Thomas Hale

Motherfucking wind farms…

Professor @thomasnhale.bsky.social speaks to @democracydiff.bsky.social on short-termism, long Problems and climate change. 🌎👇

Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump.

Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.

Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:

Episode 3 is now live!

Keith talks with Tom Hale (@thomasnhale.bsky.social), Professor of Public Policy at @ox.ac.uk and the co-lead of the #ClimatePolicyHub and @netzerotracker.bsky.social. They dive into climate change, Tom’s new book, and more.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts! 🌏

❝UN80 should help solve long-term problems before they become irreversible catastrophes - Geneva Solutions As a cash-strapped UN rushes to come up with a reform plan to carry on its missions with fewer resources, it risks settling for quick fixes that will fail to address long-term challenges and only push...

#UN80 will fail to deliver results unless it makes the UN fit for a world of #LongProblems, write @adamdaygeneva.bsky.social and Daouia Chalali genevasolutions.news/global-news/...

Professor Thomas Hale - Tracking net zero commitments Thomas Hale, Professor in Public Policy (Global Public Policy) at the Blavatnik School of Government, talks about his career and the importance of monitoring global climate targets.

🌍 | Thomas Hale, Professor in Public Policy @blavatnikschool.bsky.social‬, leads initiatives to monitor global climate targets and net zero commitments.

Learn more about his career ⬇️
www.ox.ac.uk/climate-and-...

#NetZeroWeek | #OxfordClimate

USAID served for decades as a vehicle for both US soft power and foreign aid. Within the first days of the Trump administration, the agency was effectively closed, its staff told to go home and its funding frozen. It is impossible to understand the demise of USAID without understanding the broader contours of American governance during the early days of the second Trump administration. The agency was the victim of online conspiracy theories and suspicion of state institutions that shape Trump's populist movement, falsely accused of criminality and corruption. Its elimination violated traditional understandings of the separation of powers, testing an expansive novel theory of presidential authority. It was underpinned not just by spending changes, but by the mass purging of government officials by a entity led by Elon Musk. The end result is both to weaken US administrative capacity and its credibility on the international stage, as well leading to thousands and potentially millions of the world's most vulnerable people to face disease, disaster, and death.

Musk said USAID was wasteful. A new review published int he Lancet estimated it saved more than 90 million lives over 20 years, and that shutting it will cause 14 million unnecessary deaths over the next five years.
Open access link to my paper on USAID
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

We argue that China's transition will hit a wall unless it 1) makes a serious plan for a just transition domestically, 2) has a more effective long-term strategy for how to operate as an electro superpower

China's astounding ability to build and deploy renewables, batteries, and EVs is perhaps the brightest spark in the global fight against climate change.

But @yixiansun.bsky.social and I ask what would it really take for China to lead www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/02/07/2...

The new bill in Congress puts a new tax on wind and solar. They’re taxing clean energy to give your money to billionaires.

The pursuit of 1.5°C endures as a legal and ethical imperative in a changing world As the world nears 1.5°C of global warming, near-term emissions reductions and adequate adaptation become ever more important to ensure a safe and livable planet for present and future generations

Important article from @joerirogelj.bsky.social and Lavanya Rajamani. As the world warms toward and past 1.5C, the target retains important legal and ethical (and, I would add, political) valence www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Heywood Fellowship The Heywood Fellowship is a visiting fellowship created in memory of Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary from 2012 to 2018. The purpose is to give a UK Civil Service Permanent Secretary the opportunity…

How can democracies think long-term?

The Heywood Fellowship team says the UK is being outpaced – and is building a plan for action:
🧬 Diagnosis
🎯 Objectives
🧭 Big bets
🔀 Trade-offs

Learn more about their call for a long-term national strategy + Spain’s example ➡️

NEW: UK climate advisers now "more optimistic" net-zero goals can be met

🎯Net-zero "possible" + "good for economy"
📉CO2 halved vs 1990
📈More "credible" policies
🚘🏡EV/heat pumps soaring
But…
⚡"Critical" to cut power prices
✈️Flight CO2 "risk"

www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/9

Interesting insight from Khalid Waleed at SGAIN conference at Univerisity of Bath: huge growth of household solar in Pakistan (made possible by cheap panels from China) is reducing demand for grid power and turning Chinese-backed coal plants in Pakistan into stranded assets sgain.org

Latest later from #cop30 presidency focuses on the Action Agenda, calling on all sectors of society to pitch in to a work programme with 30 focus areas across 6 themes cop30.br/en/brazilian... Ambitious scope, less clarity on “how”

Buried the lede: "There is no suggestion the academic, who is also a professor at Oxford University, has done anything wrong."

YouTube video by TEDx Talks Climate Change and National Security | Josh Busby | TEDxSouth Congress

I have a new TEDx talk on why climate change is a national security risk. It might provide some helpful points for public audiences. It builds upon my 20 years of scholarship and policy work in this space. #EnergySky www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ne...

Numbers tell one story about climate change. People tell another. — Harvard Gazette Policy expert Dustin Tingley studies transition to renewable energy, knows from work, life how economic shifts rattle through communities.

Wonderful profile on Weatherhead faculty associate Dustin Tingley—including his work on climate change and what drove him to study people’s stories to give shape to the data. loom.ly/qGoCAA4

A New Grand Theory of Why Decarbonization Is So Hard Podcast Episode · Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins · 2025-06-11 · 1h 16m

Level unlocked! I'm on this week's ep of Shift Key w/ the inimitable @jessedjenkins.com & @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social to talk about my forthcoming book. Check it out!
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/s...

🙌

New study adding further evidence that the main #barriers to #climate action are political, not technical, from our @ndcaspects.bsky.social by @thisislauri.bsky.social @harrovanasselt.bsky.social

I just published an explainer on aerosols and their role in the climate that I've been working on for the past few months! It includes both how aerosols work, how emissions have changed, and how thats driven recent warming: www.carbonbrief.org/...

How smuggled US fuel funds Mexico’s cartels Sophisticated criminal networks are illegally importing huge volumes of fuel — and piling pressure on Mexico’s president

A great example of where stronger cliamte poicy could drive law and order ig.ft.com/mexico-fuel-...

PhD position on #climate #environment #young people #politics at Dublin City University working w/ the great @diarmuidtorney.bsky.social! Spread the word
@fgenovese.bsky.social @isaess.bsky.social @janinagrabs.bsky.social @thomasnhale.bsky.social

diarmuidtorneyorg.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

Episode 11: How to Solve Long Problems Global Conversations with Global Leaders - Intesa Sanpaolo On Air · Episode

Prof @thomasnhale.bsky.social‬ joins Prof Rupert Younger to discuss his book 'Long Problems: Climate Change and the Challenge of Governing Across Time' – and how governments are responding to the challenges of globalisation and interdependence. 🌏

Listen here 👇

Long Problems Seminar organized by AIRE with Thomas Hale (University of Oxford)

Looking forward to talking about #LongProblems at @sciencespo.bsky.social tomorrow, June 3rd. Do come along if you're in Paris! www.sciencespo.fr/institut-tra...

This is an absolutely genius take on climate change, feedback loops, and existential politics. I'm going to have nightmares about Harold Lasswell now... chapeau, JF!

Speaking to a packed room at Homerton College in Cambridge, @thomasnhale.bsky.social is offering hope that there are many ways in which we can tackle #LongProblems such as #climatechange

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

@climatehughes.bsky.social @cser.bsky.social

Professor @thomasnhale.bsky.social on the need for stable, ambitious and durable policy in helping us make the change to a net zero world. 👇

A chart shows the top 20 states for operational jobs expected from announced investments in clean energy facilities not yet online. Georgia, Texas, Michigan, South Carolina and Kentucky top the list with more than 10,000 jobs at risk in each state.

Screen capture from Clean Investment Monitor reads "Our analysis highlights the significant role in job creation of the 2,369 new manufacturing, utility-scale clean electricity, and industrial decarbonization facilities that have opened across the US since the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Spurred by $321 billion in company-driven clean investment, those facilities have created nearly 13,000 operational jobs in Texas, more than 12,500 in Georgia, and more than 7,500 in North Carolina and Michigan. Looking ahead, $522 billion of outstanding investment remains to be spent on construction and installation for announced or under-construction facilities. This pipeline includes 2,217 facilities that are expected to generate significant employment opportunities in South Carolina (14,013), Kentucky (11,795), Tennessee (9,632), Ohio (9,622), and North Carolina (9,299)."

Chart shows historical trends from 2020 to Q1 2025 in actual investment in clean energy sectors. Q1 totals: $33 billion in retail related durable goods like EVs and heat pumps, $20 billion in energy and industry, and $14 billion in manufacturing.

Very timely: new Q1 2025 Clean Investment Monitor out today www.cleaninvestmentmonitor.org/reports/q1-2...

Shows a cool half a trillion dollars in announced projects and more than 100,000 jobs across 2,217 facilities currently threatened by potential IRA repeal.