The Big Questions

As 2026 approaches, climate policy looks contradictory: governments pulling back in some places, doubling down in others, and markets charging ahead regardless. Is this chaos, clarity, or a slightly cursed mix of both?
In this episode, we unpack four forces quietly reshaping the climate landscape: regulation shifting from promises to implementation, international cooperation fragmenting into regional blocs, climate damage starting to strain insurance and public finances, and central banks treating climate risk as a core threat to financial stability.
Join David Carlin and Simon Messenger as they map out what this new phase really looks like: less about grand speeches, more about spreadsheets, supply chains, and learning how the global economy adapts to a hotter, riskier world.

After three decades of climate summits, endless negotiations, and carefully worded communiqués, global emissions are still rising.
The question is unavoidable: how can we improve the impact of COPs?
In this episode (and while fully supporting the overall value of COPs), we take a hard look at what’s no longer optimal, from the unanimity rule that gives every nation a veto to the strange taboo of not saying “fossil fuels” out loud.
We explore how the process might actually work better: smaller coalitions, modern voting, and a sharper focus on what really drives emissions.
Join David Carlin and Simon Messenger as they ask what it would take to make global climate diplomacy move at the speed of physics, not politics.

COP30 was billed as the “COP of Truth”: the moment the world would finally stop sketching climate plans and start delivering them. Set in the heart of the Amazon, the summit carried huge symbolic and political weight.
Expectations were high; urgency even higher.
Across two tense weeks, progress did happen: on finance, adaptation, forests, and the new Just Transition Mechanism.
But the headline story was what didn’t make it into the final text: any mention of fossil fuels at all.
After 30 COPs, the world still couldn’t name the main source of emissions, leaving a sense of frustration hanging over an otherwise productive summit.
Join David Carlin and Simon Messenger as they break down what moved forward, what stalled, and what COP30 means for the road to COP31 and for the future of a global process struggling to keep up with a fast-warming planet.

China now dominates the global electric vehicle market, selling more EVs than the U.S. and Europe combined and doing it at record speed.
What began as a niche experiment has snowballed into an industrial powerhouse reshaping how cars are built, priced, and powered.
In this episode, we explore how China pulled ahead: smart industrial policy, full supply-chain integration, lightning-fast manufacturing, and a domestic market hungry for high-tech electric cars.
We look at what this means for Western automakers, global competition, and the new rules of the EV game.
Join David Carlin and Simon Messenger as they ask whether the rest of the world can catch up or if China has already lapped the field in the race to electrify transport.

Electric vehicles aren’t just reshaping the auto industry, they’re reshaping global power. Behind every battery sits a world of contested minerals, fragile supply chains, and geopolitical leverage. This episode dives into the high-stakes race for lithium, cobalt, graphite, and the refining capacity that turns raw rock into the engines of the energy transition.

From China’s dominance in processing to the scramble for new mining frontiers, David and Simon explore whether the world can scale EV production without triggering a resource crunch. They unpack the risks of concentration, the promise of reshoring, and the wildcard technologies that could flip the map overnight.

Join David Carlin and Simon Messenger as they trace the winners, losers, and looming tensions in the global EV supply chain and ask whether the road to electrification is paved with opportunity, instability, or both.