Commentary / World Nov 15, 2021

Forget the words of this COP26 deal. Follow the money.

The costs of subsidizing fossil fuels go up with each passing year, making it harder to abandon them even as their damage accumulates.

Commentary / World Oct 27, 2021

Why 25 previous conferences have failed to stop climate change

Climate talks are at a disadvantage from the start as their intent is stunningly broad: remaking the energy systems that have powered the planet since the Industrial Revolution.

Commentary / World Oct 18, 2021

China’s power crisis will affect industries worldwide

The world has become hooked on cheap Chinese power for making a host of its goods. About half of all metal is produced in China and nearly a fifth of all oil is refined there.

Commentary / World Oct 8, 2021

Pandora Papers show the rich will always find a way

For all the revelations about the shadow global financial system for the wealthy since the ICIJ’s first revelations in 2013, it’s striking how little has changed.

Commentary / World Sep 19, 2021

Starvation is as much a threat to Afghan women as the Taliban

In an aid-dependent economy already in deep trouble, the removal of tens of thousands female workers, many supporting large families, will only add to those facing hunger.

Commentary / World Sep 2, 2021

COVID-19 vaccines may become a viable business. That’s a problem.

Inoculations have been distributed to almost every person on the planet. But, traditionally, they been unprofitable for the pharmaceutical industry.

Commentary / World Jun 23, 2021

What 16th-century Venice teaches us about crypto

If Bitcoin and its ilk are to survive, they will need to find a way to betray their libertarian roots and cut their own deals with the state.

Commentary / World Jun 2, 2021

Indonesia can’t afford the luxury of Australia’s carbon habit

A business based on mining, hauling and burning heavy rocks to spit out electrons struggles to survive everywhere that fuel-free renewables manage to take root.

Commentary / World May 9, 2021

Climate targets must 'be realistic and demand the impossible'

About a third of all human greenhouse emissions in history have happened since 1997, when world leaders adopted the Kyoto Protocol with an ambition of limiting such pollution.

Commentary / World Apr 26, 2021

The pandemic will be more deadly this year — particularly for India

The more people infected in emerging countries, the more opportunities COVID-19 will have to develop into fresh strains and prolong this death and misery.