The One Big Beautiful Bill Act cuts almost $500 billion in US clean-energy spending, just as the country was starting to get serious about its climate goals. Some say the country is acting like a petrostate, waging war against clean energy. Others are more sanguine and believe that the US will stay the course in the long term. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi is joined by Jigar Shah, a clean energy expert and former head of the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, to make sense of the bill’s impacts, and whether it’s as bad for climate as it seems.

Explore more:
Trump’s Tax Bill: A Guide to the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Congress Passed - Bloomberg
Who Won and Lost in Trump’s Tax Bill
Jigar Shah to Start Firm Advising Green Startups After DOE Run - Bloomberg
Mont Blanc Mountain Climbing Under Threat Amid Global Warming - Bloomberg

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to: Jessica  Beck, Eleanor Harrison-Dengate, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam and Siobhan Wagner. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act cuts almost $500 billion in US clean-energy spending, just as the country was starting to get serious about its climate goals. Some say the country is acting like a petrostate, waging war against clean energy. Others are more sanguine and believe that the US will stay the course in the long term. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi is joined by Jigar Shah, a clean energy expert and former head of the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, to make sense of the bill&rsquo;s impacts, and whether it&rsquo;s as bad for climate as it seems.
Explore more:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-03/trump-s-tax-bill-a-guide-to-the-big-beautiful-bill-congress-passed">Trump&rsquo;s Tax Bill: A Guide to the &lsquo;Big Beautiful Bill&rsquo; Congress Passed - Bloomberg</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-03/one-big-beautiful-bill-s-winners-and-losers-businesses-immigrants">Who Won and Lost in Trump&rsquo;s Tax Bill</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-29/jigar-shah-to-start-firm-advising-green-startups-after-doe-run">Jigar Shah to Start Firm Advising Green Startups After DOE Run - Bloomberg</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-11-03/mont-blanc-mountain-climbing-under-threat-amid-global-warming">Mont Blanc Mountain Climbing Under Threat Amid Global Warming - Bloomberg</a></li>
</ul>
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to: Jessica&nbsp; Beck, Eleanor Harrison-Dengate, Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam and Siobhan Wagner. 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

Zero

How to fight against Trump’s attack on clean energy

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/cce10e25-9638-4833-b812-b31c010b2bd1/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

How to fight against Trump’s attack on clean energy

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