Zero: The Climate Race

Latest Episodes:

Trump is coming back. Now what? Nov 07, 2024

Show notes

Donald Trump’s re-election as the US president drastically changes the climate and energy equation—in the US and around the world. This week, Akshat Rathi speaks with California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna about what Americans can do to sustain action on climate and clean energy. He also talks to Columbia University’s Jason Bordoff about how much Trump could boost fossil fuels.

Explore further:

Past episode about President Trump’s climate plans
Past episode about the fights over money brewing at COP29
Past episode with Colombia’s environment minister Susana Muhamad about fossil fuel nonproliferation

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks to Siobhan Wagner, Monique Mulima, Ethan Steinberg, Mohsis Andam and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen Now: US Election Coverage on Bloomberg Podcasts Nov 04, 2024

Show notes

Be in the know this election with Bloomberg Podcasts. Follow Bloomberg News Now for up-to-the minute election results, all night long. And go deeper with The Big Take podcast, featuring in-depth global analysis of the US election every day this week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Best of: 2C or not 2C? That is the question. Climate summits as Shakespeare would see them. Oct 31, 2024

Show notes

In fractured times, what does it take to reach agreement? That’s the question writers Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson set out to explore in a play about the drama of climate negotiations. Kyoto, which ran at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon this summer, tells the story of the 1997 Kyoto Summit as seen through the eyes of Don Pearlman, a notorious fossil fuel lobbyist and chain-smoking lawyer dubbed “the high priest of the Carbon Club” by der Speigel. Actor Stephen Kunken, who plays Pearlman, tells Akshat Rathi why he was drawn to the character, and what Kyoto can teach us about how agreement is achieved. This episode first ran in July 2024.

Explore further:

Past episode with Al Gore about breaking the petrostates stranglehold on climate progress
Past episode about climate change storytelling with Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Ministry for the Future
Past episode with Extrapolations writer and executive producer Dorothy Fortenberry about the growing demand for climate stories

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Alicia Clanton, Anna Mazarakis, and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Take: How China’s BYD became the king of affordable electric cars Oct 28, 2024

Show notes

Started as a battery company in the 1990s in Shenzhen, BYD is now one of the best-selling EV brands in the world. Once mocked by Elon Musk, the company’s startling growth made it a global player and has sparked tariffs in the US and EU. In this episode of the Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Gabrielle Copolla and Danny Lee about the company’s aggressive expansion and what it means for the global auto market.

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Vinod Khosla is trying to change Elon Musk’s mind on Trump, the economy and climate Oct 24, 2024

Show notes

As Republican and Democratic canvassers make their final push to get out the US vote, the famed tech investor Vinod Khosla has been making the case for Vice President Kamala Harris with a very specific audience in mind: Elon Musk. On the social media platform owned by his fellow billionaire, Khosla has pressed the case in a series of X posts that former President Donald Trump is the wrong candidate for the future of the planet. Although Khosla is a former Republican, he says in an interview that he will be voting for Harris. But he doesn’t expect tech investors to see much fallout no matter who wins. “I don't think there'll be any difference in policy between the two when it comes to tech.”

Explore further:

Past episode with Liam Denning on whether Tesla is on the road to irrelevance
Past episode with Jen Dlouhy about how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s climate plans differ
Past episode with Bill Gates about why he is investing into nuclear power

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. This episode was mixed by Blake Maples. Special thanks to Siobhan Wagner, Jessica Beck, Ethan Steinberg, Monique Mulima, Angel Recio, Michelle Ma and Biz Carson. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The backlash against EVs is growing. Uber is pushing back. Oct 17, 2024

Show notes

Electric vehicle sales have hit the brakes in Europe and the US in recent months, as cost-conscious drivers have opted for cars with exhaust pipes instead. Bucking the trend is ride-sharing giant Uber, which is not only adding zero emission models to its fleet, but also lobbying regulators to demand more EVs on the road. On Zero, Dara Khosrowshahi discusses the company’s short and long-term green goals, and tells Akshat Rathi why he believes electric cars are good for business – not just for the environment. He also discusses autonomous cars, flying taxis, carbon accounting and what a just transition would look like for the company’s workforce.

Explore further:

Past episode about the climate case for flying cars
Past episode with Scottish Power CEO Keith Anderson about what the unstoppable march towards electrification means for the power grid
Past Big Take episode about flying taxis
Bloomberg News investigation into how Uber and Lyft used a loophole to deny drivers pay

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Aaron Rutkoff, Siobhan Wagner, Ethan Steinberg, and Monique Mulima. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who wins when 'hurricane investors' gamble on catastrophes Oct 14, 2024

Show notes

As Florida reels from the impact of Hurricane Milton, some Wall Street investors appear to be on track to profit from catastrophe bonds tied to the storm’s outcome. Cat bonds are a specialized insurance tool that can help people who've lost their homes find money to rebuild– or deliver big profits to investors who are willing to gamble on big natural disasters. As Bloomberg’s Gautam Naik has reported, last year cat bonds were the most profitable strategy for hedge funds. Naik tells Akshat Rathi about how these financial instruments differ from ordinary insurance, and why they have become an appealing proposition for climate vulnerable nations desperate for any kind of help they can get.

Explore further:

Read the Big Take story on how catastrophe bonds are helping Florida but not Jamaica
Past episode about compound climate impacts with Texas Tech University professor Katharine Hayhoe
Past episode with Avinash Persaud, special adviser on climate change for the Inter-American Development Bank, about the fight brewing over what money richer nations will pay to help poorer nations face climate change

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Aaron Rutkoff, Siobhan Wagner, Jim Wyss, Jessica Beck, Ethan Steinberg, and Monique Mulima. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fight over finance brewing at COP29: Moving Money Oct 10, 2024

Show notes

Next month, when delegates from around the world meet in Baku, Azerbaijan at COP29, the biggest questions on the table will have to do with money. Can rich nations find a way to meet developing countries’ demand for up to $1 trillion each year in climate finance? Avinash Persaud, special adviser on climate change for the Inter-American Development Bank, has spent his career looking for ways to make global markets work to unlock climate financing. He says the biggest challenges arise from a simple reality: “The people who benefit and the people who pay are different.” Persaud tells Akshat Rathi why he believes climate change is an “uninsurable” event, and discusses the kinds of financial instruments and commitments that can help poorer countries contribute to the energy transition and adapt to a warmer world.

Explore further:

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Siobhan Wagner and Monique Mulima. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colombia is quitting fossil fuels. Can it convince other countries to follow its lead? Oct 03, 2024

Show notes

What if major economies all just agreed to quit fossil fuels — together? To date, 13 countries have signed a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty. The biggest is Colombia, which has a $40 billion economic transition plan to build up green sectors and replace oil and gas revenue. Now Colombia is hoping to recruit other large economies to follow suit.

During a conversation at Climate Week in New York, Akshat Rathi sat down with Colombia’s environment minister, Susana Muhamad, and Brazil's chief climate negotiator, Liliam Chagas, to talk about what it will take for more nations to combat climate change. Brazil has not joined the treaty, yet, but as the designated host of COP30 in 2025, the country has signaled that it, too, wants to be a leader on climate change.

Explore further:

Past episode about what Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are planning to do when it comes to climate
Past episode with Reclaim Finance’s Lucie Pinson about how to get banks to stop investing in fossil fuel projects
Past episode about the significance of COP28’s resolution to transition away from fossil fuels

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Matthew Griffin. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inside the race to open the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant Sep 26, 2024

Show notes

Scientists have been trying to understand — and mimic — the way the sun produces energy for centuries. But recreating the energy-generating process of nuclear fusion here on Earth presents an array of technical challenges. Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, began working on some of those challenges as a doctoral student at MIT. Now backed by more than $2 billion, CFS is well on its way to making the long-held dream of nuclear fusion a reality. On this week’s Zero, Mumgaard breaks down the science behind CFS’s bagel-shaped tokamak reactor, and explains why he believes the nuclear fusion industry is just getting started.

Explore further:

Past episode with Bill Gates on why he is investing big in nuclear power
Past episode with Tim Latimer about why he founded geothermal startup Fervo
Past episode with BNEF’s Claire Curry about how startups can succeed in a difficult investment environment

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Monique Mulima, and Jess Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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