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Bloomberg

Zero is about the tactics and technologies taking us to a world of zero emissions. Each week Bloomberg’s award-winning reporter Akshat Rathi talks to the people tackling climate change – a venture capitalist hunting for the best cleantech investment, scientists starting companies, politicians who have successfully created climate laws, and CEOs who have completely transformed their businesses. The road to zero emissions has many paths and everyone’s got an opinion about the best route. Listen in.

Zero: The Climate Race

Reporter Akshat Rathi speaks to Eric Toone of Breakthrough Energy Ventures about what’s hype and what’s not in the world of energy startups. Breakthrough is one of the world’s biggest funders of early stage climate technologies and has poured billions of dollars in more than 120 startups. Toone weighs in on everything from carbon removal to the grid, nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, and green hydrogen.
 
Explore further:
 
 • Past episode 
about Commonwealth Fusion System’s reactors • Past episode 
about the drilling techniques employed by geothermal startup Fervo • Past episode 
about the plethora of carbon capture startups • Past episode 
about the energy startup trying to replace coal with a very cheap battery • Past episode 
about TS Conductor’s approach to reconductoring • Past episode 
with Bill Gates about the areas of the energy sector he’s investing in 
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Sharon Chen, Ethan Steinberg, 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.

Cutting through the climate tech hype and looking for profit

Capitalism can be blamed for worsening the climate crisis, says journalist Akshat Rathi, but it can also be used to drive the solutions to fix it. In this episode of TED Talks Daily, recorded at the Bloomberg Green Festival in Seattle, Rathi discusses his book Climate Capitalism, and how the strategic use of market forces and government policies can make sustainability profitable.

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TED Talks Daily : Capitalism broke the climate. Now it can fix it

The “cold chain” that delivers our food is inconspicuous but vast. The US alone boasts around 5.5 billion cubic feet of refrigerated space; that’s 150 Empire State Buildings’ worth of freezers. Now, the developing world is catching up. On Zero, Nicola Twilley, author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves, discusses how refrigeration became so ubiquitous and what our reliance on it means for our palates and the planet. 
 
Explore further:
 
 • Past episode 
with Stacey Abrams on how kitchen-table decisions can cut emissions • Past episode 
with journalist George Monbiot on how the world’s food system needs a radical rethink • Past episode 
with two vertical farming companies taking agriculture indoors 
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Aaron Rutkoff 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.

Best of: How the humble refrigerator changed the world

Science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson imagines the future for a living. And the future is very much upon us. Robinson’s seminal 2020 novel Ministry for the Future opens in the year 2025. Robinson tells Akshat Rathi about how our real-life climate politics stack up against what he imagined for this era. They also discuss the dangers of science-fiction thinking in politics and why, for all his admiration of science and technology, Robinson remains so enamored with the unglamorous workings of a body like the United Nations.
 
Explore further:
 
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Past episode with Kim Stanley Robinson about climate utopias and optopias
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Past episode with outgoing White House Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi about what the next four years will hold
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Past episode with Colombia’s environment minister Susana Muhamad about the country’s commitment to fossil fuel nonproliferation 
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Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Sharon Chen, Siobhan Wagner, Ethan Steinberg, 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.

Kim Stanley Robinson imagines utopia in 2025

In December, Europe’s Copernicus weather service announced that it was “virtually certain” that 2024 would be the hottest year ever. What’s more, the global average temperature last year appears to have surpassed 1.5C for the first time, blowing past a threshold that’s taken on enormous significance in the fight against climate change. Does that mean governments, corporations, and activists recalibrate their climate goals? Akshat Rathi speaks with reporters Eric Roston and Zahra Hirji about what this new reality means.
 
Explore further:
 
 • Past episode about 
sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson’s visions for 2025 • Past episode with 
Eric Roston and Katharine Hayhoe about the extreme weather events brought on by rising temperatures • Past episode with the Berghof Foundation’s Andrew Gilmour 
about conflict and peace-building on a warming planet 
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Sharon Chen, Siobhan Wagner, Ethan Steinberg, 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.

If 1.5C is dead, what happens next?

In the US right now, there is a lot of talk about a so-called "nuclear revival," though it remains to be seen whether that translates into action. Meanwhile, China has built 37 nuclear reactors in the last decade, with even more in the works. So what does it take to build nuclear at scale? On this episode of the Odd Lots podcast, Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway speak to David Fishman, a China-based energy analyst at The Lantau Group. He explains all the elements of the country's nuclear success, from financing to manufacturing to its domestic power markets. 

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Odd Lots: This is how China builds so much nuclear power

As the blazes in Los Angeles continue to burn, those who have lost their homes are contending with the immediate need for shelter– and difficult questions about whether or not to rebuild in the fire zone. Grist reporter Jake Bittle tells Akshat Rathi how California’s housing market and insurance regulations will shape the recovery. And Nomad Century author Gaia Vince says that in this era of climate instability, everyone should think about how prepared they are to become a climate migrant.
 
Explore further:
 
 • Past episode 
about the 1.5C warming goal being surpassed • Past episode with 
sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson about imagining the future role of the UN in fighting climate change • Past episode about 
climate change, conflict, and migration • Bloomberg Green story 
about the aircraft used to scoop water to fight fires in LA • 
 
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Michelle Ma, Brian Kahn, Sharon Chen, and Sommer Saadi. 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.

Will the LA fires unleash a wave of climate migrants?

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, Akshat Rathi speaks to Yale historian Paul Sabin about whether recent presidential history might hold some lessons on what to expect from the Trump administration’s approach to energy and environmental policy this term. Looking back at the Carter and Reagan years, Sabin explores how present-day Trump priorities– from dismantling government agencies to ramping up oil and gas production–have historical precedent. And Jonathan Lash, who was an environmental lawyer in the Reagan years, explains why he’s feeling déjà vu in these early days of Trump’s second term. 
 
Explore further:
 
 • Past episode with 
sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson about his visions for climate politics in 2025 • Past episode 
with President Biden’s climate czar Ali Zaidi on the IRA’s legacy • Past episode 
with Congressman Ro Khanna on what Trump’s second term may hold 
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Sharon Chen, Siobhan Wagner, Jessica Beck, and David Fox. 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.

To understand Trump's climate moves in his second term, look to the Reagan years

Plans are already underway for COP30 to pick up the baton and tackle COP29's unfinished business. The 2025 climate conference is set to take place in Belem, Brazil, a gateway to the Amazon rainforest. And last week, André Corrêa do Lago was named COP30 president. Corrêa do Lago currently serves as Brazil’s Secretary for Climate, Energy and the Environment, and he spoke with Akshat Rathi at COP29 in Baku, in November. He says that although holding a global summit in Belem poses logistical challenges, the symbolism of the location holds “fantastic political power.” 
 
Explore further:
 
 • Bloomberg Green reporter 
Simone Iglesias's story on Corrêa do Lago's plans as COP30 President • Past episode about 
Azerbaijan’s challenges with hosting COP29 in Baku • Past episode with Brazil's chief climate negotiator, Liliam Chagas, 
about the viability of a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty 
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks to Simone Iglesias, Siobhan Wagner, Ethan Steinberg, Blake Maples, 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.

Best of: COP30 president on how Brazil is looking to supercharge climate action

With President Donald Trump back in office, the US is leaving the Paris Agreement for the second time. Unlike in 2017, this withdrawal is set to have more lasting consequences, Akshat Rathi tells producer Mythili Rao. Meanwhile, even as the US gives up its climate leadership, China’s focus on clean energy is growing. A new report from BloombergNEF finds that global investment in the energy transition surpassed $2 trillion for the first time in 2024, with China driving two thirds of year-on-year growth. BNEF Deputy CEO Albert Cheung shares the report’s highlights, and reflects on the role international competition will play in this next phase of reaching net zero.
 
Explore further:
 
 • Bloomberg Green's story 
The Global Climate Order Teeters Under Second Assault by Trump Bloomberg NEF’s energy transition investment trends 2025 report • Reporter 
Zahra Hirji's roundup of the first slew of President Trump's climate moves • Past episode 
with Yale historian Paul Sabin about what to expect in President Trump’s second term 
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Sharon Chen, Alfred Cang, Ewa Krukowska, John Ainger, Jen Dlouhy, Zahra Hirji, Lou Del Bello, Simone Iglesias, Amanda Hurley 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.

What happens to the energy transition with the US exiting the Paris Agreement?

After years of research and development and billions in investment, autonomous flying taxis are finally poised to take off. Companies working on these pilotless vehicles have been quietly working on prototypes. In this bonus from The Big Take, Bloomberg reporter Colum Murphy takes a test flight in one of the first models operating in China, and his colleague Angus Whitley explains why it’s a make or break moment for the industry.
 
Plus: Hear a past episode episode of Zero about flying cars with Venkat Viswanathan, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has been working to create a battery that can power an aircraft on a trip over 200 miles.

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Big Take: The billion-dollar promise of flying taxis

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