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2 weeks ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
Japan stands at a climate crossroads. Its latest strategic energy plan, released in February, commits the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 73% by 2040. Yet it also says coal will continue to supply more than 40% of the country’s power generation mix. Japan’s solution to this paradox?
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3 weeks ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
Something seemed off as I gazed at Hong Kong’s iconic Victoria Island skyline. Then it hit me. Oh my god, the air is clean! The thick haze of brown airborne toxins I remember living here two decades ago was gone. This wasn’t just a lucky day to visit. Hong Kong is a direct beneficiary of a decision by China to — pardon the expression — clean up its act. According to the Hong Kong government, the city’s air is 50% cleaner than when we lived here in 2004.
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1 month ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
In a stunning reversal on climate change, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, has emerged as a champion of natural gas, a move that starkly contrasts with his earlier warnings about the financial risks of climate change. This shift is particularly noteworthy given BlackRock’s expanding investments in the natural gas sector, including its acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and the development of a massive LNG terminal in Brownsville, Texas.
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1 month ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
As yet more chaos enveloped Week Six of the Trump Administration, there was a rare and unusual glimmer of hope. Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, surprised everyone by handing President Donald Trump a rare victory. After a month of feverish backroom negotiating, the world’s most influential investor convinced Hong Kong’s richest tycoon and President Trump to let him buy the two ports on the opposite ends of the Panama Canal.
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1 month ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
While the virulently anti-climate Trump administration does a victory dance over the mangled remains of clean energy subsidies and ESG, CEOs are getting real — about the real climate damage being wreaked on the economy. The disconnect could not be more stark. Last week, the CEO of Whole Foods warned that food shortages in supermarkets are happening because of climate change, not DEI.
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2 months ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
Three years ago, Mark Carney was the toast of Glasgow. Global climate action was surging, and the annual United Nations climate conference (COP 26) was swarming with finance executives eager to mobilize money to “finance a transition to a green future,” as was a theme of that year’s COP. It all came to a crescendo when Carney announced the breathtakingly ambitious Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero, a multitrillion-dollar coalition of 480 international banks promising to tackle climate change.
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2 months ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
In this era of Trump madness, a delicious irony is unfolding that would make even the most seasoned satirist blush. Just as Greta Thunberg pivots from climate activism to anti-capitalism crusading, she may have found an unlikely ally in Donald Trump — though neither has a clue they are helping each other. The convergence nobody saw comingA month into the Trump Administration, the debate on the global economy has reached a surreal crossroads.
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2 months ago | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
Few stories in the annals of scientific heresy are as compelling as Galileo’s confrontation with the Catholic Church. Four centuries ago, he dared to challenge the prevailing wisdom that Earth was the center of the universe. Today, we face a similarly profound intellectual revolution — one that reimagines our relationship with our planet. Ferris Jabr’s remarkable book Becoming Earth, offers a radical proposition: We are not merely inhabitants of this planet but living extensions of it.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
Trump will soon see his administration engulfed by the climate crisis he so vigorously deniesFirefighter Arthur Merzdorf remembers “a hopeless fight against the sea of flames.” No, Mezdorf was not battling the firestorm consuming the once-idyllic Los Angeles suburb of Pacific Palisades this week. Long dead, he was a fireman in Dresden, Germany, facing a “volcanic bomb” of fire caused by 3,900 tons of incendiary bombs made with gas and diesel by Standard Oil (now Exxon).
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Nov 16, 2024 | 
climateandcapitalmedia.com | Peter McKillop
Climate denial will be the least of Donald Trump’s problemsThe great American shopping spree rolls on, planetary consequences be damned. As we careen toward another presidential election, both parties are tripping over themselves to promise voters an endless buffet of cheap gas, ever-expanding homes, and guilt-free consumption. Meanwhile, the greatest threat to human civilization has become a political non-issue, banished to the kids’ table of campaign priorities. How did we get here?
