
audio
Odesa
The Ukrainian port normally feeds the world, but the Russian invasion means nothing is getting out. Can we reopen the port – or will millions starve?
audio
The Ukrainian port normally feeds the world, but the Russian invasion means nothing is getting out. Can we reopen the port – or will millions starve?
post
If the world’s democracies are having a crisis of confidence they should get over it. Russia’s war in Ukraine is a reminder they are vastly richer, stronger and more innovative than the police states that think it’s OK to redraw maps by force
post
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?
audio
Andrew Neil talks to a man once described as Europe’s most powerful ambassador about Germany’s shifting security policy and why he would still invite Russia’s foreign minister to the Munich Security Conference
post
Flying will always come with a hefty carbon footprint. The best way to green the industry is to avoid it
audio
Andrew Neil talks to the hawkish US foreign policy thinker about Russia’s war in Ukraine, his belief in liberal interventionism and why he thinks there’s a constitutional crisis in the United States
audio
Could the future energy system be owned and shaped by ordinary people? In this episode, Lucy and Giles are finding out how digital technologies are providing new opportunities for people to source clean energy – and invest in the green infrastructure of the future…
post
A series of domestic and international crises have deepened China’s addiction to coal. What will it take to wean it off?
audio
In a bonus episode for Tortoise members, Andrew Neil reflects on his interview with former CIA director and commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus
post
The UK is using its limited land badly. Government plans won’t make agriculture change fast enough
audio
Two atrocities in the port city of Mariupol epitomise Russia’s violence in Ukraine. This is the story of those atrocities and of Mariupol’s truth
audio
If Vladimir Putin decides to use a battlefield nuclear weapon in Ukraine, how should the West respond?
audio
Is the energy transition only truly happening in the West? Politicians like to point fingers at those who “aren’t doing their bit”. But every country – from China to Kenya – is going through their own transformation…
post
We’ll need a wider variety of ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere if we’re going to keep the planet cool.
audio
No plan to reach net zero will work unless it decarbonises power generation in Asia, where coal is a habit that dies hard
audio
History was made last week when Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as the first ever Black woman to serve as a United States Supreme Court judge. But her confirmation hearings were marred by baseless verbal attacks from Republican Senators. Why did they do it?
post
The West doesn’t control the resources it needs to build a renewable energy future. China does
post
The stakes in this war are morally fundamental. They also involve the fragilities of western democracy – not least in France and Britain
audio
The government’s conversion therapy ban is going ahead, but will not cover trans people. Why?
audio
The United Nations is stuck. Russia wields the power of its veto to block any Security Council resolutions condemning its invasion of Ukraine. How did it come to this?
audio
Can the energy transition help rather than hurt the most vulnerable households and communities? Some say the ‘spiralling costs’ of net zero will hit the poorest hardest. But if the right steps are taken, we can deliver cheaper energy bills, greener jobs and healthier communities – and make sure nobody is left behind.
post
Nuclear power is a key part of the government’s strategy, but an inadequate solution to the energy crisis and the need for immediate and deep decarbonisation
post
The atrocities inflicted in this Ukrainian city should force the West to answer difficult questions about the war – and what, exactly, we are willing to sacrifice
post
During the Falklands War, soldiers and photographers on both sides recorded their experiences on film. This is the conflict through their eyes
post
In a climate and energy crisis, the UK’s leaky, old housing stock is an extravagance neither people nor the planet can afford.
post
Acts of aggression should not be rewarded – and President Biden was only speaking the unpalatable truth when he said that Putin has to go
audio
What does the story of Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia Navalnaya tell us about Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the state of opposition?
audio
After Tony Sewell chaired the controversial Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities the University of Nottingham decided to revoke their offer of an honorary degree. Was it justified?
post
There is evidence Ukraine is actually winning this war. If so, the West’s role must be to give it everything it needs for a decisive victory, not just to prop up a plucky David against Goliath
audio
Yesterday’s economic update was not a Budget, but with the cost of living soaring Rishi Sunak was facing calls to ease the squeeze. Did the chancellor rise to the challenge?
audio
When a 40-year-old debt was settled between Britain and Iran last week, two British hostages were allowed to return home. So why was Morad Tahbaz, also a British hostage, left behind?
audio
Can an entire country run on 100 per cent renewables? It will take enormous flexibility, interconnectivity, and storage to make this a reality. In this episode, Lucy and Giles discover how all three of these are currently being developed to an enormous degree…
post
It’s getting cheaper to make the energy-storing gas using renewables – and that could help the world through the energy crisis.
audio
The Kremlin has near total control over the media in Russia, so when one woman protested the Ukraine war live on air, she disrupted the narrative – and sent shockwaves around Russia.
audio
Western leaders are trying to predict the Russian president’s next move. Some believe he has become isolated. What do we know about Vladimir Putin’s life?
post
It’s tempting to believe the solution to cutting soaring energy bills is lying beneath our feet. But after a decade dreaming of a US-style shale revolution, fracking has failed to deliver.
post
What just happened
post
If Europe were to survive next winter without Russian gas, it would have to shift to a wartime footing. In the short term that could put net zero at risk. In the longer term it could accelerate climate action
post
post
What just happened
audio
We thought the Russians were masters of the information war; that they’d sweep Ukraine aside. Why is it not turning out that way?
audio
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the West’s response – has brought a sudden, bloody end to the chapter of history that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall. We’re in a new age now
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
Part two of the IPCC landmark report on climate change highlights both the risks and opportunities for cities.
post
What just happened
post
Paul Caruana Galizia reports from Przemyśl
audio
Door after door in Britain has been opened for Evgeny Lebedev, all the way to the House of Lords. Who has opened them, and why?
audio
America and Europe have done little to deter Vladimir Putin over the years, despite the warning signs. Now he has invaded Ukraine, what is the West prepared to do in response?
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
There is no net zero without Africa, and that’s a problem
post
What just happened
post
The government needs to make it clear to the public that net zero remains a priority, despite high gas prices and calls to delay from the backbench.
post
What just happened
post
The oil majors are reporting soaring profits, but the pressure on them to decarbonise continues to mount. Driving down demand could force them to go faster.
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
The Beijing Winter Olympics are taking place in an area completely unsuited to winter sports. But at least the air will be clearer than it was in 2008
audio
China stands accused of committing crimes against humanity, and possibly even genocide, against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang. Yet Beijing compares its system of “re-education camps” to the West’s war on terror and says it’s entitled to protect its citizens from domestic terrorism. This is the sharp end of the China problem; exhibit A of Xi Jinping’s authoritarianism and the West’s impotence to defend human rights within China’s borders
post
What just happened
post
The world creates 300 million tonnes of plastic waste every year – but companies still can’t get enough recycled material to stop using it brand new.
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
Permafrost covers nine million square miles of the Earth’s surface – and it’s thawing faster than ever. Will the big melt become a climate feedback loop?
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
What just happened
post
At Cop26 last year, financial institutions made a $130 trillion promise to save the planet. How’s it going so far?
post
What just happened
audio
Universities in the UK rely heavily on students from China, and on Chinese money and academic collaborations. But does it all come at a price? A chipping away of academic freedoms and a gagging order on discussing sensitive issues? It’s a dilemma which brings the China problem much closer to home
post
The EU is trying to define what constitutes a “green” investment, but member states have conflicting ideas about what that really means.
post
Snow is surrendering to rain even in the coldest places on the planet, but it can still spring surprises. An unseasonal blizzard in Greenland this year showed how climate change can deliver enough snow in a few days to change the mass of an entire ice sheet
post
What just happened
post
The Kaka’i minority ethnic group found in Iraq and Western Iran has long been persecuted, and was recently subjected to attempted genocide by Isis. David Barnett meets the survivors
post
Imagine a world in which carbon cap and trade systems actually worked. Guess what? It’s happening.
post
Humans aren’t finding climate solutions fast enough. Luckily, machines can help.
audio
China’s national security law has dismantled freedoms and silenced dissenters in Hong Kong. What does the strangling of freedom of speech reveal about Xi Jinping’s China?
audio
What does the story of the difficult search for the origins of Covid-19 reveal about China? The unresolved question of whether the virus occurred naturally or escaped from a laboratory, and the contortions of the Chinese authorities under scrutiny are a parable of our times
post
Natural and unnatural disasters can cut carbon emissions, but so can the right policies.
audio
How dangerous is China? Are the growing fears that China might attack Taiwan justified, or are the two countries facing an eternal standoff; a prolonged state of fear?
post
Omicron is the predictable consequence of political failure. Until the international community gets serious about vaccine sharing, there will be ever nastier Covid mutations
audio
In the technology great game there are plenty of battlefields, but TikTok has been the most public, and the most revealing. This addictive, Chinese-owned video-sharing app has exposed a paranoia from governments in both the east and west over who controls access to information and the power of social media. What does this mean for the future of the internet?
post
US Congress has a habit of killing off climate-focused legislation. Can Biden’s transformative bill make it through?
audio
In Kabul, the Taliban’s takeover was assured. In London, an ignominious retreat, and the betrayal of former comrades in the Afghan army, was more than a group of ex-soldiers, now MPs, could stomach
audio
As the Taliban closed in on Kabul, and Western troops and desperate Afghans scrambled to leave, Britain found itself frozen out of decision making and incapable of influencing events. It was a stark illustration of the UK’s status, made worse by catastrophic misjudgements at the top of government
post
The super-rich are escaping to yachts and private jets in ever greater numbers. But they may be in for a rude awakening
post
Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has been on hunger strike now for 48 days, in protest against what he alleges is his politically-motivated arrest. It’s a fight that serves as a proxy for the debate over Georgia’s future and its fragile democracy
post
What just happened
post
Cop survives as a way to progress the fight against climate change but only because this year’s host spent a lot of energy on key deals outside the core agenda.
post
What just happened
audio
At the end of a series which has uncovered a huge amount of ground, James Harding asks John Browne what conclusions he’d drawn from the conversations he’s had about solutions to the existential threat of climate change
post
What just happened
post
The lesson of Cop is that it is open to a small number of key protagonists to save the planet. Will they?
post
Will a deal emerge from Glasgow that has the teeth to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees? Or will the forces of inactivism prevail?
post
What just happened
post
The gap between electric vehicle uptake and the infrastructure to charge them is growing. The hassle that will cause could put drivers off
audio
Lord Browne talks to Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, director at the Centre of Climate Repair in Cambridge, about how we might remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and fix our planet
audio
Lord Browne talks to Doug Gurr, the Director of the Natural History Museum, about how the museum is reforming the way we measure and discuss the world’s precious biodiversity…
post
What just happened
post
The amount of carbon put out needs to decrease, the amount taken in to increase. To do that you need to count carbon. Welcome to remote sensing.
post
The success of the summit depends on the powerful wielders of the negotiating pen heeding the warnings of the young, of activists and of indigenous peoples
post
What just happened
post
The law is becoming an increasingly powerful tool in holding companies and countries to account on their emissions – but some cases fail to bring the latest science into the courtroom.
audio
Since 2016, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held hostage in Iran. Her supporters recognise that the Iranian government must be held responsible for her ordeal, but missteps and machinations in London have ensured that it hasn’t been brought to a swift end
audio
Lord Browne talks to Dev Sanyal, CEO of VARO Energy, about how the world can move past fossil fuels…
post
What just happened
post
There are good, natural reasons why flooding rivers and the sea with sewage is a terrible idea. It’s also deeply unpopular
audio
Lord Browne talks to artificial intelligence entrepreneur Amir Husain, the CEO of SparkCognition, about how AI might help humanity to use less energy through greater efficiency…
post
The UK Cop presidency has made ending coal use its main mission. Will a new global deal succeed in banishing the black stuff?
audio
Lord Browne talks to Dr Russell Dupuis, one of the winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineers for his groundbreaking work on LEDs…
audio
Lord Browne talks to Pasquale Romano, the CEO of ChargePoint and the man who is helping to transform how we drive…
post
What just happened
post
If we keep the promises made at Cop, many of these fading monuments of natural glacial beauty may yet survive
post
The UK Cop presidency has made ending coal use its main mission. Will a new global deal succeed in banishing the black stuff?
post
What just happened
post
On day three of Cop, three lanky men walk into a conference centre promising the world with trillions of other people’s dollars. Not everyone believes them.
post
What just happened
audio
Lord Browne talks to Henrik Henriksson, the CEO of H2 Green Steel, who is overseeing a steel revolution in Sweden
post
On day two of Cop more than 100 countries joined forces to protect 85 per cent of the world’s forests. What’s not to like? We’ve tried this before and it didn’t work, but apart from that it’s a big step forward
post
What just happened
post
Day one of Cop 26 got off to better than expected. But are we seeing enough action from the mega-polluters: India, US, Russia and China?
audio
Lord Browne talks to the Director General of the International Air Transport Association and former British Airways CEO Willie Walsh about what the future of air travel might look like
post
What just happened
post
The Holy Father’s Thought for the Day this morning showed exactly why he is the moral leader the international community needs to achieve the goals of Cop 26
post
If the future of this Earth depended on the cajolery of the UN’s climate conference, we’d all be screwed. But the trillions of dollars poised for investment in the environment should give us hope
post
“Green lairds” are buying up Scotland to offset emissions and green their reputations. They can make a difference – but communities must have more say
post
Findings from Tortoise’s Responsibility 100 Index show that the UK’s biggest supermarket chains are failing basic transparency tests when reporting on their environmental impact.
post
Colin Powell’s decision not to run for the White House in 1996 was one of the most consequential moments in recent American history
post
The world’s most populous continent, with its fastest-growing economies, depends on coal. We’ve mapped the data over the last 50 years to try and get a sense of this critical challenge for Asia – and the world
post
The plight of Romania – suffering horrendously from Covid – shows that getting vaccine doses to the countries that need them is only start of the challenge
post
In advance of Cop 26, there remains a yawning gap between countries’ pledges and policy action. Britain is making a last-ditch effort to narrow it
post
What just happened
post
Ahead of Cop26, the world’s two biggest superpowers, China and the US, have tried talking to each other about emissions. Nothing has been achieved
post
It is four years since the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. We still await full justice – and a chance for her country to break from its corrupt past
post
Aviation talks a big game about reaching net zero. But to actually achieve it, the industry and customers face some tough choices.
post
Insects are crucial for the flourishing of life on Earth. We should be nurturing them. Instead we’re killing them off, wholesale
post
What just happened
post
Let the world’s farmlands breathe and come alive, and they might just steer the planet to net zero
post
The government hasn’t done enough, either before or during the pandemic, to improve air quality. It can atone for that failure at next month’s climate conference
post
The truth is: very little. But that says more about Cop than it does about Germany, which has a chance to lead global climate policy once its governing coalition is decided
post
What just happened
post
Join us at The New York Times Climate Hub as we discuss Cop26, and help build a practical to-do list to save the planet.
post
And so, too, did other Western leaders. Yesterday’s global Covid summit had to deliver billions of vaccines – but fell well short
post
Nobody understands what is happening in the Arctic better than its Indigenous people. Effective climate change adaptation means giving them more power over the resources on which they depend
post
The global fight against climate change depends on us protecting the natural resources we still have left. We should be prepared to pay for that
post
Humans have always been a relentlessly mobile species. But climate change is accelerating the number of people fleeing drought and disaster. How will developed nations respond?
post
Tunisia’s leader used vaccine shortages to take power, and then vaccine supply to consolidate his new position
post
Due to vaccine inequality, trust is breaking down ahead of the crucial Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow. Genuine solidarity is needed to solve both transnational crises
post
One of the central aims of Cop26 is to assemble a set of Nationally Determined Contributions towards global emissions reduction (NDCs). Are they ambitious enough?
post
Too little water is bad for both the planet and people. Too much water is bad for them, too. We’ve created a crisis in which both extremes are happening at once
post
Vaccination against Covid has saved 100,000 lives in England. How many lives would have been saved by a similar effort around the world?
post
As Germany’s leader for the past 16 years, Angela Merkel has taken her country far – but no further. The future demands a more radical politics
post
The humiliating retreat from Afghanistan shows how little we understand about the new realities of 21st-century warfare so horrifically made clear on 11 September 2001
post
John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, wishes China wouldn’t link climate change to global politics – he says it isn’t a geostrategic issue. China says: oh yes it is
post
Poorer nations have barely received any doses, while richer countries build up ever greater surpluses. All that is lacking is the political will to get the jabs to where they are needed
audio
Thousands of children were separated from their parents at the US border under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. This is the story of how, five years later, 300 remain lost in a system designed to swallow them
post
We should always expect the Spanish Inquisition: which is to say, leaders should use the lessons of behavioural science to prepare for all outcomes – like Covid, or the fall of Kabul
post
Their brief existence and their perceived fragility is a sermon on the nature of beauty and life. How sad that 76 per cent of the UK’s resident and migratory butterfly species are in decline – with all that has to say about the future of the planet
post
post
The president is close to announcing a special gathering of world leaders to draw up a strategy to end the pandemic. Here are the main issues they must tackle
post
As appealing as tidiness is, grass is too important to the environment, to agriculture and to biodiversity to be tamed
post
Is the widespread adoption of hydrogen a necessary step towards net zero?
post
There are straightforward ways of minimising vaccine wastage. But the real challenge is to mobilise national ambition and competitive spirit so that the wealthier countries of the world want to be seen as the most generous sharers of doses
post
Biden’s poll numbers, Johnson’s wounded pride and Raab’s holiday are minor details in a huge story. The Afghan crisis is forcing us, very uncomfortably, to ask what we truly believe in
audio
The story of Rohullah Yakobi, and a 20-year war
post
From September, businesses looking to secure deals that supply the most valuable goods and services to the government must have committed to Net Zero. It’s an imperfect, but valuable incentive for action
post
Afghanistan has been surrendered to a mob of theocratic gangsters, who have exploited the folly and laziness of the West. The civil war that will now follow the Taliban’s return to power is an unconscionable moral disaster
post
The lessons of past diseases are a guide for those whose mission it should be to ensure that people in poorer nations are given Covid jabs as a matter of urgency
post
Decarbonisation alone won’t solve the climate crisis. In the scramble to prevent average temperatures climbing more than 1.5°C within the next 20 years, we meed to slash methane emissions too.
post
post
Data on vaccine donations and deliveries is delayed, incomplete or absent. Opacity on this, the single most important global supply crisis we currently face, is a barrier to ending the pandemic
post
As US forces depart, those left behind are hunkering down or arming up – all in anticipation of worse conflict to come. And who can blame them? The government is weak, and the Taliban rampant
post
Step one towards Net Zero is funding alternatives to coal for countries that are hooked on it
post
Hundreds of athletes didn’t get the chance to compete in the 1980 Olympics, their dreams crushed under the wheel of global politics. This is what it meant then – and means now
thinkin
Significant investment is required to fund the energy transition. Global investment in energy is set to rebound by nearly 10% in 2021 to US$1.9 trillion, reversing most of 2020’s drop caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, spending on a clean energy transition needs to accelerate much more rapidly to meet climate goals, according to a new report from the IEA. So what is the financial cost and the macro-economic impact of a successful transition? What does this mean for greening industries and their shareholders? What kind of support is required from investors and government – and what kind should they expect? The Readout The most recent IPCC report did not mince words: “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.” We know, without doubt, that humanity’s habit for carbon-intensive fuel must be broken. We know that whole industries and economies must be radically transformed. What is less certain, is what we – citizens, companies, investors, governments – are willing to pay to make that happen. Greening companies – defined by William Zimmern of bp as any high-carbon company that has the ambition and a credible plan to be low-carbon – say they are linchpins in achieving Net Zero. True enough, 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions come from energy consumption in three sectors: industry, transport and energy. The International Energy Agency puts the cost of transitioning these industries at trillions of dollars per year. The numbers are daunting, but after an hour spent discussing the challenge at our ThinkIn, the general feeling among attendees was one of radical optimism. The cost Spend now to save later. As Robert Gross, professor of energy policy at Imperial, highlighted early on, a successful transition is going to require huge upfront costs. This is because 1. We are moving from an energy system that is capital-light and energy-intensive to one that is capital-intensive and energy-light. 2. While renewable “fuel” comes free in the form of wind and sunshine, the shopping list of physical kit you need to harness that fuel is comparatively expensive. With oil and gas, the cost of infrastructure has, for the most part, already been sunk. 3. World population and per capita energy consumption are rising, leading to an inevitable strain on total energy supply. Scaling renewables fast reduces the risk of not having enough to go around. The upshot: our energy supply will become cheaper in the long run. As several guests pointed out, there is abundant human capital playing their part in the transition; clever, passionate people who are keen to get the ball rolling. This summer of extreme weather has made environmentalists of us all. We’re up for it. The next question: are governments up for it too? Coherence and clarity The consensus was that both are lacking from government. Unless a greater effort is made to get public and private sectors working together, investors will remain coy. The pinch points: Scale. Jade Pallister, an account manager with PLMR’s energy and sustainability practice, shared an example from one of her clients. To decarbonise aviation, the UK government has pledged £15 million for waste-to-jet-fuel plants. Pallister told us her client pays that amount in EU carbon taxes every year. Government investment needs to be more than seed money. Pricing carbon. High-tech, high-investment and potentially high-risk solutions like hydrogen will only get off the ground if the government puts a high enough price on carbon. On this, William Zimmern, lead author of bp’s Energy Outlook, was crystal clear: “At the moment the carbon price is not high enough… we think we need a carbon price of $100 per ton by 2030 and maybe more than $200 by 2050 in order to achieve climate goals.” Regulation. The regulatory coherence needed for markets to invest isn’t happening. David Claydon, a Tortoise member and financial advisor at St James’s Place, urged clarification from central banks and organisations like the TCFD on what counts as a green investment. The G20 meeting earlier this year ought to have been the moment that global agreements on green finance were inked. They weren’t. Now it’s another line on the Cop 26 to-do list. The investment required to green energy, on a global scale, is colossal. But if businesses and politicians are able to break the tragedy of 5-year horizons, a whole planet of financial opportunities awaits. At this stage, short-term local responses to a global and long-term problem simply won’t cut it. The ball is now in the politicians’ court. Thanks for joining us. Our next Net Zero ThinkIn is on Tuesday 21 September, when we’ll be in conversation with Katherine Ainley, CEO of Ericsson UK & Ireland. Barney Macintyre editor and invited experts Giles Whittell Sensemaker Editor Martijn RatsGlobal Oil Strategist and Head of European Energy Research, Morgan Stanley William ZimmernHead of energy transition and systems analysis, bp
post
If we are to reach Net Zero in the decades ahead, then we have to do something about road transport. But electrifying it could just exacerbate many of the problems we face today
post
The weather has never been more political. When will it actually change policy?
post
The country is suffering from a terrible third wave and continuous conflict. Help has been promised and some has arrived – but, ahead of one of the year’s major religious festivals, it’s not enough
post
Renewables are growing fast, but fossil fuels need to shrink much faster
audio
The truth of an origin story has never mattered more: did Covid cross to humans from an animal, or did it escape from a laboratory? The arguments between science, politics and, now, the intelligence services have only grown fiercer. And in the fog of war, the World Health Organisation lost its way
post
We’re in a race. Vaccines vs variants. It’s a race we can and must win. But the world is moving too slowly. Let’s start a global campaign to deliver more doses now and ensure jabs for all by the end of 2022. Join the arms race.
post
Could undercover footage of Exxon lobbyist Keith McCoy be the juice that climate litigation needs?
audio
Last month the richest nations on the planet squared up to its greatest public health challenge, how to vaccinate every adult everywhere against Covid. They failed. The story of how and why they came up catastrophically short is a litany of political parochialism, low ambition and poor organisation – with potentially dreadful consequences
post
COP26 is in trouble. With only four months to go, the broad goals are clear but no one is confident of progress towards achieving them and the big Biden dividend – US climate leadership after the Trump disaster – is nowhere to be seen
post
The EU is finally putting serious money behind sustainable farming
audio
Nick Alexander tells the story of his torturous escape from the ambushed Amarula Hotel convoy – and the question left lying in the dust of the attack: who, really, abandoned them all?
post
The election of Ebrahim Raisi as Iranian president does not mark a return to darker days but a more brazen declaration of the character – and terrible crimes – of this theocratic state
post
Brazil’s southern region has been crippled by a lack of rain in the last year, an event that’s been attributed to the inversion of La Niña. But why has it reversed? And why now?
audio
In the second part in our series investigating how 200 civilians were left to die at the Amarula Hotel in northern Mozambique, we tell the story of their harrowing escape
thinkin
post
The world leaders left the G7 Summit in Cornwall yesterday promising “a green revolution”. But will their pledge actually translate into meaningful action?
post
The world’s poorer countries are still struggling to vaccinate their citizens, which has made it harder for them to concentrate on tackling the climate crisis. Ahead of COP26 in November, that doesn’t bode well
audio
A different set of threats has arisen in recent years, exposing the weaknesses of the international rules-based order. Next week, the leaders of the G7 nations will be meeting in Cornwall – and we’ll be looking to them for answers
post
The G7 summit must make global vaccine roll-out its highest priority. Covid respects no border, and will continue to mutate until the citizens of all nations – rich and poor – are vaccinated in high numbers
post
A big case in the Netherlands dealt a significant blow to the oil multinational last week – one which could soon have major implications for similar companies
post
At last week’s ThinkIn, we assessed what we should be doing at Tortoise over the next 12 months if we want to advance the net zero agenda
post
Buildings account for around a quarter of the UK’s CO2 emissions – on par with emissions from surface transport. But unlike for transport, there’s no plan to get these emissions to net zero, and that’s a problem
thinkin
post
During decades of Soviet rule, Lithuanian basketball became a proxy independence struggle. As geopolitical tensions in the Baltic states rise, the sport is once again a venue for political competition
post
As John Kerry wades into the shark tank of net zero debate, this week’s Net Zero Sensemaker gets behind its name
post
Will the Net Zero Teeside project, focused on carbon capture, usage and storage, amount to anything serious?
thinkin
post
The hunt for lithium and environmental justice on the shores of a dying lake
audio
When it comes to the future, journalists tend to ignore the scope for exponential change. But in one area that’s set to define the 21st Century – climate science – that change may well happen
post
Your weekly update on what we’re doing – and what more we can do – to build an agenda for COP26 that makes a difference
post
During the pandemic, the government changed the law so that companies no longer had to publicly disclose the difference between what they pay men and women. The latest update of Tortoise’s Responsibility100 Index reveals how 2020 changed the FTSE 100
post
Emissions pledges have become a trendy tool through which companies show off their “green” credentials. They’re just talk
thinkin
thinkin
post
The preservation of carbon sinks, such as peat bogs, is one of the easiest steps we can take to address the climate emergency
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
post
Climbing K2 in maps and data
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
post
2020 wasn’t all bad. And it’s important that we remember that. This series considers the heartening things that happened this year, according to each of Tortoise’s five main themes
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
thinkin
Breakfast ThinkIn: how do we build our way out of this crisis? Our daily digital ThinkIns are exclusively for Tortoise members and their guests.Try Tortoise free for four weeks to unlock your complimentary tickets to all our digital ThinkIns.If you’re already a member and looking for your ThinkIn access code you can find it in the My Tortoise > My Membership section of the app next to ‘ThinkIn access code’.We’d love you to join us.Infrastructure investment was a key part of the government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda. But that was before C19 hit. If the way we live and work is set to change for good, are our pre-virus assumptions about what we need in terms of energy and transport still true? How should major infrastructure projects be funded now? How can they be greener, faster and create more jobs? And how are these decisions best made?Editor: Matt d’Ancona, Editor and Partner, Tortoise `This ThinkIn is in partnership with EDF.Our invited experts include: Jesse Norman MP, Conservative MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire from 2010, Financial Secretary to the Treasury from May 2019.Colin Matthews, Non-Executive Chairman of EDF in the UK, and former Chair of Highways England and Chair of the Highways Agency.Tristia Harrison, CEO TalkTalk.How does a digital ThinkIn work?A digital ThinkIn is like a video conference, hosted by a Tortoise editor, that takes place at the advertised time of the event. Digital ThinkIns are new to Tortoise. Now that our newsroom has closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, we feel it’s more important than ever that we ‘get together’ to talk about the world and what’s going on.The link to join the conversation will be emailed to you after you have registered for your ticket to attend. When you click the link, you enter the digital ThinkIn and can join a live conversation from wherever you are in the world. Doors open at 7:55am for a welcome and briefing. Come early to get settled, meet the team and chat to other members. ThinkIn starts at 8.00am.Members can enter their unique members’ access code to book tickets. Find yours in My Tortoise > My Membership in the Tortoise app.If you have any questions or get stuck, please read our FAQs, or get in touch with us at memberhelp@tortoisemedia.com What is a Tortoise ThinkIn?A ThinkIn is not another panel discussion. It is a forum for civilised disagreement. It is a place where everyone has a seat at the (virtual) table. It’s where we get to hear what you think, drawn from your experience, energy and expertise. It is the heart of what we do at Tortoise.How we work with partners We want to be open about the business model of our journalism, too. At Tortoise, we don’t take ads. We don’t want to chase eyeballs or sell data. We don’t want to add to the clutter of life with ever more invasive ads. We think that ads force newsrooms to produce more and more stories, more and more quickly. We want to do less, better.Our journalism is funded by our members and our partners. We are establishing Founding Partnerships with a small group of businesses willing to back a new form of journalism, enable the public debate, share their expertise and communicate their point of view. Those companies, of course, know that we are a journalistic enterprise. Our independence is non-negotiable. If we ever have to choose between the relationship and the story, we’ll always choose the story.We value the support that those partners give us to deliver original reporting, patient investigations and considered analysis.We believe in opening up journalism so we can examine issues and develop ideas for the 21st Century. We want to do this with our members and with our partners. We want to give everyone a seat at the table.
audio
“Weird shit happens every single day”
post
Tortoise members have been working out how to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2030. Here’s why
post
Charting the stages of Trump’s response to crisis at home
post
An ex-ambassador’s view of a world without political leadership. By Peter Westmacott
post
How America fuelled a conspiracy theory
post
Covid-19 has underlined what we surely already knew – the long era of American global leadership has passed
post
post
post
It is not the only thing, but planting trees is an obvious first step in tackling the climate crisis
post
The planet needs more trees, and one of their strengths as a climate change solution is that everyone can plant them, or help others to. Whichever your preference, here’s the Tortoise guide to trees
post
The hollowed trunk of the mighty baobab tree is used to store life-giving water in the extreme drought of southern Madagascar
post
Inspirational heroes who have written, campaigned, climbed – and died – in defence of trees
post
Tom Crowther had no idea that his audit of the world’s trees would make him so many friends – and enemies
post
Nothing would incentivise tree planting quite like a proper price for carbon
post
Can the world’s wide open spaces deliver a solution to climate armageddon?
post
post
post
We have to get to net zero soon. The question is how
post
post
post
post
post
Can companies really change enough to save the planet?
post
post
post
post
A year ago, a Californian town burned to the ground. Now, the area’s tech pioneers are coding to prevent further catastrophe
post
Extreme power blackouts by California’s energy giants tell a story for our times
post
More than four fifths of the world’s energy still comes from coal, oil and gas. The challenge is to phase them out as demand goes on rising
post
post
post
The October Rebellion pitted climate protestors against police – and left both sides bedraggled
post
Activism about the climate crisis is intensifying. What woke us up?
post
post
Activists demanding action on the climate emergency will try to take over London again today
post
Your route to work every day takes you past the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations, blocking the streets of London. You’re aware of the threat of climate change but not actively part of the environmental movement. What do you do? Do you keep walking?
post
Climate activists occupied five key sites in London. Now, they are occupying a sixth: the City of London Magistrates’ Court
post
post
post
Do the FTSE 100’s promises on sustainability stack up?
post
post
post
post
post
post
Images taken from space show a planet wreathed in forest fires. They aren’t started by climate change, but they will speed it up with a vengeance
post
post
post
post
post
If mankind survives another century or two, the history books of the future will record one man as the giant of our times
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
A Tortoise ThinkIn on energy and climate change, Washington, DC. 13 June 2019
post
Throwaway fashion harms the environment – it’s time to tax everything you wear
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
One year on, an unsolved execution casts a shadow of corruption over Europe
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
The Brexit negotiations are not really about the UK and 27 other countries – they are about Britain’s long and troubled relationship with Ireland. And while Dublin was prepared for that, it took London completely by surprise
post
Fracking has transformed the US energy industry. But in Britain, where financial benefits do not flow to landowners, it’s attracted fierce opposition from environmentalists. To frack or not to frack? That is the question. Or is it?
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
Greg Barker has gone from being an MP and David Cameron’s climate change envoy to chairing one of the biggest aluminium and energy companies in Russia
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
Wherever fracking is proposed, it is opposed. Is it time to ask more fundamental questions about our attitudes to energy?
post
post
post
post
post
post
The explosion in solar power has had some surprising consequences
post
post
How Northern Ireland’s moderates are losing the faith
post
Hydraulic fracturing is a proven way of getting inaccessible fossil fuel. Its high-pressure methods have attracted widespread protest ranging from fear of earthquakes to water pollution. Its supporters argue that it is a vital new source of cheap energy and would make the UK less dependent on imported oil and gas
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
post