Zero: The Climate Race

As the war with Iran drags out and oil prices remain turbulent, it raises the question of whether — and how — prolonged conflict in the Middle East might impact global fossil fuel dependence and the future of renewable energy.
This week on Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Todd Woody and Zero podcast host Akshat Rathi join Sarah Holder to discuss early signs that the high cost of oil is reigniting consumer interest in electronic vehicles and other clean energy technologies, and how companies and countries are beginning to respond.
Explore more:
Surging Gas Prices Reignite EV Interest
What a $100-Per-Barrel Oil Spike Does to the Global Economy
Zero Podcast: War with Iran is a nightmare for oil and gas. What does it mean for clean energy?
Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by Julia Press; Reported by Todd Woody and Akshat Rathi; Edited by Tracey Samuelson. Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is responsible for collating our shared scientific understanding of how global warming is impacting the planet. But the body now faces a challenge after the US withdrew funding for its scientists to participate. Professor Jim Skea, who chairs the IPCC, joins Akshat Rathi on Zero to talk about the body’s future, whether the organisation can survive the US pullback, and what questions the next set of reports are going to answer.
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Olivia Rudgard, Eric Roston, Sommer Saadi, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.
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In the latest episode of Zero’s Imagine series, Akshat Rathi is joined by Abi Daré, winner of the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize. Abi is the bestselling author of And So I Roar, which tells the story of the teenager Adunni as she confronts superstition, lack of education and the impacts of climate change on the rural communities of Nigeria. Abi joins Zero to talk about the role climate change plays in her storytelling, and how she has seen Nigeria adopt climate solutions as it develops rapidly.
Explore further:
Abi Daré’s website: https://abidareauthor.com/
The Climate Fiction Prize: https://climatefictionprize.co.uk/
Past episodes in the Imagine series:
Julia Wolfe on How Music can Inspire Climate Action
George Saunders on Climate Guilt, AI and Critical Thinking
Kim Stanley Robison on Abundance, Adequacy and Better Climate Futures
Artist Monira Al Qadiri on the End of Oil
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 [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.
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Many consider a widespread war in the Middle East the worst-case scenario for the global oil and gas markets. That war is here, and it could have wide-ranging, long-lasting impacts on energy and climate policy. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi speaks with Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and former energy and climate advisor to President Barack Obama to try to understand what those impacts could look like. Will countries double down on fossil fuels or will they speed up the clean-energy transition?
Links and more:
For all of Bloomberg's coverage of Iran, visit: https://www.bloomberg.com/uk
What the War With Iran Means for Renewable Energy Deployment
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Eleanor Harrison-Dengate, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.


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Societal collapses happen more often than you think, and there’s much we can learn from the past to avoid or, at least, delay another one.
This week’s guest on Zero is Luke Kemp, author of Goliath's Curse, which draws lessons from the rise and fall of societies over 5,000 years of human history. Akshat Rathi asks Luke whether our current moment — with climate change and AI — makes us uniquely vulnerable to societal collapse or more resilient than we might think.
Explore further:
Luke’s book, Goliath’s Curse
The MOROS database
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 [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.