In search of new perspectives

Sometimes the obvious can stop us from seeing the useful.?

When trying to tackle climate change, it’s obvious that the world needs to focus on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions urgently. But what’s been clear after a decade of trying to implement the Paris Agreement is that the world isn’t as urged about it as many would have hoped.

It’s January and a good time to get new perspectives. Recently I heard Stewart Copeland, the legendary drummer of The Police, talk about music. He said: “We listen out for different things in the music. Most people listen to a song and they listen to the words. They drive in their car and they are singing the words to the song and there's a story. I don't listen to the words. I don't listen to the singing. I listen to the riff.”

I’m a riff guy too, as it happens. Sure I can Karaoke blind to a few songs, but mostly the song’s riff is carrying me. That’s especially true when I'm listening to music and writing.

So in 2025, I’m going to deliberately look at what other motivations — beyond cutting carbon, that is — help drive climate solutions. It’s not hard to build a compelling list: electrification, competitiveness, geopolitical advantage, energy security, economic growth, climate adaptation and so on. If you can think of other reasons, please email me at [email protected]. Better still, share links to stories where these motivations are the driver.

Some stories

Here's what grabbed my attention this week:

• India’s two-wheeler EV maker Ola Electric opened 3,200 stores in a single day, as it tries to overcome a series of challenges. (Bloomberg)
• The German solar sector isn’t growing as fast as it did when gas prices were high or as fast as the country’s climate goals demand. “You cannot have a green transition with red numbers. The sector needs to be profitable.” (Financial Times)

• Europe’s climate chief, also its tax chief, is letting the aviation industry know it might have to pay more taxes. There is no aviation fuel tax currently, even as there is a pretty high road fuel tax in most countries. (Politico)

• Policies have consequences. Methane emissions in the Permian region in the US fell 26% in 2023. (Bloomberg)
• China approved the world’s biggest hydropower dam — three times the size of Three Gorges. Reforming electricity markets would do more good. (Bloomberg Opinion)

A podcast

On the theme of seeking new perspectives, I really enjoyed talking to Kim Stanley Robinson for the first Zero podcast episode of the year. His 2020 novel The Ministry for the Future starts off in 2025 with a massive heat wave in India that kills millions and it finally focuses the world on tackling the climate challenge. How is he feeling about 2025 now that it's here?

A book

In the last week of 2024, I sat with the beautiful words of Samantha Harvey’s Booker prizewinning novel Orbital. It tells the story of six astronauts in a space station looking down on Earth. They go about their tightly managed life, while thinking about everything from the mundane to the grand. It’s the best book I’ve read that doesn’t really have a plot.?(Want more book recommendations? Check out this list from my Bloomberg Green colleagues.)

A movie

Another thing I caught in the last week of 2024 was the movie The Wild Robot. It’s gorgeous and heart warming. The only complaint is that it shows we’re still quite limited in our imagination of what future AI is going to look like, which most fiction shows to be something that’s smarter and getting closer to being human.?

The soundtrack

I listened to Bless You - Save Me while writing this newsletter.