Green Energy

The adoption of electric vehicles has spread to the Global South and is no longer only a Chinese, European and American phenomenon.

Climate Crisis

A Path Away from Fossil Fuels already Exists, COP30 or No

Foreign Policy in Focus

Existing plans to triple renewable energy, double efficiency, and slash methane — coupled with real regulations like the EU’s — offer a way forward. By Daphne Wysham, Trina Chiemi | November 28, 2025 ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – It appeared to be a grim déjà vu when the final gavel dropped in Belem, […]

Climate Crisis

Have we Reached Peak Fossil Fuels? Wind & Solar met all New Energy Demand in Q1-Q3 ’25

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Richard Black and other analysts at the Ember energy consultancy find that all new electricity demand in the first three quarters of 2025 was met by solar and wind, mainly solar. That statistic requires us to conclude that there was no growth in fossil fuels globally during that period. Ember […]

Donald Trump

Ozymandias on the Potomac: Energy Policy and the Politics of American Decline

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – At the dawning of the British Empire in 1818, the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley penned a memorable sonnet freighted with foreboding about the inevitable decline of all empires, whether in ancient Egypt or then-modern Britain. In Shelly’s stanzas, a traveler in Egypt comes across the ruins of a once-monumental statue, […]

Climate Crisis

Global Battle Royale at COP30 between Fossil Fuel Producers and Green Energy Advocates

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Fiona Harvey at The Guardian reports from the COP30 climate conference that a bloc comprising such countries as India, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Bolivia (under its new right wing President Rodrigo Paz), calling themselves “like-minded developing countries,” are attempting to deep-six the pledge made at COP28 in Dubai […]

Green Energy

Pacific Nations aim to go 100% Renewables, saving 25% of GDP

The Conversation

By Wesley Morgan, UNSW Sydney and Scott Hamilton, Monash University (The Conversation) – Picture dusk falling somewhere in the Solomon Islands. A fisher’s skiff glides home using a whisper-quiet electric outboard motor. In the Cook Islands, a big battery steadies the island grid. In Papua New Guinea’s highlands, solar kits bring electric light to homes […]

China

How China Is Turning Climate Action into Economic Strategy

Foreign Policy in Focus

If the world is to make real progress in Belém, it will need more than pledges. It will need examples. And right now, China is providing one. By Imran Khalid | ( Foreign Policy in Focus )- If global climate diplomacy feels stuck, China’s new 2035 roadmap offers a reminder that ambition and realism can […]

China

Juan Cole on Gaza, U.S. Policy, and the Future of the Middle East

Juan Cole

I was welcomed onto David Lin’s Podcast, “The David Lin Report” to talk about Gaza, the Middle East and the US-China rivalry. Embedded video and transcript below. He describes it this way: The David Lin Report! I’ll be reporting on the most impactful market-moving events, as well as interviewing experts in finance, economics, science, and […]

Climate Crisis

Goodbye Petrostates, Hello ‘Electrostates’: how the clean Energy Shift is reshaping the World Order

The Conversation

By Niusha Shafiabady, Australian Catholic University and Xiaoying Qi, Australian Catholic University (The Conversation) – For more than a century, global geopolitics has revolved around oil and gas. Countries with big fossil fuel reserves, such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, have amassed significant wealth and foreign influence, helping shape the world order. But the global […]