An Orderly Chaotic World
Some of the most fascinating explanations are often found in the etymology of a word. When Jean Baptiste van Helmont first coined the word “gas” in the 17th century, he took it from &chi...
Europe doesn’t recycle its e-waste, it exports the problem
E-waste is not just a recycling problem. It is a consumption problem, a governance problem, and ultimately a responsibility problem that Europe quietly and efficiently outsources. Not into statistic...
Quality & Integrity: What are Developers really thinking about?
This article is part of the thematic channel The Carbon Observer. Subscribe to the newsletter or update your preferences. I recently published Part I of this short series on the words “qualit...
Epic Gamble: The Renewed Israel-US Attack on Iran and Its Wider Impacts
It was a shock but not much of a surprise when Israeli and US air forces unloaded munitions on targets in Iran on Saturday, 28 February 2026. The buildup of US forces in the immediate vicinity ...
The Board of Whatever
World diplomacy reduced to a curtain-raiser. That's how one could sum up the first meeting of Donald J. Trump's Board of Peace, held on Thursday, February 19, at the Donald J. Trump United States of...
Investing in resilience as a development strategy
Stockholm Resilience Centre’s publications are always worth a careful reading. The latest report, “Resilience Science Must-Knows”, focuses on a single concept, widely debated in a ...
The OECD Reshapes the Global Water Agenda: What Is Its Legitimacy?
From the end of World War II, the United Nations and Bretton Woods Institutions dominated the world water order. They facilitated funding for water infrastructure, and they defined norms, institutio...
Integrity and Quality: The Words That Now Decide Prices in Carbon Markets
This article is part of the thematic channel The Carbon Observer. Subscribe to the newsletter or update your preferences. What do integrity and quality really mean? I have my own interpretatio...
Introducing: The Carbon Observer
This article is part of the thematic channel The Carbon Observer. Subscribe to the newsletter or update your preferences. The CO₂ market has moved into a new phase: no longer a business for ...
The return of carbon diplomacy
This article is part of the thematic channel The Carbon Observer. Subscribe to the newsletter or update your preferences. Over the past year, two political developments have profoundly affecte...
Why the Citizens Energy Package is the key to Europe’s energy autonomy
Europe currently stands at a crossroads. It must address several imperatives: ensuring energy independence, security, and access to affordable, clean renewable energy. Europe’s last energy cri...
Anthrofood 2050: Food Anthropology Enters the Public Arena with an Eye to the Future
It is rare for the anthropological community to choose, with a collective voice, to occupy the public square to intervene in systemic emergencies, abandoning the comfortable detachment of the observ...
Will the Board of Peace replace part of the United Nations?
Is Donald Trump creating a new international organisation in his own image, as an alternative to the United Nations? Over the past few days, the US president has sent invitations to a number of worl...
Crisis
Misinformation, social polarisation, extreme weather events, inequality, erosion of human rights, armed conflicts, pollution. According to the highly influential analysis of systemic risks publ...
My Rivers
My childhood memories are tied not only to strolls under the porticoes of Saronno, a small town in the Milanese hinterland, but also to the local stream, the Lura. Largely covered over, the peculiar...
Shared power, shared security: Nordic lessons for Europe’s energy resilience
Renewables are transforming Europe’s energy landscape, but the rapid green transition is testing grid stability. The Iberian blackout exposed the risks of ambition outpacing the system’s...
Trump's energy imperialism is a danger to the future of the human species
Oil's role in the US military action in Venezuela is first and foremost made clear by figures: the world's leading oil producer has attacked the country with the world's largest oil reserves. But it...
New Nightmare on Elm Street: The “Donroe Doctrine” and Its Implications
In the 1984 slasher film, Nightmare on Elm Street, US Midwestern teenagers fall prey to the evil Freddy Krueger, who after invading the teenagers’ dream worlds turns their dreams of disme...
7 Transition Economy Stories to Follow in 2026
The year 2026 is shaping up to be a year of transition, in which major economic shifts will enter a harsher and less ideological phase. Between technology, climate, raw materials and finance, the sy...
The Paris Climate Agreement marks its first ten years
Ten years ago, the Paris Agreement united the world in the fight against climate change at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference. With this historic agreement, 195 countries pledged to t...