"The sun may not always shine and the wind may not always blow, but neither can they be halted by an embargo or balance-of-payments crisis." lines I wish I'd thought of carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

This is a useful clarification of the term "electrostate." Gordon emphasizes consumption, which is important. But production is what shapes geopolitical power and strategic independence. This definition of "electrostate" can't include all countries. But it implicates politics more directly.

A New Climate Denialism is sweeping the USA. Its proponents misunderstand that clean energy will take over no matter what America does and that it's not possible to adapt to 3°C. Our alternative approach is called Climate Clarity carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

“Electrostate” is “the geopolitical buzzword of the year,” says @noahjgordon.bsky.social, especially in regard to China. But when writers say “electrostate,” are they using it right? And why does that matter? Noah explains, for Emissary: carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

This.

"Electrostate" is the energy buzzword of the year. But the term has two meanings, and policymakers risk picking the wrong one. Production or consumption? My new piece for the Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org

"Greenlash"? There's a backlash against climate social movements, with citizens turning against regulations in Europe and carbon pricing in Canada & Australia. Two new pieces today in our @carnegieendowment.org series on the future of climate activism. carnegieendowment.org/programs/sus...

Incisive writing here on the "central bank independence" that Trump is undermining. Can't help but think about this from a climate perspective, as climate policymaking, like inflation, suffers from a time inconsistency and credibility problem. What would a "climate Fed" do?

The Pakistani solar boom continues to fascinate. In 2022 gas-hungry Europe outbid Pakistan for LNG, plunging it into blackouts. In 2025 Pakistan has so much solar it's delaying LNG shipments and trying to sell excess gas. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Wrote this for the Carnegie Endowment on the criminalisation of climate protest

Why don't more climate activists turn to sabotage? My new piece for The Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Many global south countries are on track to overtake the global north in terms of electricity as a share of final energy consumption. Call it the big leapfrog.

What's the story of the last few years in clean energy? Grid tech got more expensive 🔼 Solar, batteries, and wind got cheaper 🔽 Minerals prices spiked and then fell▶️ IEA doing incredible work again in World Energy Investment 2025

If you can't make electrotech like solar and batteries, you can't really make drones or robots either. @kyleichan.bsky.social and the @ember-energy.org team are making the same point.

Want to know what is at stake in your state orcongressional district? Generate a custom report from our data at this link: www.the-big-green-machine.com/custom-reports

The IRA is on death row. It's notable how Europeans who criticized the "America-first" bill in 2022 now see nothing to gain from repeal--it turns out US investment in clean energy is good for Europe, which exports a lot of clean technology goods. data from @sandertordoir.bsky.social

We've relaunched our Carnegie Climate Protest Tracker, which now tracks over 300 mass climate protests since 2022. carnegieendowment.org/features/cli...

Bush-era climate politics from our guy Tony Blair. The world is already relying on carbon capture to grow from millions of tons per year to billions. We already played our get-out-of-jail free card by including it in models!

Only 15% of China-made batteries are exported, and only 25% of those go to the US. The worry for China's cleantech sector is not so much the US tariffs but rather the possible global recession.

Climate has bad timing in the US. Just when a window opens for action, a world event slams it shut: the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, the 1998 Lewinsky scandal, the 2008 financial crash. Don't miss David Lipsky's the Parrot & the Whale, a history of denial--look at the writing.

How will the trade war affect the energy transition? It's bad news for batteries, transformers, and permanent magnets--but the oil industry is suffering too. My new piece for @carnegieendowment.org: carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

Energy Dominance! www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

BNEF thinks that 2024 *may* have been the year energy-related CO2 emissions finally peaked. We've been fooled before, but the trade war and recession of 2025 should slow emissions too (in an unproductive way).

Migrant workers in the US are rushing to send remittances home before they are deported. Remittances to El Salvador, the host of the new US gulag, are up 14% this year.

Everyone is talking about the need to power data centers, but people using air conditioners and fans is a bigger driver of electricity demand growth globally, especially in India and China. Data centers are relatively more important in the US.

New levels of denialism from the White House. We're doing scare quotes around "climate change" in 2025. whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Incredible stuff

“People have a lot of kooky ideas that they can put things in the atmosphere to block the sun & save us from climate change,” DeSantis said. “We’re not playing that game in Florida.” FL will become the latest US state to ban solar geoengineering, thrilling the RFK wing of MAGA.

I did not know just how many trackers Global Energy Monitor had going. Truly the lord's work: globalenergymonitor.org @globalenergymon.bsky.social

Manufacturing solar panels and batteries is only one path to green industrial transformation--and China's success leaves little room for copycats. But there are other processes of green industrial transformation. See "Survival of the Greenest" by Amir Lebdioui @amirleb.bsky.social

The US has had a shortage of electrical components --like transformers, circuit breakers and switchgear--for 54 straight months. Now we get tariffs on those imports: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene... from @saraschonhardt.bsky.social & team

I remain happily surprised that major gas producers, like the US and Qatar, aren't guaranteeing profits to gas turbine producers (Siemens, GE, Mitsubishi) in exchange for expanding production capacity. The turbine shortage is the biggest bottleneck to further gas lock-in...

The global crackdown on migration is devastating for migrants and for the families, communities, and economies that depend on remittances – and, as a result, for climate finance in the Global South. @noahjgordon.bsky.social and Debbra Goh explain:

Potentially explosive developments in seabed mining. The Metals Company is asking the Trump administration to circumvent a UN treaty and allow it to vacuum up metals from the ocean floor in international waters. nytimes.com/2025/03/27/c...

The Metals Company is trying to circumvent the International Seabed Authority and get the Trump administration to approve mining of the deep sea. We have to stop seeing the ocean as a place to exploit instead of a place of wonder and beauty and an essential part of our life support system.

How does the global migration crackdown affect climate finance? When rich countries keep out immigrants--or kick them out--people send less money home to the most climate-vulnerable countries. My new piece on remittances, with @debbragoh.bsky.social for @carnegieendowment.org:

How can the US stop losing the clean energy race so badly? @milomcbride.bsky.social and I have some ideas: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi0Y...

Excellent report here by @berglundoscar.bsky.social and team on the global criminalization of climate protests. It also uses data from our @carnegieendowment.org climate protest tracker: carnegieendowment.org/features/cli...

“Without decisive action, the U.S. risks losing out on trillions of dollars in future markets and ceding technological leadership.” 📽️@milomcbride.bsky.social and @noahjgordon.bsky.social on how to stop losing the race for clean energy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi0Y...

So much of the madness in US politics right now--the strikes on Yemen and associated Signal chat, the blackmail of Columbia, the detainment and deportation of permanent residents who support Palestinian rights--can be traced back to the US's support for Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza.

So much going on here. Emissions are rising... but by less than GDP! And they would have risen by less if there was no global heating, and people weren't burning so much coal & gas to run fans & AC. But there is, and they are. From @iea.org Global Energy Review 2025: www.iea.org/reports/glob...

Great program--apply to work at the Center for European Reform.

April 15 will be like Barbenheimer day for progressive book readers. New books coming from Malcolm Harris & Quinn Slobodian (@quinnslobodian.com )

"I began to wonder whether this search for a rational wing in Trump’s economic policy is not, in fact, a step towards sane-washing..." Brilliant Adam Tooze piece on the idea of a "Mar-a-Lago Accord"

Mark Blyth is on top form here, saying US political polarization is really the coming apart of the carbon coalition. Red states won't strand carbon assets. From "Burning Down the House: Carbon Politics, American Power, and the Almighty Dollar", w/ @benbraun.bsky.social & @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social

Chinese company BYD may have just changed the EV game with an inexpensive, fast-charging battery system. Carnegie’s @noahjgordon.bsky.social explained the news and what it might mean for U.S. automakers in the global market 👇

I finally remembered what the Yergin, Orszag & Arya Foreign Affairs piece reminded me of: the "very serious person", as described by @pilitaclark.bsky.social and Todd Stern.

Don't miss the annual JP Morgan Energy paper by Michael Cembalest. So much to unpack. 1: China is electrifying fast, catching up to Japan in terms of electricity share of final energy consumption. The US remains a land of oil and gas. am.jpmorgan.com/us/en/asset-...

The U.S. government’s energy subsidies have yet to reflect the competitive potential of geothermal energy. Robert Sweeney and @noahjgordon.bsky.social explain: carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Latest on German debt brake reform talks: the CDU's new offer to the Greens is that $50 billion of the $500b special fund will go to "climate protection". This implies that the initial plan was to spend even LESS on Klimaschutz. Just astonishing. And yet Merz asks, "What more do you want?"