Trying to make sense of Trump’s trade policy from a Sustainability point of view
It was the most predictable u-turn ever. If the US consumer had been faced with smartphones costing 250% of their pre-tariff price tag, the idiocy...
Unpicking the Politics of Net Zero with Michael Liebreich
Feb 7, 2025
This week on the Net Zero Business Podcast, I talk politics with Michael Liebreich, one of the foremost commentators and advisors on the clean energy...
Can we have the promised “presumption in favour of sustainable development”?
Jan 29, 2025
On Monday, I gave a guest lecture on the UK Planning system to civil engineering students at Durham University. Having served on Newcastle Council’s Planning...
Flight of fantasy: why Rachel Reeves has it wrong on Heathrow
Jan 27, 2025
This week, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (right) is expected to announce that the long debated third runway at Heathrow will get the...
Has the climate battle been Trumped? The choice is ours…
Jan 21, 2025
So this morning a large orange cloud hovers over the future of the planet. As predicted, Donald Trump used his inaugural address yesterday to withdraw...
Why Sustainability WILL survive Trump, welcoming the ESG backlash and the Batman paradox – John Friedman
Jan 17, 2025
So we are on the cusp of the second inauguration of Donald Trump, an event which brings staggering levels of uncertainty to a huge number...
Three takeaways from the Los Angeles wildfires
Jan 13, 2025
The fires raging across the suburbs of Los Angeles have caught the attention of the world media in a way that all the other wild...
Does the ‘Net Zero backlash’ mean we are winning?
Jan 9, 2025
On the Net Zero Business Podcast review of 2024, I suggested that the reason why we are feeling an anti-Net Zero backlash is that climate...
Politics, Polling and the Climate
Nov 13, 2024
I was listening to Matt Chorley's politics show on BBC Radio 5Live yesterday and, in the context of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, they...
Donald Trump? The Climate? Don’t Panic. Roll Up Your Sleeves.
Nov 11, 2024
Last Monday afternoon I was busy planning a Sustainability Workshop for this week when the text on my computer screen started swirling. Oh, no, I...