Zero: The Climate Race

Societal collapses happen more often than you think, and there’s much we can learn from the past to avoid or, at least, delay another one.
This week’s guest on Zero is Luke Kemp, author of Goliath's Curse, which draws lessons from the rise and fall of societies over 5,000 years of human history. Akshat Rathi asks Luke whether our current moment — with climate change and AI — makes us uniquely vulnerable to societal collapse or more resilient than we might think.
Explore further:
Luke’s book, Goliath’s Curse
The MOROS database
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. 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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Crypto has become increasingly integrated into the financial system, from the use of stablecoins for payments, to the trading of tokenized equities on blockchains, to the adoption of crypto holdings by corporate treasuries. We explore how PNC Bank, one of the first movers in this space, has been expanding access to crypto and the challenges it has had to overcome.
This episode is sponsored by Coinbase.
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In 2024, Ethiopia did something revolutionary. It banned the import of fossil fuel cars and cut tariffs on electric vehicles. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi talks with producer Oscar Boyd and Ethiopia-based EV entrepreneur Yuma Sasaki about the EV boom that ensued and what that tells us about the growth of EVs in rapidly developing countries like Ethiopia.
Read more:
Electric Vehicle Sales Boom as Ethiopia Bans Fossil-Fuel Car Imports
Dodai's website: https://dodai.co
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Fasika Tadesse, Sommer Saadi, Laura Millan, and Sharon Chen. 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.

How can music be used to communicate the climate crisis and its solutions? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi talks with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Julia Wolfe about her recent work, unEarth, which explores climate change and habitat loss through orchestra, voice and poetry. Wolfe discusses how she did her research, captured the clash between humanity and nature, and what the piece means at a time when her home country of the US seems to be moving ever further from climate action.
Listen to unEarth:
If you'd like to listen to the full performance of Julia Wolfe’s unEarth, it will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Thursday, 12 February at 7.30pm UK time, and will be available on BBC Sounds, at least for those here in the UK, for the next month.
Explore further:
Julia Wolfe’s website: https://juliawolfemusic.com/
Past episodes in the Imagine series:
George Saunders on Climate Guilt, AI and Critical Thinking
Kim Stanley Robison on Abundance, Adequacy and Better Climate Futures
Artist Monira Al Qadiri on the End of Oil
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. 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.

Major economies around the world are grappling with electricity grids under stress from equipment bottlenecks and workforce shortages. What can be done to solve it? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi talks with Manoj Sinha, CEO of Husk Power Systems, about distributed energy resources and their potential to bring electricity to where it is needed most — from energy-poor regions in the Global South, to energy-hungry data centres in rich countries.
Bottlenecks series:
Electricity Is Now Holding Back Growth Across the Global Economy

AI-Driven Demand for Gas Turbines Risks a New Energy Crunch
The Fix for Solar Power Blackouts Is Already Here
There Aren’t Enough Engineers to Meet World’s Growing Hunger for Power
The One Device Throttling the World’s Electrified Future
Other related stories
Renewables Are Cheap. Why Aren’t People Seeing Their Bills Fall?
Biggest Mini-Grid Firm Seeks $400 Million, Plans Revenue Surge
Q&A: Got a question for Akshat and the Bloomberg Green team that you'd like to hear answered on Zero? Email us at [email protected]
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Marilen Martin Somer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Laura Millan and Sharon Chen. 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.