It may seem small among the decisions people have to make as they face the end of their life, but what happens to their bodies can make a significant difference to the final cost inflicted on the environment. In many Western countries, cremation is the most common method of deathcare – chosen by about three-quarters of Australians – but it’s arguably the most environmentally damaging. Sustainability certifiers PlanetMark found a typical gas cremation releases a plume equivalent to 125kg of carbon dioxide. That includes methane, nitrous oxides, sulphur dioxide and other volatile organic compounds and particles. If you have mercury tooth fillings, they get vaporised too. Other industry figures suggest the emissions could be higher. It is about the same amount of pollution as driving a Ford Ranger from Melbourne to Canberra. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Traditional burials, the other common choice, leach chemicals into the ground when deeply buried bodies and treated timber coffins break down. After-burial site maintenance can also release greenhouse gases. “Basically the entirety of our history as an Australian society, we’ve only really done two things and that was seen as entirely sufficient,” says Dr Kate Falconer, an Australian...

This week on the pod, I chew over many of the big issues in Sustainability with Andrew Griffiths, Director of Policy at PlanetMark. Amongst many things we talk about the upheaval in the reporting stan...