus episode follows the threads we couldn't fit in the first time around, and digs deeper into the surprisingly emotional world of humans versus rats.