Super excited to announce that @karlmathiesen.bsky.social and I won an award from @spj-posts.bsky.social for our coverage of solar geoengineering. www.spj.org/sdx25/#print... The judges said we had “important impact and compelling writing with each story.” youtu.be/793dRna5st4?...
AWARD WIN: @corbinhiar.bsky.social and I won a National Headliner Award for magazine writing. The judges said we "captured the unsettling ambiguity of a geoengineering plan to release reflective particles into the atmosphere in an attempt to dim sunlight and “throw global warming into reverse.”"
She Spoke Out About Gaza. The US Turned Her Life Upside Down. My profile of UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese for POLITICO Magazine. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
She Spoke Out About Gaza. Now She Can’t Use a Credit Card.
After accusing governments and corporations of complicity in Gaza, the U.N. investigator for Palestine territories now finds herself in Washington’s crosshairs.
politico.com
I live in Oregon and we've had HVAC being taught in community colleges for decades. Two year degrees standard, costs stable, and professional. The UK is instead trying to retrain their mid career boiler engineers into HVAC techs in a few weeks, and learning on the job. Go with longer training.
New from me: I got a heat pump. It really didn't need to be this hard. www.politico.eu/article/new-...
My heat pump hell
In the middle of a global energy crisis, the U.K. Labour government is in a battle to save its heat pump plans from Nigel Farage.
politico.eu
NEW: Europe's rightwing populists risk being only the “beneficiaries of other movements’ weaknesses” rather than serious parties of government, warns one of their intellectual champions Frank Furedi in an interview with me. www.politico.eu/article/the-...
Europe’s populists are winning. But can they govern?
The man Viktor Orbán sent to shake up Brussels on why Europe’s rising right-wing wave may not be ready for power.
politico.eu
The fossil fuel era is by no means over. But disorder is replacing the order that fossil fuels built. Once the world had an apex predator. Now it’s pythons vs. gators in the Everglades. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
POLITICO Forecast
Global power is in flux. Your daily guide to what comes next.
politico.com
The State Dept tapped the Heritage Foundation last year for a list of friendly European orgs the US could fund to help spread MAGA across the Atlantic. Much more here: www.politico.eu/article/maga...
The MAGA-friendly European think tanks Trump wants to fund
The Heritage Foundation identified European groups for U.S. backing.
politico.eu
🚗 Bringing all the governments of the world — bar the United States — to Brazil for a UN climate conference showed the doom and gloom over the cost of doing something to stop climate change is a peculiarly Western pathology. Dispatch from Belém. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
A Test Drive Through Brazil in Donald Trump’s Worst Nightmare
The biggest story of the climate summit might be the brand-new EVs on the streets outside.
politico.com
NEW: A billionaire-backed global cooling startup is a few years away from potentially seeding the stratosphere with sunlight-reflecting particles. This is the inside story of how Stardust is developing planet-altering tech that it hopes to sell to the US government. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
politico.com
"key threshold had already been crossed. Humanity had gained the power to turn down the sun, and barely anyone on the planet even knew. What’s more, that untested power was now effectively for sale." politico.com/news/magazin... Amazing story by @karlmathiesen.bsky.social & @corbinhiar.bsky.social
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
politico.com
Stardust. The Israeli-U.S. company with a strange and totally real plan to block out the sun and reverse global warming. Reporting this story involved a complete relearning of what I thought I knew about the climate future. w/@corbinhiar.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/magazin...
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
politico.com
NEW: Climate summit proposal dodges call to accelerate move from fossil fuels www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Climate summit proposal dodges call to accelerate move from fossil fuels
The final text of a proposed deal would be a disappointment for European countries and low-lying Pacific island nations.
politico.com
NEW: The sad, sorry state of COP www.politico.com/newsletters/...
The sad, sorry state of COP
politico.com
🚨'The worst environmental setback in Brazil's history.' Just a week after COP30 ends, it looks almost certain that Brazil's agribusiness dominated Congress will strip almost all oversight of damaging projects. My report from Brasília. www.politico.eu/article/braz...
Brazilian lawmakers seek to decimate green laws one week after hosting climate summit
Changes would damage President Lula’s efforts to cast Brazil as an environmental leader.
politico.eu
NEW: Geoengineering startup Stardust Solutions has been secretly lobbying Congress for months w/ @corbinhiar.bsky.social subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
E&E News: Geoengineering startup has been secretly lobbying Congress for months
Stardust Solutions hired Holland & Knight, but the lobbying giant says it "inadvertently" failed to publicly disclose its work for the startup, as required by law.
subscriber.politicopro.com
Stardust's new investors include the billionaire Chris Sacca and the Agnelli family, an Italian industrial dynasty. The startup plans to spend the cash on "controlled outdoor experiments," the CEO says. But critics remain skeptical of its business plan: "I don't think that is, at all, reasonable."
Karl Mathiesen@karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 10mo agoA once-outlandish idea for reversing global warming takes a major step toward reality. w/ @corbinhiar.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/glob...
A once-outlandish idea for reversing global warming takes a major step toward reality. w/ @corbinhiar.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/glob...
Israeli-American global cooling startup raises $60M to test sun-reflecting technology
The fundraising haul marks strong enthusiasm for experiments aimed at lowering temperatures, said the company. But it also raises questions about commercializing technologies with potentially damag…
politico.eu
"Some were left wondering what Hoekstra hoped to achieve when he attacked Beijing for a “clearly disappointing” climate plan — especially after the EU had failed to present its own strategy." w. @l-guillot.bsky.social and @marieccles.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/wopk...
Hoekstra’s mano a mano with China wobbles climate summit
EU’s top climate envoy’s war of words sparks fears of diplomatic discord ahead of COP30.
politico.eu
A question I thought it would be easier to find the answer to than it is. Can any climate scientists on here tell me how to calculate how much excess CO2 there is in the atmosphere now as opposed to pre-industrial levels? ie 280ppm vs 425ppm expressed as tons?
After Environment Commissioner Roswall delays EU forest law blaming IT issues, the Commission's VP Teresa Ribera tells us she's really not convinced. “There may be [IT problems] — I don't know." "I think that it is very controversial to give it up." www.politico.eu/article/euro...
Don’t abandon forest law over IT problem, Ribera urges Commission
Vice president of the EU executive says computer issues not good enough reason to further delay anti-deforestation law.
politico.eu
“Many in China now characterize the EU as a middle power." How Europe sabotaged it's place at the head of the climate pack. With @ziaweise.bsky.social and @saraschonhardt.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/euro...
Europe’s climate clout melts away
China stands ready to fill the gap as EU infighting leaves a vacuum in global climate talks.
politico.eu
“If policymakers fail to act, they risk fueling the very populism they claim to fear.” @thisisbartosz.bsky.social scoops an unvarnished view of the EU's climate backtracking from Connie Hedegaard. www.politico.eu/article/gree...
‘They should be ashamed’: Green backsliding is wrecking Europe, EU’s first climate chief warns
From wildfires to far-right gains, Connie Hedegaard says Europe can’t afford to go soft on climate while China races ahead and companies like BP backtrack.
politico.eu
NEW: Saudi Aramco employee named lead author of global climate report www.politico.eu/article/saud...
Saudi Aramco employee named lead author of global climate report
Mustafa Babiker was proposed for the key role last month.
politico.eu
NEW: Backroom deals, embassy contacts and brown liquor built a booming trade of American LNG to Europe. Now, the lobbyist who saw it all says the U.S. president’s dalliances with Vladimir Putin are an incoming “asteroid” for the industry. www.politico.eu/article/euro...
Europe learned to love American gas. This is how Trump wrecks it.
Backroom deals, embassy contacts and brown liquor built a booming export trade. Now, the lobbyist who saw it all says the U.S. president’s dalliances with Vladimir Putin are an incoming “aste…
politico.eu
‘She’s pretty much alone’: The EU’s greenest leader fights the tide Teresa Ribera, the EU's 2nd in charge, has won significant victories in secret against a combination of attacks and disinterest. w/ @ziaweise.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/tere...
‘She’s pretty much alone’: The EU’s greenest leader fights the tide
The European Commission’s second-most powerful politician is isolated, beleaguered and under attack — just like the green policy she has vowed to protect.
politico.eu
NEW: Sudanese economist Mustafa Babiker — a long-term employee of the Saudi Aramco oil company — has been proposed as coordinating lead author of a crucial chapter of the next UN climate science report, a leaked document shows. www.politico.eu/article/saud...
Global climate science body roiled by controversies stoked by Saudis, US
The proposed selection of a Saudi Aramco oil company staffer as one of the authors of a key science report has been denounced as “political capture.”
politico.eu
NEW: EU climate chief lobbied Germany to back weakened 2040 goal www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...
EU climate chief lobbied Germany to back weakened 2040 goal
Wopke Hoekstra successfully pushed the incoming coalition to back foreign carbon credits, helping shift the EU-level 2040 talks.
politico.eu
🇪🇺 I'm writing POLITICO's Brussels Playbook today – tell me what's happening in your world ... kmathiesen@politico.eu
