Greg Pollock and I argue in @heatmap.news that electric vehicle manufacturing in the US is a national security priority. EVs are the largest source of demand for advanced batteries. Batteries are essential building blocks of the 21st century economy with important defense applications.

1/ The USMCA — nearly $2 trillion in annual North American trade — hits its renewal deadline July 1. US-Mexico talks only started in May, with a third round scheduled for July 20. A decision by July 1 is not happening.

Today is the day! My book, Owning The Green Grid, is officially out in the world! *For orders placed today, June 23, only* use the discount code "MITP30" at checkout to receive 30% off. 20% off with the code "READMIT20" anytime after. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/814358...

Excited to share the cover and an early endorsement from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social for my forthcoming book, "The Carbon Wave." It's out Sept. 1! Preorders help the book travel further. The book is on sale this week with free shipping at Bookshop. Order your copy today! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

I am restarting my Bill Connolly thread: he was not afraid to coin new terms!! He flooded the zone with cool concepts. I’m on a panel honoring his work at APSA (lab day wkend) and have returned to read him again. His work will frame my book on Austin and, reading him on Deleuze on Jerry Lewis … /1

I'm thrilled to be writing GREEN GIANT for PublicAffairs.

📚 Just published Growth, Democracy or Climate Action? The New Political Trilemma of Advanced Capitalism by @aidanregan.bsky.social, @hannaschwander.bsky.social, @cyrben.bsky.social and Tim Vlandas @agendapub.bsky.social @edinburghup.bsky.social Find out more: www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...

War → energy shock → inflation. This time: Iran. But we saw this already after Russia invaded Ukraine. Back then, the shock ignited some big debates on monetary autonomy and dollar dominance In a new paper w/@palmapolyak.bsky.social we go back to that moment. A short thread👇

Fossils: down. Clean energy: up. Economic growth: doing just fine. It's possible.

The arc of the scenario universe is long, but it bends inevitably toward more realistic emissions. A new paper outlining the emissions scenarios we will be using in the upcoming IPCC AR7 report notes that "the CMIP6 high emission levels (quantified by SSP5-8.5) have become implausible".

I spoke with @nytimes.com about how OPEC works, in light of UAE's announced departure from the organization @climatesollab.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/b...

Industrial electrification is now a security imperative, not just a climate one. Our new @ox.ac.uk @ecioxford.bsky.social analysis finds up to 90% of industrial energy demand could be electrified. The potential is there. The main constraint is policy. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-04...

📣 My new publication with @GustavMeibauer is now out in @ejisbisa.bsky.social “Why US-China relations have not escalated yet: Power rise, power transition, and perceptions of resolve" It’s open access: doi.org/10.1017/eis.... @meibauir.bsky.social (1/4)

There's a global race to secure EV battery gigafactories & reduce reliance on China. But not all clean-tech projects are created equal. Some generate good jobs & domestic capacities, others produce ecological harm & low value-added enclaves. New paper & thread 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

NEW RESEARCH: Up to 90% of industrial energy demand could be electrified with existing & emerging tech. Under high-ambition policy, 51% by 2050 is achievable. 84% under the most enabling assumptions. The technologies exist. The constraint is policy. www.eci.ox.ac.uk/news/industr...

The AI datacenter buildout is huge compared to past projects like the interstate highway system, the Apollo program, and the US railroad boom. But its still modest compared to global clean energy investment or oil and gas investment:

Companion lecture on clean energy transitions, featuring discussion of work by @bentleyallan.bsky.social @nilskupzok.bsky.social @jonasnahm.com & @greenprofgreen.bsky.social. youtu.be/C7QxR5_FZ00

Great Ember Report! Electrotech (solar, EV, battery & more) leapfrogs fossil fuels in emerging countries. Why? An example: A decade ago, solar required 5 times more upfront capital investment than a coal plant. Now, solar is less! Solar has free fuel! ember-energy.org/latest-insig... #energysky

The standard model of liberal, representative democracy is increasingly being challenged from the bottom and the top. In a new paper @Party Politics, Gidi Rahat and I seek to explain why political parties differ in the conception of democracy they advance. doi.org/10.1177/1354...

🚨 Just published in Socio-Economic Review! 🚨 @sasemeeting.bsky.social The "power to pollute" and "post-neoliberal" climate finance By Benjamin H. Bradlow and Aishwarya Swamidurai The article is available open access at the following link. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

Iran. Venezuela. Iraq. Oil leads to bad governance and greed, which leads to friction with the United States, which makes military conflict more likely. goodauthority.org/news/is-oil-...

After months of wrangling and an epic list of delays, the Commission has finally released its Industrial Accelerator Act. This could turn into one of the EU’s most consequential industrial policy files in years - and the proposal is honestly not a bad place to start. Some quick thoughts:

Bill Connolly died yesterday and he was one of the good ones. It kills me that he was taken while our politics are like this. He deserved to outlive the bastards. I guess we’ll have to take it from here. But let me say: for depth of understanding, empathy & moral clarity, this man had few rivals /1

With great sadness, I learned of the passing of William E. Connolly yesterday, one of the most influential political theorists of our time. Bill was one of my most important mentors. He pushed me to study climate change when others discouraged me and when there was little interest in the subject ...

Sobering statistics for ABDs and TT. 67% of ABDs didn't get placed. Placement was only 38% TT.

If the US wants to regain industrial strength, it must learn from China’s approach to A.I./robotics. Treat it as factory infrastructure that policy must help deploy, not just research tech that lives in data centers. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

China automates while America hesitates. I have a piece in the NYT today arguing that America's strategy to compete with China in manufacturing is fundamentally misconceived — and that we're heading toward a reckoning we're not prepared for. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/o...

The Biden Admin directed hundreds of billions to clean energy/manufacturing. Did these investments shift public opinion? We find that these projects are visible but not traceable: People notice nearby investments, but connect them to Governors, not Biden. Thread 👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🚨New piece in Politics & Society! w/ @maxkiefel.bsky.social @mathiaslarsen.bsky.social Internationalizing Industrial Policy: How China and the United States Use State Capacity to Secure Critical Minerals for Electric Vehicles 🇨🇳 🇺🇸 doi.org/10.1177/0032...

This is an excellent reminder that no matter what happens with AI or data centers, we are going to need a *lot* more electricity in the future.

EIA: 99%+ of new US capacity in 2026 will be solar, wind + storage

This is a fantastic Keith Bradsher piece on China’s most cutting edge products, including flying taxis and car-sized lunch delivery robots. It crystallizes for me how much the *key* underlying hard-tech innovation is battery production. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

People keep saying this.

Industrial decarbonization isn’t just hydrogen with its tough (impossible?) economics. Most processes can be decarbonized via electrification and other heat tech, often already cheaper and more efficient, or could soon be, thanks to electrotech learning curves & supporting policies ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Clean heat technologies not only slash climate pollution—they also create billions in public health benefits. To learn more about how we can cut pollution and clean up manufacturing, join today's webinar with @heinrich.senate.gov and @whitehouse.senate.gov at 4 ET / 1 PT: bit.ly/industrial-e...

China has achieved first-mover advantage in autonomous, connected, electric (ACE) vehicles. The US response has been tariffs and market isolation. A new CFR paper by @profdavidhart.bsky.social argues this is a trap—we need to compete, not retreat. 1/ www.cfr.org/report/compe...

US risks ceding future of world’s largest manufacturing industry to its geopolitical rival unless it changes course. #Compete #DontRetreat www.cfr.org/report/compe...

New Policy Brief! A joint publication of @bst-europe.bsky.social , @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social , and @delorsberlin.bsky.social. We analyze how recent shifts in US trade and industrial policy are changing the prospects for Europe’s clean tech industry, which is getting squeezed from two sides:

New piece for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social on Chile's green industrial policy efforts and its role in the global energy transition. Can resource-rich countries become relevant players in the upcoming global green economy? Full analysis: www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/lit...

The Climate Lab at Columbia's Center for Political Economy is organizing next year’s Climate Pipeline Project (May 14-15), a top venue for junior climate scholars (and tenured folks who want to see what they’re working on). Abstract deadline is tomo! politicaleconomy.columbia.edu/news/call-pa...

Wonderful piece from Katie Brigham at Heatmap on our new tool—the Clean Industrial Capabilities Explorer. She captures its central motivation so well: we created this tool to help countries understand their manufacturing bases and design more targeted industrial policies.

And now..in our regular discussion of how climate change is really geopolitics...I give you @triofrancos.bsky.social and her fabby new book: player.captivate.fm/episode/16cc... In other words - The new Rhodes Center Podcast is up...

Bill Gates, Tony Blair, CFR are rethinking climate change in the Trump era: more "realistically." Can we dismiss this trend or do we need to understand what it means global climate politics? 🧵 @fgenovese.bsky.social and I write for @iojournal.bsky.social #IOFoGG www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I'm on @heatmap.news Shift Key this morning to talk all about "Bubble or Nothing" and the fragility of the data center investment boom! heatmap.news/podcast/shif...

Clean Energy accounted for all electricity growth this year. Gas/Coal were basically a wash and will be for years to come for electricity generation. We need to ramp up batteries because they are 90% cheaper than distribution grid upgrades which is the main reason we have rate increases.

Im Papier des Koalitionsausschusses steht, dass die EE-Ausbauziele "unverändert ambitioniert" bleiben sollen. Wenn das heißen soll, dass sie unverändert bleiben, wäre das eine gute Nachricht - denn im 10-Punkte-Plan von Katherina Reiche klang es noch so, als ob sie abgesenkt werden sollen.

Good thread from Dave about the new IEA "Current Policies Scenario" making a lot of the headlines. Here is a very quick mock-up I made of what this scenario assumes for solar PV additions through to 2035, with historical context. I'll let you decide whether this seems likely.

Pleased to have my research featured in @nytimes.com reporting on China's role in a global green transition www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/c...