People interpret 'world order' differently. Some would say the world over was destroyed when the US invaded Iraq with British military support. Or earlier during the Vietnam massacre. Or most recently when the US and Europe (esp. Germany) armed, funded and defended Israel as it committed genocide

If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

People are recollecting George H W Bush signing the UNFCCC in 1992. Yes, he did. At the same Rio Earth summit he also said "the American way of life is not up for negotiation." International law has always had near-zero relevance among both political parties in the US

Over three decades since the UNFCCC and the largest emitter by far continues to expand oil and gas production. If anything, the UNFCCC worked despite the US. And because other countries wanted it. Many international agreements exist despite the US wrecking their intent over decades

Modi govt raids climate activist Harjeet Singh's NGO, hailed for his work on loss & damage, adaptation. Indian tax authorities seem to think promoting a non-binding, activist-led fossil fuel treaty "could seriously impact India's energy security." Ridiculous. www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/e...

🇮🇳 NEW | REPORT | #India power sector review 2025: Record #CleanEnergy deployment drives historic decline in #coal generation Clean electricity increasingly covers demand peaks, making coal growth redundant @manojkumarnr.bsky.social energyandcleanair.org/publication/india-power-sector-review-2025/

First statement by Harjeet Singh post the raid is that the Modi government doesn't understand civil society 💯 www.newslaundry.com/2026/01/07/g...

Met Harjeet just a few days ago at a climate justice assembly in Bangladesh where, as always, he was speaking about concerns of the Global South. The Indian government is now hounding him for associations with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty like as though it is a crime

The only redeeming feature of this year so far is the morning sun moving more and more into the balcony where I dry clothes and some potted plants are 💛

After four years of strong growth in electricity demand, 2025 showed very low growth, and the increase in renewables was sufficient to push generation from coal down.

It's technically true what they say: As a Flow Gas, Anthropogenic Methane wouldn't contribute much to global warming if emissions held steady for about 12 years. There's only one problem...

Now that it's Greenland, European political leaders have again found their voice on the importance of international law and are standing up to Trump. If only flipflop hadn't already seriously undermined international law...

I have a question for people saying fossil fuels are the problem: what will you blame if Trump attacks Greenland tomorrow? This is why it's important to identify the problem correctly. US imperialism

I wrote about reporters’ refusal to use “act of war,” “invasion” or “coup” when covering Trump’s brazen attacks on Venezuela, instead echoing WH-approved euphemisms, and the broader trend of our press dutifully giving Trump’s lawlessness the vague whiff of international legitimacy when it has none.

I am seeing a lot more people sceptical of the content (sorry, I cannot call it journalism) put out by Western establishment media this time around than I have earlier. And turn instead to independent media and social media analysis than can be engaged with on merits. Good

"US oil majors don’t necessarily want back into Venezuela’s declining and decrepit oil fields so much as they are eager to protect their interests in neighboring Guyana, home to one of the world’s most productive oil fields" V good read here -->>>

Two minor updates, friends: - As of 1 January 2026, I'm an Associate Professor. - As of today, the first paper I started writing on palm oil, about a decade ago, is in print in the Journal of International Economics. Read, share, cite. Open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

By the way, it’s still happening www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/...

CO2 is plant food (CO2 fertilisation), but CO2 also causes climate change (temperature, precipitation changes), which forests tend not to like. Forests don't like being cut down either! We are crossing a point where the climate change effects become noticeable. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 5/5

In the latest carbon budget, we revised... * up land-use change emissions * up the ocean sink (now takes up 29% of total emissions) * down the land sink (now takes up 21% of total emissions) * the "budget imbalance" now has zero trend What does this mean? www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

If a media outlet has information about political leaders on the verge of committing an international crime of aggression, the job requires reporting about it. Not burying the story to shield the perpetrators - this would qualify as complicity. And it's what state-controlled media would do

The US government brings oil and climate change and invasions of sovereign nations

The Washington Post editorial board comes out in favor of the Venezuela attack/operation to capture Maduro

Silk.

The Ganga river at Assi Ghat. Varanasi, India

New paper! How are emissions scenarios 📉 from the IPCC (and other sources) actually used by decision-makers? We asked them, and the results are out just in time for the holidays 🧑‍🎄🤶🧑‍🎄 (with @idasogn.bsky.social & @climansen.bsky.social)

Indian govt is designing the 2nd phase of the flagship solar scheme for farmers called PM-KUSUM. Interviewed a young researcher who has conducted extensive groundwork on the 1st phase about what went right and where there is scope for lots of improvement frontline.thehindu.com/environment/...

The latest list of Australia’s planned resource and energy projects has revealed that as of 31 October 2025 there were 432 major resource and energy projects under development in Australia, up from 407 projects a year earlier. Read the full piece on The Point: thepoint.com.au/news/251219-...

This is the reality we face. It is not physically possible to limit warming to 1.5°C. The required levels of emission cuts are impossibly steep drilled.media/news/cop30-g...

This sentence makes it seem like the 30 year timeframe is the constraint. It is not. The constraint is the carbon budget. The carbon budget left for 1.5°C is less than five years of current annual emissions www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"When future emissions commitments are considered alongside historical emissions, global net climate change impacts increase from US$43.7 trillion to US$49.0 trillion, with the USA and the EU remaining the largest contributors." Link to paper: assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-394...

Good profile about important work on research integrity www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A report finds 65 of 67 PNG land-conversion permits are controlled by Malaysian-linked firms, covering 1.68 million hectares of rainforest — mostly undisturbed. Critics say permits meant for development have enabled large-scale logging, despite a 2023 moratorium.

We're thrilled to announce that Nina Lakhani will be joining Drilled as senior global climate justice reporter in January, based in Mexico City. We've long admired her incredible ability to tell the human stories of the climate crisis and can't wait to collaborate!

It has been a year of a lot of travelling and learning. This from the latest (and first-ever) trip to Bangladesh. Finally catching up on the 2 year-old aim to understand India's neighbourhood better. I also spoke to some members of the Tibetan community for a report for the first time this year

There is a climate justice assembly in Dhaka, Bangladesh between December 13-14. I will be speaking about media coverage in the plenary on 'Inclusion and Governance in the Transition Realities'. Check out the programme www.climatejusticeassembly.org

As UNEA meets in Nairobi, wars, protectionism and global divisions are straining cooperation on climate, biodiversity and pollution. UNEA’s president says multilateral action remains essential, and UNEP’s chief argues diplomacy still works when nations choose compromise over paralysis.

EVs beat petrol cars on lifetime emissions — even on “dirty” grids. Battery production is carbon-intensive, but EVs quickly repay that debt and end up 21–71% cleaner over 250,000 km. We can’t wait for perfect grids: electrify transport and clean the grid now.

Cox's Bazar is a tuk-tuk town. Bangladesh

"Across India, 118 million adult women in 12 states now receive unconditional cash transfers from their governments, making India the site of one of the world's largest and least-studied social-policy experiments." www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Europe vowed to reject any COP deal without a plan to phase out dirty fuels, a totally disingenuous move coming from a bloc that continues to flagrantly trade and consume dirty energy, and whose own plan to cut emissions can, at best, be described as awkwardly inconsistent with a 1.5°C pathway."

Enjoyed this conversation with Michael Walker @novaramedia.com on what the recent Nobel prizes in economics miss out about dynamics of development and what a decolonized lens helps mend that. @soaseconomics.bsky.social @soasdevelopment.bsky.social youtu.be/II7U4UlGaIA?...

India and China make trade a climate issue as EU carbon levy looms https://asia.nikkei.com/economy/trade/india-and-china-make-trade-a-climate-issue-as-eu-carbon-levy-looms

Cool paper documenting ecological insights about Indian tropical savannas in traditional literature between the 13th and 20th century. Grassland-scrubland biomes are often misconceived as deforested and/ or degraded wastelands. So, important paper. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

The authors of a highly publicized study predicting climate change would cost $38 trillion a year by 2049 have retracted their paper following criticism of the data and methodology, including that the estimate is inflated.

COP30 produced several notable outcomes. Mohamed Adow, Executive Director of Power Shift Africa, added his reflections on the outcomes, noting that “Roadmaps and workplans will mean nothing unless they translate into real finance and real action.” More: bit.ly/3XnBfB7

A long interview about many things: developing country demands for various kinds of finance (Bridgetown) and rich country reluctance to meet them, public vs private finance, low-productivity coal in India, unsustainable consumption and Brundtland commission etc frontline.thehindu.com/environment/...

Interview with an Indian economist about why climate negotiations on finance continue to stall, low-productivity coal and clean energy manufacturing in India, unsustainable consumption and the Brundtland Commission and a lot more. frontline.thehindu.com/environment/...

OR - countries pushed for it anyway, knowing it was a dead letter. Then the question is - why? Distract from not providing sufficient finance? Perform sustainability, even when many countries are not enacting it?

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been inundated with cyclone-driven rain for a week, killing about 400 people.