Jeevan Vasagar reports on climate change and the environment for Tortoise. He is a former FT correspondent in Singapore and Berlin, and a former Nairobi correspondent for the Guardian. His book Lion City was published in 2021 by Little, Brown.
Jeevan Vasagar
Editor, Our Planet

“Tortoise gives you time to get to the heart of a story.”
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Thursday 17 November 2022
08:00-09:15 GMTCOP27 Debrief and R100 Index update
Join us in our newsroom or online for our debrief on Cop27
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Thursday 10 November 2022
08:00-08:45 GMTLiving in a heating world: lessons from the global South
Taking place during the Cop27 climate talks in Egypt and centring African voices, this ThinkIn will ask: what lessons can be learned from adaptation and transition in the global South?
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Tuesday 8 November 2022
13:00-13:45 GMTThe dairy dilemma: what needs to change and why?
This ThinkIn explores the relationship between social norms, business innovation and government action on meat and dairy, and asks how we can mend a broken food system.
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Thursday 30 June 2022
18:30-19:30 BSTFood crisis: can the UK feed itself?
How can we create a healthy, sustainable food system in Britain?
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Thursday 21 July 2022
18:30-19:30 BSTShould the UK leave the Commonwealth?
With our greater understanding of the long-term impact of colonialism, is our continued involvement in the Commonwealth just an attempt to paper over the cracks caused by Britain’s imperial past, or do we still have a responsibility to be involved?
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Thursday 12 May 2022
18:30-19:30 BSTShould we stop flying?
Who has the right to fly, and how can we make aviation equitable?
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Saturday 1 April 2023
Dimon in the rough
Jamie Dimon, America’s most powerful banker, is due to be interviewed under oath about JPMorgan Chase’s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It’s a lesson in corporate due diligence.
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Monday 27 March 2023
The will of the people
Can citizens’ assemblies help us navigate the tricky politics of climate change?
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Thursday 23 March 2023
A hundred years after its inception, weather forecasting is more important than ever
Jeevan Vasagar examines how meteorology is faring in the age of climate change and culture wars
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Monday 20 March 2023
Somebody else’s problem
The IPCC report says the world is likely to reach 1.5C in the first half of the next decade. Will it compel us to act?
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Tuesday 7 March 2023
Electric dreams
Why are sales of electric vehicles slowing – and how long will it last?
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Tuesday 28 February 2023
Swooning for subsidies
Will America’s massive state support for clean energy help or hinder its relationship with Europe?
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Tuesday 14 February 2023
Gushing profit
Oil and gas companies made record profits last year. What does that mean for net zero?
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Tuesday 7 February 2023
Foot-dragging
Tortoise has taken the FTSE’s emissions targets and converted them into a temperature projection. What does it reveal?
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Tuesday 24 January 2023
Whose moor?
The right to camp wild in England and Wales is under threat. What is the relationship between land ownership and net zero?
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Tuesday 10 January 2023
Making hay
Biodiversity or “sustainable intensification” of agriculture? A group of MPs who are also members of a group part-funded by pesticide makers would prefer the latter.
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Monday 9 January 2023
The Readout: Building a fairer world: in conversation with Lawrence H. Summers
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Sunday 8 January 2023
The fight over rewilding
Brexit was meant to transform land management. Some MPs have other ideas
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Tuesday 3 January 2023
Has XR failed?
Public disruption has been a dead-end for climate protest – working through politics can do more.
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Tuesday 13 December 2022
The case for coal
By approving the opening of a new coal mine in Cumbria, the UK government is betting against swift decarbonisation.
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Tuesday 6 December 2022
PE kit
As private equity firms snap up oil and gas assets, they face growing pressure to clean up their act
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Tuesday 22 November 2022
Cop-out
UN climate talks in Egypt were a mess. For progress on emissions reduction, we need to look elsewhere.
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Thursday 17 November 2022
Sensemaker: Footsie falls short
What just happened
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Thursday 17 November 2022
The Responsibility100 Index: The findings
The Responsibility100 Index assesses FTSE 100 companies on their actions and commitments toward a more sustainable future. Here’s what we found in our 2022 update
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Tuesday 15 November 2022
Cop-orate influence
The oil and gas industry had a loud voice at Cop27. What does this mean for the transition to net zero?
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Thursday 10 November 2022
Money talks
This Cop may not bring the climate crisis under control, but some progress is being made on dealing with climate shocks
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Tuesday 8 November 2022
Polluters, pay up
The question of whether wealthy nations – which produce the bulk of emissions – should compensate poorer ones – which bear the brunt of them – is likely to dominate this year’s UN Climate Change Conference
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Tuesday 1 November 2022
A narrowing path
Alok Sharma, Cop26 president, says the King’s attendance at climate talks this year would help. What else needs to happen to keep 1.5C alive?
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Tuesday 25 October 2022
What Putin’s war means for net zero
War in Ukraine is reshaping the flow of energy around the world. But what about emissions?
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Tuesday 18 October 2022
Hot money
Fixing climate change will need dollars. How are banks facing up to the challenge?
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Tuesday 11 October 2022
Reforming the UK’s “fossil food” system
By pushing for more homegrown food, the Truss government is squandering a rare opportunity to make British farming greener post Brexit
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Tuesday 4 October 2022
Gas giants
Nationally owned oil companies have so far avoided the ire and scrutiny directed toward oil majors posting bumper profits. It’s time for a closer look.
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Tuesday 27 September 2022
An election for the planet
What does Brazil’s election mean for the fight against climate change?
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Tuesday 20 September 2022
China’s green ambitions
Beijing claims to be a leader on climate change. Do its actions match up?
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Tuesday 13 September 2022
Truss and net zero
What is this government telling us about net zero?
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Tuesday 6 September 2022
10 minute readSensemaker: Greenwash Inc
What just happened
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Tuesday 30 August 2022
Footing the bill
Poor regulation is partly to blame for the astronomical energy bills Brits are facing this winter. It’s time for a rethink on energy policy.
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Tuesday 2 August 2022
Deus ex Manchin
Joe Manchin, the senator chiefly responsible for resisting Joe Biden’s climate agenda, has struck a deal, paving the way for a landmark bill to be passed. What’s next?
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Tuesday 26 July 2022
The quickest climate fix
How war in Ukraine threatens the quickest climate fix
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Thursday 21 July 2022
Europe’s climate bill
The extreme heat across Europe this week might be called a “normal summer” by 2040 and countries are not prepared
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Thursday 21 July 2022
10 minute readSensemaker: Europe’s climate bill
What just happened
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Tuesday 19 July 2022
Cutting the “green crap”?
As Britain boils in record high temperatures, the Conservative leadership hopefuls don’t seem to have grasped the urgency of reaching net zero
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Tuesday 5 July 2022
Transition postponed
Are there any reasons for optimism in last week’s Supreme Court ruling, which appeared to delay US action on a transition to clean energy?
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Thursday 30 June 2022
10 minute readSensemaker Special: The price of chicken
What just happened
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Thursday 30 June 2022
The Better Food Index
Cheaper food doesn’t always mean better food. Products that cost less in monetary terms often have a higher cost elsewhere. The Tortoise Better Food Index – a ranking of food companies based on environmental, health and transparency metrics – aims to make the true cost of what we eat more visible
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Tuesday 28 June 2022
What the food industry isn’t telling us about carbon emissions
Food is the second biggest emitter of manmade greenhouse gases. But many UK food companies don’t reveal the scale of their supply chain emissions.
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Tuesday 21 June 2022
Delayism and disinformation
Misinformation about climate change remains rife on social media. Platforms must first define and then counter the problem before it causes more harm.
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Tuesday 14 June 2022
Betting the farm
The UK government’s food strategy was an opportunity to cut emissions, rewild the country and rebalance diets away from meat. But the document that arrived this week puts tech fixes ahead of transformational change.
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Tuesday 7 June 2022
The catalyst of war
The coming years of decarbonisation are going to be messy – but war or no war, the transformation is necessary
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Tuesday 24 May 2022
Time to stop worrying about climate risk?
What an indiscreet banker tells us about finance and net zero
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Tuesday 17 May 2022
Green wave
Voters across the world care about the climate – so why don’t green parties do better at the ballot box, and could something be about to change?
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Tuesday 10 May 2022
Stay grounded
Flying will always come with a hefty carbon footprint. The best way to green the industry is to avoid it
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Thursday 5 May 2022
EU energy hunt
The EU plans to stop buying Russian oil. But the race to find alternative supplies will drive up prices when what’s really needed to hurt Russia is to drive them down
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Thursday 5 May 2022
10 minute readSensemaker: EU energy hunt
What just happened
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Friday 17 February 2023
Nicola Sturgeon, Ford cuts jobs and BBC offices raided in India
Three journalists pitch their top story of the week to guest editor Sonia Sodha, who is chief leader writer and columnist at the Observer. She is joined by Tortoise’s climate editor Jeevan Vasagar, head of live events Mark St Andrew and Jane Bruton, former deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph.
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Friday 27 January 2023
German tanks, Dartmoor and Chinese infrastructure
Three journalists pitch their top story of the week to Tortoise’s editor-in-chief James Harding. In this episode James is joined by Tortoise’s climate editor Jeevan Vasagar, news editor Jess Winch and head of programming Mark St Andrew
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Tuesday 22 November 2022
Life after climate change
The UN climate talks ended without progress on cutting fossil fuels, so what happens next?
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Monday 7 November 2022
Egypt’s bad cop
The story of one man, fighting to his last breath, to reveal the darkness that lies behind this year’s UN Climate Change Conference
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Thursday 3 November 2022
Climate talks: blah blah blah?
A year on from Cop26 in Glasgow, are the UN’s climate talks really saving humanity from a climate catastrophe?
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Tuesday 13 September 2022
Will Charles be a Green King?
Charles championed the environment as Prince of Wales. How will he use his influence as King?
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Monday 5 September 2022
The Fix
Desiree Fixler was a high-flyer in the world of finance until she raised questions about whether sustainable investing is living up to its promise. Her decision to speak out had huge consequences
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Tuesday 19 July 2022
The end of cheap chicken
Chicken is the UK’s favourite meat and that’s partly because it’s cheap. Per kilo it costs less than a pint of lager. But it looks unlikely that prices can stay that low. Why is the cost of chicken rising?
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Thursday 30 June 2022
Check the label
The UK has the highest level of obesity in western Europe. Will better food labels help us break free of junk food?