Tell us, which stories should we be watching in 2024?

It's political; it's national; it's systemic.

This, as the new year news cycle kept telling us, is a year of elections. Mexico, USA, Britain, the EU, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh. Taiwan, if you’re free to say so. Brazil, if you include important municipal votes. And many more. This matters for all the reasons I’ve written about in previous Guffo Scorbutico posts: because the climate is now in its political phase. We’re working out how we shift our economies.

Previously it was about commitments, about processes and institutions and science. Its main public impact was mood affiliation: is it your kind of issue, or not? Do you have blue hair or a pick up truck full of beefburgers? Do you like protesting or glueing yourself to art/infrastructure? What gets you laid with fellow travellers? Do you enjoy talking about doom or sacrifice?

Now things are different. Those commitments to net zero and phasing things out in favour of other things are real. Governments and leaders have to find a way. These all involve systemic shifts in all aspects of life and the economy, balancing interests and risks and opportunities. The decisions that are being made are not the domain of a bunch of nameless people in a COP meeting room, but are rooted in national politics.

How does an advanced economy shift from fossil fuel underpinnings to clean energy without destroying its citizens’ hopes and expectations of prosperity? How does a developing country square decarbonisation with much-needed economic growth? How do oil and gas producers shift their economies from the industry that has filled their coffers for decades? How fast should change happen?

Nearly every political issue now has a climate tinge. Energy? Investment? Transport? All obvious. Financial regulation? What about education? Yes - it’s about equipping kids with the skills that will fit a massively different economy. Land use, farming, pensions. Holidays.

Something similar has happened in journalism. Newsrooms used to have a climate correspondent who tracked the science and processes and institutions. Now? They still need somebody to do that, but climate is part of nearly every story, from the business pages to household finances to local politics. Everybody is a climate journalist of sorts, just as all journalism should be underpinned by an understanding of business and economics (fat chance, all you literature graduates).

This is all top of mind for me because I’ve been a bit busy over the last three months as the writer/editor of the World Resources Institute’s Stories To Watch 2024 presentation. Here’s the final product:

TLDR: climate action now depends on systems change, and that translates to national politics and the threat of a backlash. Two systems that need changing are food and land use, and energy (specifically the grids). And as we face the impacts of climate action we cannot forget the need for adaptation - in this case to deal with the growing and still-invisible impact of heat.

The end result looks great and is chock full of content (and the imprint of my sweat and tears). I’m particularly proud that this also marks an important departure for WRI, in that it explicitly acknowledges the political side of the challenge that we all face.

(Me and the WRI gang during filming in DC.)

That’s it for now; I’m still lying down in a darkened room after three months of solid work, but want to get back to writing soon. Have a great 2024, and don’t forget to vote.