What Is Net Zero, and What Happens When We Get There?

Join hosts Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick and Iain Strachan as they welcome Associate Professor Andrew King and PhD candidate Aditya Sengupta for a deep dive into the science, politics, and post-zero implications of net zero emissions. What does net zero actually mean, when did the concept enter our vocabulary, and why is reaching it so urgent? From the cumulative effect of atmospheric carbon to the role of natural sinks like forests and the Southern Ocean, the episode builds a grounded understanding of what we're working towards — and how far away we remain.

The conversation then turns to what happens beyond net zero: a world that is in many ways still getting worse even after emissions balance out. The guests explain the concept of overshoot — why we'll likely exceed 1.5°C of warming before potentially coming back down — and walk through what we know, and what we urgently don't, about a post-net zero climate. Andrew's research reveals that the Southern Hemisphere, and Australia in particular, faces a harder trajectory than the Northern Hemisphere due to ocean thermal inertia. Aditya's PhD work on the El Niño–Southern Oscillation shows that whatever changes we've already driven in ENSO variability will be locked in once emissions stop — for centuries.

So turn on a fan and buckle up as Totally Cooked looks into a warming world and what Net Zero really looks like as we tangle with 1.5°C and beyond.

Iain records Totally Cooked on the lands of the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation. Sarah records Totally Cooked on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and recognise their unique and continuing connection to the land, skies, waters, plants and animals.

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