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.

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...

Hey Leo. I think we maybe had broadly the same experience but perhaps different risk tolerance?

I'm uncomfortable not knowing exactly what the payback time will be. And not having independent verification of that. But still I went forward. I think that will be a deal breaker for many others.

I didn't include this in the piece for space reasons, but we did add cooling capabilities for our heat pump, which cost an extra £5800 to have cooling in our loft and first floor.

It's tempting to think it's a mad luxury. But I think actually it's becoming as fundamental as heat.

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.

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.

New from me: I got a heat pump. It really didn't need to be this hard.

www.politico.eu/article/new-...

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.

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-...

POLITICO Forecast Global power is in flux. Your daily guide to what comes next.

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/...

The MAGA-friendly European think tanks Trump wants to fund The Heritage Foundation identified European groups for U.S. backing.

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...

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.

🚗 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...

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.

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.

"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.

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...

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.

NEW: Climate summit proposal dodges call to accelerate move from fossil fuels

www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

The sad, sorry state of COP

NEW: The sad, sorry state of COP

www.politico.com/newsletters/...

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.

🚨'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...

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.

NEW: Geoengineering startup Stardust Solutions has been secretly lobbying Congress for months

w/ @corbinhiar.bsky.social

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

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."

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…

A once-outlandish idea for reversing global warming takes a major step toward reality.

w/ @corbinhiar.bsky.social

www.politico.eu/article/glob...

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.

"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...

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?

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.

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...

Europe’s climate clout melts away China stands ready to fill the gap as EU infighting leaves a vacuum in global climate talks.

“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...

There's actually two typos in the ad. So we're very sorry, but it's a no.

‘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.

“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...

Saudi Aramco employee named lead author of global climate report Mustafa Babiker was proposed for the key role last month.

NEW: Saudi Aramco employee named lead author of global climate report

www.politico.eu/article/saud...

Big job leading one of the best teams in the business...

#journojobs

jobs.mpleo.net/en/politico/...

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…

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...

‘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.

‘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...

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.”

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...

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.

NEW: EU climate chief lobbied Germany to back weakened 2040 goal

www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...