Every episode starts from a shared premise: the science, the economics, and the moral case for restoration have been made — repeatedly. The Understory is not interested in making that case again. It starts from where that conversation ends, and asks why restoration hasn't scaled, who's been blocking it, and what it actually takes to build an industry that didn't exist a decade ago.
We prioritise credible builders over credentialed commentators. Guests are practitioners, scientists, and decision-makers who have deployed something real: people with track records and the willingness to be honest about failure. If a guest can give the same answer they give at COP or Davos, the question wasn't hard enough.
And we go where the main stages don't: to indigenous practitioners, restoration entrepreneurs, and emerging voices whose ideas haven't yet reached critical mass, but need to. The understory of a forest is where most biodiversity lives and where regeneration actually begins. That's the conversation we're here to have.
Diagnosis has been done. Every episode spends the majority of its time on what could actually move — mechanisms, models, proof points, commitments.
If a guest can give the same answer they give at COP, the question isn't tough enough. Every episode is designed to create at least one moment of genuine discomfort.
Indigenous leaders, Global South practitioners, restoration entrepreneurs — the people whose ideas haven't reached critical mass yet, but deserve to.
President, Terraformation
Former CEO, American Forests
Three decades at the intersection of forest policy, climate science, and conservation finance. Jad has grown allergic to the conversations that dominate the world's climate forums — the pledges that don't move capital, the panels that recycle the same diagnoses. On The Understory, that impatience is a feature.
CEO North America, We Don't Have Time
Scientist & Behavioral Risk Expert
Sweta has spent her career translating complex science into the kind of understanding that actually moves people and institutions. A familiar presence at the world's most consequential climate forums — from COP to the World Economic Forum — she brings both the institutional standing and the intellectual independence this show demands.
New episodes throughout 2026, recorded in studios and live at the world's most important climate convenings. Subscribe wherever you listen — and share with someone who's been waiting for this conversation.
