Crossing Channels
Can we make climate policy fair and effective?
Published: 29 January 2026 at 18:00 Europe/London
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Episode notes
In this episode of Crossing Channels, Richard Westcott talks to Dr Alessio Terzi from the Bennett School of Public Policy, and Prof Christian Gollier from the Toulouse School of Economics, about what a “fair” climate transition could look like when the costs are local, the benefits are global, and the politics are hard.
They explore why decarbonisation is a whole-economy transformation, what it means for jobs and places, and why the narrative matters as much as the technology.
The conversation also looks at carbon pricing and redistribution, the credibility problem of long-term policy, and what kinds of institutions and policies can keep people on board in the years ahead.
Season 5 Episode 4 transcript: MS Word / PDF
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For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett School of Public Policy and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.
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With thanks to:
- Audio production by Alice Whaley
- Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
- Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Pauline Alves
More information about our host and guests:
Podcast host
Richard Westcott is an award-winning journalist who spent 27 years at the BBC as a correspondent/producer/presenter covering global stories for the flagship Six and Ten o’clock TV news as well as the Today programme. His last role was as a science correspondent covering the covid outbreak, but prior to that he was the transport correspondent reporting on new technologies such as driverless cars, major accidents and large infrastructure projects including HS2 and the expansion of Heathrow. Over the decades he also reported on the Iraq War and 9/11 as well as numerous UK general elections. Last year, Richard left the corporation and he is now the communications director for Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, both organisations that are working to support life sciences and healthcare across the city.
Podcast guests
Dr Alessio Terzi is an economist working at the intersection of academia, think-tanks, and policy. He is Assistant Professor at the Bennett School of Public Policy, Cambridge, where he also directs the MPhil in Public Policy, and is an Adjunct Professor in Economics at Sciences Po. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Equitable Transition.
Over more than five years, he was an Economist at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission, where he worked on competitiveness, industrial policy, beyond GDP, and the macroeconomics of the European Green Deal. Prior to that, he was a Fellow at Bruegel, the leading European economic think-tank, and a Fulbright Scholar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. He has work experience from the European Central Bank and BMI Research (Fitch Ratings). He has also taught at HEC Paris and Sciences Po Lille. His 2022 book ‘Growth for Good: Reshaping Capitalism to Save Humanity from Climate Catastrophe’ (Harvard University Press) was a Financial Times summer reading favourite and a Foreign Affairs best book of the year. @terzibus.bsky.social
Prof Christian Gollier’s research spans the fields of economics of uncertainty, environmental economics, finance,
