David Fickling

Rich countries have been left in the dust by China in the clean energy industries that have dominated the past decade or so: solar panels, wind turbines, lithium-ion batteries, and electric vehicles. Still, you might have hoped they’d take the lead in the technologies of the future, such as clean hydrogen.

Another climate conference, another failed climate conference.

The story of the modern Chinese diet is one of scarcity, boom and bust.

There are plenty of sophisticated materials that the world is counting on to limit global warming. Polysilicon for solar panels. Rare-earth magnets for wind turbines. Lithium for electric vehicle batteries. But propane?

Perhaps it’s time to give up on climate?

Only start a fight if you think you can win it.

Whatever happened to the savior of the Amazon?

Silver’s booms and busts are typically turbocharged by excitable investors. Sober industrialists bear their share of responsibility, though.

It took months of diplomatic entreaties, cajoling and threats for the administration of President Donald Trump to get the world to delay a global price on shipping emissions. His rearguard action to prop up the age of oil on the high seas is doomed to fail, however.

Given the ability of the words rare earths to bring the leadership of the world’s largest economy to its knees, it’s tempting to think that establishing a supply chain to produce the minerals outside of China is a challenge on the scale of putting a man on the moon.