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 new play about the drama of climate negotiations. Kyoto, now running at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon, 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.   

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 zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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 new play about the drama of climate negotiations. Kyoto, now running at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon, 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.   
Explore further:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/1d459b13-f97b-4cc2-b259-b0d0009a1a13">Al Gore about breaking the petrostates stranglehold on climate progress</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode about <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/be7c9cfa-35eb-420d-a404-b04400b87581">climate change storytelling with Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Ministry for the Future</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/dbda2559-63e7-4197-baa4-b05f008c022f">Extrapolations writer and executive producer Dorothy Fortenberry about the growing demand for climate stories</a></li>
</ul>
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 zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

Zero is about the tactics and technologies taking us to a world of zero emissions. Each week Bloomberg’s award-winning reporter Akshat Rathi talks to the people tackling climate change – a venture capitalist hunting for the best cleantech investment, scientists starting companies, politicians who have successfully created climate laws, and CEOs who have completely transformed their businesses. The road to zero emissions has many paths and everyone’s got an opinion about the best route. Listen in.

Zero: The Climate Race

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An oil lobbyist gets the Shakespearean treatment in ‘Kyoto’

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/d65860d5-e4b3-43f2-b524-b1a800ad4f78/transcript

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 zeropod@bloomberg.net 

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 zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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 &mdash; from energy-poor regions in the Global South, to energy-hungry data centres in rich countries.
Bottlenecks series:
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-12-15/electricity-is-holding-back-growth-across-the-global-economy">Electricity Is Now Holding Back Growth Across the Global Economy</a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-bottlenecks-gas-turbines/">AI-Driven Demand for Gas Turbines Risks a New Energy Crunch</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-bottlenecks-blackouts-grid-stability-solar-wind/">The Fix for Solar Power Blackouts Is Already Here</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-bottlenecks-engineering-jobs/">There Aren&rsquo;t Enough Engineers to Meet World&rsquo;s Growing Hunger for Power</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-bottlenecks-transformers/">The One Device Throttling the World&rsquo;s Electrified Future</a></li>
</ul>
Other related stories
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-09/bloomberg-green-zero-podcast-octopus-ceo-greg-jackson">Renewables Are Cheap. Why Aren&rsquo;t People Seeing Their Bills Fall?</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-25/mini-grid-husk-power-systems-seeks-400-million-plans-revenue-surge?sref=jjXJRDFv">Biggest Mini-Grid Firm Seeks $400 Million, Plans Revenue Surge</a></li>
</ul>
Q&amp;A: Got a question for Akshat and the Bloomberg Green team that you'd like to hear answered on Zero? Email us at <a href="mailto:zeropod@bloomberg.net">zeropod@bloomberg.net</a>&nbsp;
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 zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

Electricity is now holding back growth across the global economy

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2e882e0c-3cad-4990-875a-b3e700a066fa/transcript

What is the best way to tell a climate story? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi speaks with Booker Prize-winning novelist George Saunders. His new novel Vigil is an exploration of guilt, told on the deathbed of an oil executive haunted by ghosts.

Rathi asks Saunders what he learned about climate change, his thoughts on whether AI complements or compromises human creativity, and why literature still matters in the era of TikTok.

Explore further:
In ‘Vigil,’ George Saunders Asks: Can An Oil CEO Repent? — Bloomberg
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable — Amitav Ghosh

Other episodes in the Imagine series:
Building Monuments to the End of Oil — Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri
Abundance or Adequacy? Search for Better Climate Solutions — Sci-fi bestseller Kim Stanley Robinson

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Gautam Naik, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

What is the best way to tell a climate story? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi speaks with Booker Prize-winning novelist George Saunders. His new novel Vigil is an exploration of guilt, told on the deathbed of an oil executive haunted by ghosts.
Rathi asks Saunders what he learned about climate change, his thoughts on whether AI complements or compromises human creativity, and why literature still matters in the era of TikTok.
Explore further:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-23/an-oil-ceo-s-reckoning-is-at-the-heart-of-george-saunders-vigil">In &lsquo;Vigil,&rsquo; George Saunders Asks: Can An Oil CEO Repent?</a> &mdash; Bloomberg</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eFT_eb_jRk">The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable</a> &mdash; Amitav Ghosh</li>
</ul>
Other episodes in the Imagine series:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://omny.fm/shows/zero/building-monuments-to-the-end-of-oil">Building Monuments to the End of Oil</a> &mdash; Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri</li>
<li><a href="https://omny.fm/shows/zero/abundance-adequacy-and-the-hunt-for-better-climate-solutions">Abundance or Adequacy? Search for Better Climate Solutions</a> &mdash; Sci-fi bestseller Kim Stanley Robinson</li>
</ul>
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Gautam Naik, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Sharon Chen and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

George Saunders goes inside the mind of a climate denier: Imagine series

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1cff1043-b0d8-49ab-b5ca-b3e000fe5219/transcript

Decarbonizing energy is just one part of the climate story. The other half is electrifying as much as possible. That is why electrification, not decarbonization, is likely going to be the most important climate story of 2026.

Kingsmill Bond is a strategist at thinktank Ember and the author of a paper called the Electrotech Revolution. This week on Zero, Bond tells Akshat Rathi why he believes electrification is inevitable, and what happens to those that are left behind.

Explore further:
India Is Electrifying Faster Than China Using Cheap Green Tech
Read Ember's Electric Revolution report.
Read Ember's analysis of India's electrification.
Read Bloomberg's Bottlenecks series.

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 zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

Decarbonizing energy is just one part of the climate story. The other half is electrifying as much as possible. That is why electrification, not decarbonization, is likely going to be the most important climate story of 2026.
Kingsmill Bond is a strategist at thinktank Ember and the author of a paper called the Electrotech Revolution. This week on Zero, Bond tells Akshat Rathi why he believes electrification is inevitable, and what happens to those that are left behind.
Explore further:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-22/india-is-electrifying-faster-than-china-using-cheap-green-tech">India Is Electrifying Faster Than China Using Cheap Green Tech</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Read Ember's Electric Revolution&nbsp;<a href="https://www.electrotech-revolution.com/p/the-electrotech-revolution">report</a>.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Read Ember's <a href="https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-electrotech-fast-track-where-china-built-on-coal-india-is-building-on-sun/">analysis</a> of India's electrification.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Read Bloomberg's <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/bottlenecks?sref=jjXJRDFv">Bottlenecks series</a>.</li>
</ul>
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 zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

Electrification – not decarbonization – is the climate story of 2026

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/fabc5bb0-d3b0-488b-9190-b3d900d96118/transcript

An oil lobbyist gets the Shakespearean treatment in ‘Kyoto’

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