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David Fickling

David Fickling

The Japan News

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An OPEC for solar power isn’t going to work

20.12.2024 30

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Plastics failure is a canary in the climate coal mine

You might have missed it amid the noise of the Trump transition and the sound of the European and Japanese auto industries collapsing. But the failure...

05.12.2024 20

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Peak beef could already be here

If you want to turn climate policy into a bitter culture war, there are few more effective weapons than a Big Mac. On one side, environmentalists will...

27.11.2024 20

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Clean power must offer more hope to beat fossil fuels

You can regard the depressing denouement of the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan at the weekend as a sort of diplomatic echo of the U.S....

26.11.2024 20

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Gas got America off coal. Now, it's coming for Asia's oil.

To many in the petroleum industry, natural gas is the unsung hero of the energy transition. It may not be a clean fuel, but it’s nowhere near as...

26.11.2024 20

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Japan hopes electric cars are just a bad dream

20.10.2024 90

The Japan Times

David Fickling

EV charging faces deeper problems than we realize

When’s the last time you visited a gas station that sold nothing but gas? If the answer is "never,” you’ve hit on one of the key problems for...

18.09.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

A flood of hydro is washing coal from China's grid

Summer rains are leaving China sodden. That’s pushing coal underwater. After several years of drought, rainfall has been lashing the country this...

06.09.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

An activist investor could green Japan for $700 million

Billionaires with an eye on their legacy rarely do things on a small scale. Take Australia’s fifth-richest person, Mike Cannon-Brookes. The...

03.09.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Olympics host cities don’t belong on a warming planet

What’s the biggest event at the Olympic Games? There’s a good case that it’s not running, or swimming, or gymnastics, but the celebration of...

31.07.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

The great climate change wealth transfer is here

There has rarely been a better time to be a seller of fossil fuels — nor a worse time to be exposed to their effects. Thanks to resilient crude...

22.07.2024 90

The Japan Times

David Fickling

India’s scorching heat is making it unlivable

It can often seem a triumph that India exists at all. By some miracle of human ingenuity and industry, a land area barely bigger than Argentina with...

01.07.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

America is joining its frenemies back in the fossil fuel club

Geography, it’s often said, is destiny. The paths nations follow though history are written like a script on the patterns of their rocks, rivers,...

30.05.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

The dog ate Japan’s plan to phase out coal power

With blistering speed, the rich countries that built their wealth on coal-powered industrialization are turning their backs on dirty energy. Coal...

03.05.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Plastic pollution is a growing problem. Here are some ideas on how to solve it.

If you think humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels is hard to shake, it’s nothing compared to the strength of our plastics habit. In rich...

01.05.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

An EV trade war with China would be an own goal for carmakers

A nasty thing about waging war is that your enemies have a habit of fighting back. That is a lesson German Chancellor Olaf Scholz would do well to...

15.04.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

India’s most innovative cities are running out of water

At the time Egypt’s pyramids were being constructed, one of the cradles of global civilization grew up in the Indus Valley around the borders of...

02.04.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

China's Shein and Temu are driving oil, not Toyota and GM

Hearing overseas oil executives talk, you would think that Chinese drivers and air passengers were coming to the rescue of an oil market looking for...

01.04.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Plastic bag bans have failed in every way except one

Remember a few years ago, when lots of places decided to ban plastic bags? Remember how we all stopped using them? Yeah, me neither. Far from reducing...

31.01.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Lithium’s promised land looks more like the old country

Once upon a time, the world didn’t care much about lithium. A decade after Sony developed lithium-ion batteries in 1991, the rise of smartphones and...

09.01.2024 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

Democracy and climate politics are set to collide next year

As the dust settles on the COP28 climate summit that recently concluded in Dubai, a sobering reality is looming. After the legalistic niceties of...

20.12.2023 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

COP28 like a trade show? That’s not a bad thing.

There is a common lament echoing through the halls of Expo City Dubai, the 400-hectare conference venue where the COP28 climate conference is being...

11.12.2023 70

The Japan Times

David Fickling

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