New(ish) year, new formats
You get an opportunity!
Happy Lunar New Year to all those who celebrate! And happy Friday to the rest of us.
I’m switching up the format of this newsletter, to better reflect and my mission to grow a community of engaged discussion at the nexus of climate, security, geopolitics and finance. Thanks to the number of you who offered feedback and suggestions, they’ve been deeply appreciated.
You’ll get a rotation of content roughly twice a month so your inbox isn’t spammed. An extra “emergency post” if there is something truly pressing / my football team win the Premier League.
Starting from this issue: a biweekly roundup of five interesting things (“What caught my eye”) in the climate security space that are worth noting for risk practitioners and investors of different stripes
Shorter-format analysis and commentary on timely issues, around once a month.
Interviews and guest posts from a range of practitioners working and growing the space, around once a month.
And perhaps more…
I’m keeping everything free for now to you can continue to enjoy the content and hear from other members of the community (hooray!).
In turn, I am keen to hear what’s top of mind for you and what or who you’d like to see on this newsletter.
And if you’d like to be a guest on Securing our Climate, please reach out! More people should hear our perspectives and the exciting things we’re building.
Thank you for your ongoing readership and passion for this space. May you have a prosperous and healthy new year. 恭喜發財!
5 things which caught my eye
H/t to Erin Sikorsky at the Center for Climate and Security for this: a suspected Chinese online influence campaign posed as a (real) Spanish human rights group protesting about the big floods in Valencia and beyond last October to call for the removal of the Spanish government. Using climate disinfo to attempt to sow political discord in action - so far the Sanchez government hasn’t collapsed.
Nuclear is still expensive! As we’re talking national energy security and AI leadership, nuclear has become a popular topic again. A dose of reality: the planned Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk has now nearly doubled in estimated cost to £40bn. The government is trying to soft-roll the impact of the ballooning costs but it’s clear that adding more nuclear into the resilience mix ain’t gonna be cheap (baseload or marginal).
Amid the perceived doom and gloom about climate from the States, a reminder - and maybe a pivot for some of us - that the opportunities are global. India is one of the most climate vulnerable countries and also a premier emerging market (it forms one letter out of BRICS). A UAE and Gates Foundation backed project is deploying AI-powered weather forecasting to farmers, reducing losses and hence debt significantly. I think the challenge is often less about the appeal of adaptation projects rather than the more conventional challenge of deploying capital into, and within, emerging markets. Solve the latter and the former can flow.
Fiji gets it, for them, climate is inherently geopolitical and central to regional stability in the Pacific. There’ll be, sadly, “more Fijis” (The Australian, paywall)
Not so much a news item but for the Aussies out there tracking climate security, a national defence climate risk assessment remains unpublished, as we are nearing the end of the current government term. The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, formed of top leaders in defence, policy, business and climate science leaders, ably presented a clear vision with tangible recommendations last year.