Reporter Akshat Rathi sits down with ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, who made his second-ever appearance at the United Nations climate conference. Woods made the case for why incoming US president Donald Trump shouldn’t exit the Paris Agreement, and should uphold the country’s monumental climate legislation passed under the Biden administration. It’s quite the tone shift for a company that has a well-documented history of sowing doubt about the dangers of global warming. Listen now, and subscribe on Apple,  Spotify, or YouTube to get new episodes of Zero every Thursday. 

Explore further:

• Past episode about what’s at stake at COP29 in the aftermath of President Trump’s election
• Past episode about the infamous fossil fuel lobbyist Don Pearlman and his role in the COP process
• Past episode with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on why its green goals are good for business

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks to Kevin Crowley, Jen Dlouhy, Siobhan Wagner, Aaron Rutkoff, Jessica Beck and Ethan Steinberg. Thanks also to the Atlantic Council, the International Chamber of Commerce and Uve Sabirowsky. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Zero is in Baku, Azerbaijan, where delegates and heads of state from around the world have gathered for COP29.  Can a petrostate make a summit on decarbonization a success? And how much will the election of President Trump damage the US’s credibility on climate– and set negotiations back? Akshat Rathi tells producer Mythili Rao what’s in store in the two weeks ahead, and COP29 President Mukhtar Babyaev explains how Azerbaijan is trying to make the summit a success, despite concerns that NGOs and protesters will have limited access to the proceedings. Plus, Columbia University’s Jason Bordoff explains how the US’s role in climate diplomacy is about to change.

Explore further:

• Past episode with Avinash Persaud about the big fights about finance expected at this COP
• Past episode about a play dramatizing COP3, the 1997 Kyoto summit
• Past episode about the achievements of COP28 in Dubai

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Siobhan Wagner, Blake Maples, and Ethan Steinberg. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Donald Trump’s re-election as the US president drastically changes the climate and energy equation—in the US and around the world. This week, Akshat Rathi speaks with California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna about what Americans can do to sustain action on climate and clean energy. He also talks to Columbia University’s Jason Bordoff about how much Trump could boost fossil fuels.

Explore further:

• Past episode about President Trump’s climate plans
• Past episode about the fights over money brewing at COP29
• Past episode with Colombia’s environment minister Susana Muhamad about fossil fuel nonproliferation

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks to Siobhan Wagner, Monique Mulima, Ethan Steinberg, Mohsis Andam and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Be in the know this election with Bloomberg Podcasts. Follow Bloomberg News Now for up-to-the minute election results, all night long. And go deeper with The Big Take podcast, featuring in-depth global analysis of the US election every day this week. 

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In fractured times, what does it take to reach agreement? That’s the question writers Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson set out to explore in a play about the drama of climate negotiations. Kyoto, which ran at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon this summer, tells the story of the 1997 Kyoto Summit as seen through the eyes of Don Pearlman, a notorious fossil fuel lobbyist and chain-smoking lawyer dubbed “the high priest of the Carbon Club” by der Speigel. Actor Stephen Kunken, who plays Pearlman, tells Akshat Rathi why he was drawn to the character, and what Kyoto can teach us about how agreement is achieved.  This episode first ran in July 2024. 

Explore further:

• Past episode with Al Gore about breaking the petrostates stranglehold on climate progress
• Past episode about climate change storytelling with Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Ministry for the Future
• Past episode with Extrapolations writer and executive producer Dorothy Fortenberry about the growing demand for climate stories

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Alicia Clanton, Anna Mazarakis, and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Started as a battery company in the 1990s in Shenzhen, BYD is now one of the best-selling EV brands in the world. Once mocked by Elon Musk, the company’s startling growth made it a global player and has sparked tariffs in the US and EU. In this episode of the Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Gabrielle Copolla and Danny Lee about the company’s aggressive expansion and what it means for the global auto market.

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As Republican and Democratic canvassers make their final push to get out the US vote, the famed tech investor Vinod Khosla has been making the case for Vice President Kamala Harris with a very specific audience in mind: Elon Musk. On the social media platform owned by his fellow billionaire, Khosla has pressed the case in a series of X posts that former President Donald Trump is the wrong candidate for the future of the planet. Although Khosla is a former Republican, he says in an interview that he will be voting for Harris. But he doesn’t expect tech investors to see much fallout no matter who wins. “I don't think there'll be any difference in policy between the two when it comes to tech.”

Explore further:

• Past episode with Liam Denning on whether Tesla is on the road to irrelevance
• Past episode with Jen Dlouhy about how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s climate plans differ
• Past episode with Bill Gates about why he is investing into nuclear power 

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. This episode was mixed by Blake Maples. Special thanks to Siobhan Wagner, Jessica Beck, Ethan Steinberg, Monique Mulima, Angel Recio, Michelle Ma and Biz Carson. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Electric vehicle sales have hit the brakes in Europe and the US in recent months, as cost-conscious drivers have opted for cars with exhaust pipes instead. Bucking the trend is ride-sharing giant Uber, which is not only adding zero emission models to its fleet, but also lobbying regulators to demand more EVs on the road. On Zero, Dara Khosrowshahi discusses the company’s short and long-term green goals, and tells Akshat Rathi why he believes electric cars are good for business – not just for the environment. He also discusses autonomous cars, flying taxis, carbon accounting and what a just transition would look like for the company’s workforce. 

Explore further:

• Past episode about the climate case for flying cars
• Past episode with Scottish Power CEO Keith Anderson about what the unstoppable march towards electrification means for the power grid
• Past Big Take episode about flying taxis 
• Bloomberg News investigation into how Uber and Lyft used a loophole to deny drivers pay

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Aaron Rutkoff, Siobhan Wagner, Ethan Steinberg, and Monique Mulima. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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As Florida reels from the impact of Hurricane Milton, some Wall Street investors appear to be on track to profit from catastrophe bonds tied to the storm’s outcome. Cat bonds are a specialized insurance tool that can help people who've lost their homes find money to rebuild– or deliver big profits to investors who are willing to gamble on big natural disasters. As Bloomberg’s Gautam Naik has reported, last year cat bonds were the most profitable strategy for hedge funds. Naik tells Akshat Rathi about how these financial instruments differ from ordinary insurance, and why they have become an appealing proposition for climate vulnerable nations desperate for any kind of help they can get.

Explore further:

• Read the Big Take story on how catastrophe bonds are helping Florida but not Jamaica
• Past episode about compound climate impacts with Texas Tech University professor Katharine Hayhoe
• Past episode with Avinash Persaud, special adviser on climate change for the Inter-American Development Bank, about the fight brewing over what money richer nations will pay to help poorer nations face climate change

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Aaron Rutkoff, Siobhan Wagner, Jim Wyss, Jessica Beck, Ethan Steinberg, and Monique Mulima. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Next month, when delegates from around the world meet in Baku, Azerbaijan at COP29, the biggest questions on the table will have to do with money. Can rich nations find a way to meet developing countries’ demand for up to $1 trillion each year in climate finance? Avinash Persaud, special adviser on climate change for the Inter-American Development Bank, has spent his career looking for ways to make global markets work to unlock climate financing. He says the biggest challenges arise from a simple reality: “The people who benefit and the people who pay are different.” Persaud tells Akshat Rathi why he believes climate change is an “uninsurable” event, and discusses the kinds of financial instruments and commitments that can help poorer countries contribute to the energy transition and adapt to a warmer world.   

Explore further:

• Previous episode with Avinash Persaud about pressuring the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to accelerate the roll-out of clean technologies in developing countries
• Past episode about the significance of the COP28 text  
• Past episode with African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina about financial instruments the bank is using to encourage investors to fund green development projects

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Siobhan Wagner and Monique Mulima. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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What if major economies all just agreed to quit fossil fuels  — together? To date, 13 countries have signed a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty. The biggest is Colombia, which has a $40 billion economic transition plan to build up green sectors and replace oil and gas revenue. Now Colombia is hoping to recruit other large economies to follow suit. 

During a conversation at Climate Week in New York, Akshat Rathi sat down with Colombia’s environment minister, Susana Muhamad, and Brazil's chief climate negotiator, Liliam Chagas, to talk about what it will take for more nations to combat climate change. Brazil has not joined the treaty, yet, but as the designated host of COP30 in 2025, the country has signaled that it, too, wants to be a leader on climate change. 

Explore further:

• Past episode about what Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are planning to do when it comes to climate
• Past episode with Reclaim Finance’s Lucie Pinson about how to get banks to stop investing in fossil fuel projects 
• Past episode about the significance of COP28’s resolution to transition away from fossil fuels

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Matthew Griffin. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.