'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain' #Iran 🇮🇷

Worth remembering as this unfolds that it was disabled people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds who disproportionately died. Tens of thousands needlessly lost their lives, many who died alone or with just an iPad. Thousands more were left with life changing Long Covid. A true scandal.

As @glenpeters.bsky.social says, we're way off target for any 1.5°C scenario. To see how far off, each of the red/green bars represents the decrease in CO₂ emissions during COVID. Even if we achieved that from now until the end of 2030, we would still miss our 1.5°C target by a significant margin.

Check out the brilliant @cibled.bsky.social in @econsocjournal.bsky.social on the extremes of Becker's human capital theory & its normalisation of inequality. doi.org/10.1080/0308...

🚨You always wondered about how to make sense of the many accounts on Green Finance? We got you covered: @nataschavanderzwan.bsky.social @danmertens.bsky.social ky.social Julius Kob and I critically review existing accounts and argue for an integrated analytical approach👇 doi.org/10.1017/fas....

"the Fed's primary concern is the systemic threat that [firm or sector risk] poses – even if stabilising measures benefit the too-big-to-fail constituency first & foremost. The administration ... is more interested in a discretionary, patronage-based approach." newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

turns out if you want people to live car-free you need to emphasize the safety and accessibility of modes that aren't cars

Today is the official UK publication day for Silicon Empires! I'm excited to have it out and hear what people think. There's an enormous amount happening every day in AI, and it's difficult to gain a stable perspective. I wrote the book to try and get some secure hold on that constant flux. 🧵

And here was me walking around warning people of the 8-9% success rate 😮‍💨

Chief Economist at Nesta, the 'innovation agency', seems to have run out of innovative ideas...

I feel like this one is talked about, tho it could always be more so. The question is rather why not enough change is happening despite the fact that we know how bad things are. In many ways the answers got more obvious recently.

“[Last year] CO2 in the global surface atmosphere increased by 3.5 ppm, the largest one-year increase since modern measurements began... This increase was driven by continued fossil CO2 emissions, enhanced fire emissions and reduced terrestrial/ocean sinks… which could signal a climate feedback.”

🎉 Just launched! We’ve collaborated with @cplusc.bsky.social to launch @transitionsec.bsky.social — a new research centre that will develop alternative approaches to security and investigate the US & UK military industrial complexes as economic, climate and geopolitical threats. Find out more. 👇

It's finally here! 100+ scholars, global scope, practical insights. “Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment” shows how organized interests stall policy—and how governance can respond. Open access available now! Or order for paperback and hardcover. cssn.org/wp-content/u...

techpolicy.press/generative-a... Lots of good stuff in this article on AI and productivity, including the concept of 'workslop': “AI generated work content that masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task.”

Every day is a good day to point out that 92% of Reform's donations were found to come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry. @desmog.com

Insurance industry maps millions of UK homes at increased risk of flooding as climate change impacts ratchet up Obviously, the insurance industry needs to make money and can't afford claims likely to result from higher flood risks So... no insurance for some? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

An important reminder in the context of: 1. The UK gov's pledge to invest £22bn in CCS; 2. the surge in fossil fuel lobbying in advance of that pledge.

Very important paper by @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social that shows, as I have argued, that tax policy is climate policy. We cannot phaseout #fossilfuels without attacking their wealth. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Interesting-looking article on how technological developments are used as a "technofix" is used to delay real action to reduce emissions in the aviation sector doi.org/10.1080/2158...

Interesting that AI firms are looking to set up captive insurance arms. Also used by big oil & gas firms, they are typically located in offshore jurisdictions & allow companies to boost profits, reduce tax liabilities & mask how financial liabilities are managed. on.ft.com/46Voxh5

Interested about financialisation and why states foster policies that lead to the dominance of financial capital? Come to CLaSP's seminar: Event: Financial Capital, the State, and Politics When: 30th October, 2025; 4-530 PM Where: Graduate Centre, QMUL Mile End Campus Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Bernards

Stranded assets.

no words

A great article that also highlights how profitable insurance remains for investors, and makes a nice contrast to insurance as solidarity/interdependence. The moral economy of climate change, risk and responsibility, as Rebecca Elliott et al. have written about so well.

Today is the day!!! Existential Politics is out in the world! Read about why we’re doing climate policy wrong (too focused on measuring emissions) & what we should do instead (focus on $$ to constrain fossil asset owners & expand green asset owners). Just in time for #COP30.

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city. They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

If you're wondering whether academics have written on 'asylum hotels', I can point you in the direction of Martina Tazzioli's work on refugee carcerality & value extraction in the UK, Greece & Italy. See esp. section on financialised asylum accommodation in the UK. dx.doi.org/10.1177/0263...

Interview: The economic style of reasoning is not value-neutral! An interview with Elizabeth Popp Berman, by Ditte Andersen doi.org/10.1177/0001...

Just arrived: The Social Foundations of Global Finance edited by @chris-clarke.bsky.social & @benclift.bsky.social Chapters by @johannespetry.bsky.social, @hozic.bsky.social, Randall Germain, Magnus Ryner, Matthew Watson & others... #OpenAccess eBook available 👇 www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...

On October 16th, CLaSP are hosting a preview screening of Om's Behind the Furrow, followed by discussion with the director. Register for a free ticket: www.claspblog.org/events/behin...

New on the CLaSP blog: artist & filmmaker Jonathan Om interviews CLaSP's Matan Kaminer about Thai migrant workers in Israel's agricultural frontier settlements. www.claspblog.org/blogposts/sx...

Hi bsky people - if you care about how the EU seeks to fund all things "social-ecological transformation", which institutional architecture has emerged out of it, and why it is both contested and an unrealized promise: please have a look at our special issue on the politics of sustainable finance 👇

The UK's last coal-fired power station shut a year ago yesterday. Always worth remembering this was anything but a just transition ... theecologist.org/2024/feb/12/...

Not April 1st, not @theonion.com. Just another Monday in Trump land www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

New book 📚 // In #TheMeaningOfGrowth, CUSP researcher @maitrereynard.bsky.social investigates the roots of political resistance to environmental science and policy in Western societies, and suggests a new approach to overcoming it. With a foreword by @timjackson.org.uk → cusp.ac.uk/themes/m/rd-...

🚨New article🚨 Why has the promise of universal ownership been broken, as @benbraun.bsky.social has suggested? Our argument: because the Big Three are hardly universal. They mainly invest in those that can insulate themselves from environmental harm - big tech & financials in the Global North. 🧵

Curious to see that UK-headquartered fossil fuel giants Shell and BP have the highest number of marketing contracts globally - according to new research from @cleancreatives.bsky.social Major polluters require advertising and PR firms to maintain their social licence to operate.

I reckon a fossil fuel being heavily promoted at climate week is a bad thing

The attempt to financialize psychedelics has collided with the unruliness of these substances both as therapeutic assets and as vectors of cultural resistance. Our article of the week traces the rise and fall of commercial psychedelics. By Sandy B. Hager in @finandsoc.bsky.social buff.ly/7QsCdDI

Latest on the CLaSP blog: Why has China’s digital economy developed along such a distinctly consumer-facing path? @js-tan.bsky.social explains 'The Labour Foundations of China’s Consumer-First Internet' www.claspblog.org/blogposts/7l...

We are organising a small lecture series at CITYPERC this semester on "Financial Futures: Tech, Green Transitions, China and the Global South" with four brilliant speakers: @nataschavanderzwan.bsky.social, @johannespetry.bsky.social, David Kampmann and @bbonizzi.bsky.social

A new piece on extractive capitalism for @thetls.bsky.social, reviewing 4 new books, including @triofrancos.bsky.social's much-anticipated EXTRACTION and Partha Dasgupta's widely- praised ON NATURAL CAPITAL

Issue 2 of The BREAK–DOWN lands with us on Wednesday. Subscribe now for £22, and get the best climate writing delivered to straight to you www.break-down.org @the-breakdown.bsky.social

Welcome to Rip-Off Britain. A country remade by privatisation. Our latest project — Who Owns Britain? — explores how a radical experiment transformed our society and shapes your life. 🧵

Absolutely fantastic piece on the interfaces between climate risk and insurance in the Polycrisis newsletter today, by @70sbachchan.bsky.social and @katemac.bsky.social Not a doom loop, but “communities of fate” and the moral economy of the welfare state. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...

Spineless attacks on nuclear power! 🪼

Up early and on my way from London to Copenhagen for the Finance and Society conference. Looking forward to a great programme! Always a highlight of the academic year. financeandsocietynetwork.org/wp-content/u... Say hi if you're around 👋

Yep. "…clear that fossil-fuel companies, and their adjacent organizations, are the primary lobbyists for CCUS subsidies and that these subsidies benefit fossil-fuel companies at the expense of both taxpayers and the future health of our planet" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Lloyds has completely abandoned efforts to green its underwriting, permitting coverage of thermal coal, oil sands, arctic exploration. New CEO says that "Lloyds is apolitical"! on.ft.com/3I3UdbF