Welcome to Money for Change, a brand-new podcast from Triodos Bank! In this weekly podcast, the Impact & Economics department will share insights and challenges related to our core question: how can we transition to a more balanced and just world?

Each episode, we’ll be joined by Hans Stegeman, Triodos Bank’s Chief Economist. Together, we’ll dive into various topics and current affairs related to this overarching question, exploring ways in which these necessary changes might be realized.

In the episode of this week, we’re going to discuss the subject of wealth inequality, an issue that is widely recognized as problematic. Wealth inequality has proven to harm social cohesion, hinder social mobility and creates an ecological problem when the lifestyles of the ultra-wealthy exceed our planet’s environmental limits. Furthermore, wealth often buys political power, undermining democracies. Therefore, rising wealth inequality is an obstacle to just sustainability transitions. Together with Wouter Leenders, PHD candidate at the University of California at Berkely, we’re going to examine the various dimensions of this issue and discuss what we can actively do to tackle it.

The episode will be concluded by Hans’ two news items of this week which are closely related to the subject of today; the record-breaking global warming of last year and the striking statistic of how long it took the richest people to burn through their carbon budget for 2025.

Enjoy listening and don’t forget to rate & follow us!

Host: Ernst Hobma

Fixed guest: Hans Stegeman

Guest: Wouter Leenders

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, feel free to contact us using the form on our webpage:

https://www.triodos.com/en/podcasts/money-for-change