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 play about the drama of climate negotiations. Kyoto, which ran at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon this summer, 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. This episode first ran in July 2024.

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.

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Started as a battery company in the 1990s in Shenzhen, BYD is now one of the best-selling EV brands in the world. Once mocked by Elon Musk, the company’s startling growth made it a global player and has sparked tariffs in the US and EU. In this episode of the Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Gabrielle Copolla and Danny Lee about the company’s aggressive expansion and what it means for the global auto market.

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As Republican and Democratic canvassers make their final push to get out the US vote, the famed tech investor Vinod Khosla has been making the case for Vice President Kamala Harris with a very specific audience in mind: Elon Musk. On the social media platform owned by his fellow billionaire, Khosla has pressed the case in a series of X posts that former President Donald Trump is the wrong candidate for the future of the planet. Although Khosla is a former Republican, he says in an interview that he will be voting for Harris. But he doesn’t expect tech investors to see much fallout no matter who wins. “I don't think there'll be any difference in policy between the two when it comes to tech.”

Explore further:

• Past episode with Liam Denning on whether Tesla is on the road to irrelevance
• Past episode with Jen Dlouhy about how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s climate plans differ
• Past episode with Bill Gates about why he is investing into nuclear power

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. This episode was mixed by Blake Maples. Special thanks to Siobhan Wagner, Jessica Beck, Ethan Steinberg, Monique Mulima, Angel Recio, Michelle Ma and Biz Carson. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.