Zero: The Climate Race

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Electrification – not decarbonization – is the climate story of 2026 Jan 22, 2026

Show notes

Decarbonizing energy is just one part of the climate story. The other half is electrifying as much as possible. That is why electrification, not decarbonization, is likely going to be the most important climate story of 2026.

Kingsmill Bond is a strategist at thinktank Ember and the author of a paper called the Electrotech Revolution. This week on Zero, Bond tells Akshat Rathi why he believes electrification is inevitable, and what happens to those that are left behind.

Explore further:

India Is Electrifying Faster Than China Using Cheap Green Tech
Read Ember's Electric Revolution report.
Read Ember's analysis of India's electrification.
Read Bloomberg's Bottlenecks series.

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Did we get climate finance all wrong? Jan 15, 2026

Show notes

For the last decade, since the Paris Agreement was signed, governments have been trying to nudge big financial players to move more money into climate solutions. The idea was to drive action through data disclosure and net-zero goals, but that hasn’t yielded the results they hoped for. Have we got our approach to climate finance wrong? Lisa Sachs, director of Columbia University’s Center on Sustainable Investment, makes the case this week on the Zero podcast.

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Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Alastair Marsh, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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America the bully becomes the supreme petrostate Jan 08, 2026

Show notes

President Donald Trump wants US companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil fields after the capture of Nicolas Maduro.

This week on Zero, US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse joins Akshat Rathi to discuss why the US is acting like a petro bully, how countries can resist an increasingly aggressive Trump administration and why Democrats are making a mistake by shying away from talking about climate action.

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Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Jennifer Dlouhy, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. 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.

Abundance or adequacy? The search for better climate futures: Imagine series Jan 02, 2026

Show notes

Kim Stanley Robinson’s life project has been imagining utopias. He’s a science-fiction writer best known in climate circles for writing Ministry For The Future, which depicts a future in which the world gets to grips with climate change following an extreme heat event that kills millions. Robinson joins Akshat Rathi this week on Zero to discuss how to create better futures and whether it’s right to pursue abundance.

Explore more of Kim Stanley Robinson on Zero:

Other episode in the Imagine series:

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Update: Have China's emissions finally peaked? Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

This episode was originally recorded in July 2025, and updated in December 2025. Happy Holidays from the Zero team.

When exactly China’s emissions peak will make a big difference to the fate of the planet. That moment has come, according to Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. A combination of factors – including a huge deployment of renewables and electrification of transport – has put China’s emissions into a structural decline. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi asks Myllyvirta how confident he is that this really is a peak? What’s behind the decline in emissions? And how will the trade war with the US affect China’s climate and energy policies in the years to come?

Explore further:

Lauri's latest analysis for Carbon Brief.
Global Carbon Budget analysis.
Analysis: Clean energy just put China’s CO2 emissions into reverse for first time - Carbon Brief
China Set to Reach Peak Emissions Before 2030, Ex-Official Says - Bloomberg
China’s Solar Industry Gathers as Gloom Deepens Over Demand — Bloomberg

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to: Jess Beck, Eleanor Harrison-Dengate, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam and Siobhan Wagner. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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How cash-strapped Argentina became a bright spot for renewables Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

Despite endless financial difficulties, Argentina has seen a remarkable increase in clean energy over the past decade. It has gone from practically zero to almost 18% of its electricity sourced from renewables. In doing so, Argentina has overcome a challenge faced by many countries that are considered uninvestable by major financial institutions.

Sebastian Kind, former undersecretary at the ministry of energy in Argentina, joins Akshat Rathi on Zero to tell the story of Argentina’s renewables blitz.

Explore further:

Sebastian’s organisation, RELP: https://www.relp.ngo/
Sebastian’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACC5KCPRt_U

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Is this the end of Canada's climate ambitions? Dec 05, 2025

Show notes

When Canada elected Mark Carney as prime minister, there was hope that the country would pursue climate policies. That hope was crushed after Carney signed a deal with the oil-producing province of Alberta that will roll back or dilute green regulations.

As a result, Steven Guilbeault, Carney’s culture minister has resigned from cabinet. He was the environment minister under Justin Trudeau and responsible for many of the policies at risk. This week on Zero, Guilbeault tells Akshat Rathi why the Alberta deal was the last straw.

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Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Danielle Bochove, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. 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.

How China’s engineering mindset won the clean-tech race Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

In his new book Breakneck, tech analyst Dan Wang argues China’s engineering mindset has given it an edge in all sorts of domains, including climate technologies, while America’s lawyerly mindset is holding it back. This week on Zero, Wang tells Akshat Rathi what the world can learn from China and how the US could start to compete on green tech in the future.

This episode was recorded as part of the SOSV Climate Tech Summit.

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Bloomberg Australia: How Australia’s climate fight was rekindled Nov 28, 2025

Show notes

Australia has suffered a major climate setback, losing its bid to host next year’s COP summit in Adelaide. At the same time, the Coalition has reignited Australia’s climate wars by abandoning its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 – a reversal that resets the political debate just as the world pushes for faster decarbonisation.

In this episode, Rebecca Jones asks Bloomberg’s David Stringer to unpack what the failed COP bid means for Australia’s international standing, how the Coalition’s shift could shape the next election and what renewed climate volatility means for investment, energy transition plans and ultimately your power bill.

Find more from the Bloomberg Australia Podcast here: https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts/series/bloomberg-australia

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Climate summits are working as they were designed: poorly Nov 24, 2025

Show notes

Over the last two weeks, tens of thousands of people took to the city of Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon river, for the annual United Nations climate summit: COP30.

Alongside tense negotiations, there were indigenous protests, daily rainstorms and even a fire at the COP venue. But at the end of it all, what did COP30 achieve? Bloomberg Green’s Jennifer Dlouhy joins Akshat Rathi on Zero, to share her takeaways.

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Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Our theme music is composed by Wonderly. Special thanks to the COP30 team Amanda Hurley, Simon Casey, John Ainger, Jen Dlouhy, Fabiano Maisonnave, Daniel Carvalho, Vanessa Dezem and Dayanne Sousa. Thanks also to Anna Mazarakis, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Laura Millan and Sharon Chen.

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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