I’m the host of The World.

A few years ago, I covered the Yellow Vest protests in France, where workers rebelled against a fuel tax billed as a green measure. I interviewed protesters at German car plants lamenting the shift to electric vehicles, which reduces the number of jobs. Now, in Britain, I’m watching the same people who once campaigned for Brexit campaign against renewables, which they say have raised energy bills. (There’s something to that; read on.)

Across the West, the climate has become another battleground in the culture wars. That’s one reason why, despite an alarming list of deadly climate disasters around the world, you don’t hear as many politicians talk about the climate anymore. But that doesn’t mean they’re not thinking about it. Today I write about the politics driving a climate change rebrand.

Just call it ‘energy security’

Europe’s hottest summer on record. A collapsing glacier in Nepal. Wildfires and droughts and freakish storms around the world.

That’s what 1.5 degrees Celsius in warming above preindustrial levels looks like. It’s a number I found difficult to wrap my head around until a climate expert explained it to me this way: Imagine your body temperature going up by 1.5 degrees. You feel unwell. Now imagine it rising by 2 degrees — you’re seriously ill.

The planet is unwell. For many, that alone makes the case for aggressively shifting away from fossil fuels to renewables.

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