The Polycrisis
Tim Sahay and Kate Mackenzie on how geopolitics has been driving a quiet revolution in clean tech, and how the energy transition is in turn reshaping world power.
Episodes
15 episodes
08 | Demand Destruction | Techno-optimism?
In this final bonus season episode, Kate and Tim reflect on the morality of focusing on the "co-benefits" of war, and whether they are techno-optimists or techno-pessimists. Hosted by energy and climate finance expert Kate Macken...
07 | Brazil: The next green industrial superpower?
The Polycrisis is sharing some episodes from other podcasts around the world while we develop our next season.This episode is from the Brazilian ClimaInfo podcast ....
06 | The conjuncture of geopolitics, energy and climate
The Polycrisis team’s taking a short break, we’ll be back next week. In the meantime we’re sharing an episode from NuVoices where they interview Kate Mackenzie. NuVoices host Solarina Ho asks K...
05 | Canada gets its China-made EVs
The Polycrisis team’s having a short break, so we’re sharing a couple of episodes from other podcasts that are very relevant to our themes. Chinese EVs are just beginning to arrive in Canada this week; but – as we wrote bac...
04 | Demand Destruction | Smelling the roses in Beijing
US-China relations have evolved because of the Middle East war. Trump recently made the first presidential visit to China in nine years. So what are the implications for energy and international development? And why it's not so much a “Ch...
03 | Demand Destruction | Fossil chaos and electric acceleration
Why exactly is this 2026 energy shock so different from the 1970s & 2022 shocks? Kate and Tim discuss our current energy security landscape, and outline some of the arguments made in their recent
02 | Demand Destruction | OPEC drama kings
Is the UAE's departure from OPEC mostly about Gulf geopolitics and kings defending their regimes, or the outlook for oil demand? There is, as ever, a lot of context required to answer this question.Hosted by energy and climate finance ex...
01 | Demand Destruction | US oil is not winning the Iran war
In this first bonus episode, we discuss why the Middle East war is accelerating the destruction of demand for fossil fuels, and why the US won’t become the new provider of "geopolitically secure” oil and gas.We also argue about whether t...
05 | Electric World Order | The US counterrevolution
Can the US stop the electric wave? In 2022 the US introduced its first ever set of serious climate policies. That took an unprecedented collaboration of racial justice, environment and labour interests. But oil and gas interests fought back qui...
04 | Electric World Order | Manufacturing Chimerica
China didn’t set out to fix climate change. Its production of clean energy and electrification tech is changing the world, but this particular green revolution is a byproduct of China’s economic strategy and its quest for energy independence. T...
03 | Electric World Order | Demand destruction
How is the Middle East war going to change the energy strategies of many countries? Global powers have long relied upon the threat of cutting off fossil energy flows – or the revenues from selling them – to discipline and coerce oth...
02 | Electric World Order | Rest of World
What does the US dollar have to do with energy access in Africa? Mark Blyth explains why countries are so keen to cut back their US dollar dependence; and how that’s connected to the way they get energy. Also, why Germany is afraid ...
01 | Electric World Order | The Quiet Revolution
The second wave of the energy transition is already happening: Since 2022, developing countries have been rapidly ramping up their use of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles. And the subsequent energy crisis of 2026 makes cleaner, ele...
Introducing: Electric World Order | The geopolitics of the energy and technology transition
This first season of The Polycrisis podcast tells the story of the clash between new and old energy regimes.Just like other energy transitions before it, this is a geopolitical story - not a climate one. Developing countries a...