The Science Catalyst: Lene Oddershede and the Long Horizon of Impact
For Lene Oddershede, impact begins long before a technology reaches the market. It begins with the science, institutions and capabilities that make breakthroughs possible in the first place. As Chief Scientific Officer for Planetary Science and Technology at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Oddershede works across a portfolio spanning natural and technical sciences, artificial intelligence, quantum […]
Unstoppable Africa 2026 Puts Ownership at the Center of Africa’s Growth Story
As global supply chains, energy systems and capital flows are reordered, Unstoppable Africa 2026 is advancing a sharper proposition: Africa’s next economic chapter will be defined not simply by growth, but by who owns, finances and captures its value. NEW YORK — Africa no longer needs to make the case that it matters to the […]
Solar Overtakes Coal in China. The Bigger Energy Shift Is Only Beginning.
China has crossed a significant energy milestone: solar power is now the country’s largest source of installed electricity-generating capacity, overtaking coal for the first time. China had 1,288 gigawatts of installed solar capacity at the end of July, narrowly exceeding its 1,285 GW coal fleet, according to National Energy Administration data reported by Reuters. Combined […]
COP17 Put Land on the Economic Agenda. Now Comes the Hard Part.
UNCCD COP17 elevated land restoration, drought resilience and rangelands as economic priorities. But the failure to agree on a global drought framework means the biggest political test now shifts toward COP18 in Egypt. ULAANBAATAR — The most consequential outcome of UNCCD COP17 may be a shift in how governments think about land. Land degradation is […]
ID Genève Co-Founder Nicolas Freudiger Is Betting Luxury’s Future on Circularity
The ID Genève co-founder is testing whether circularity and traceability can become sources of desirability in an industry built on permanence. GENEVA — Nicolas Freudiger does not want sustainability to become another luxury-industry label. He wants it built into the product. As co-founder and CEO of ID Genève, Freudiger is attempting something unusually ambitious in […]
U.S.-Iran Strikes End the Lull. Hormuz Is Again the Escalation Point.
A month-long pause in direct U.S.-Iran military exchanges has ended, exposing the fragility of efforts to contain a six-month conflict that increasingly resembles a war of attrition. U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on August 30. U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces were preparing to use […]
U.S. Treasury Moves to Quantum-Proof the Financial System
New task force elevates quantum readiness from a technology challenge to a financial resilience priority as governments and banks prepare for encryption that may not survive the quantum era. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department is accelerating preparations for a future in which sufficiently powerful quantum computers could undermine the encryption protecting banks, payment systems, […]
Washington’s 65 Billion-Barrel Bet on Venezuela
A sweeping new Venezuela oil deal is giving Washington an unusually influential position in the development of roughly one-fifth of the country’s proven crude reserves. Venezuela’s interim authorities have granted North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, 100-year concessions covering 17 oil fields containing roughly 64 to 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. Under the […]
Nepal’s $5 Billion Disaster Exposes the Scale of the Global Climate Finance Gap
The Himalayan catastrophe could cost Nepal roughly a tenth of its economy, exposing a climate finance gap between the scale of vulnerability and the resources available to countries facing catastrophic losses. Nepal is confronting a reconstruction bill of as much as $5 billion after catastrophic flooding tore through the Himalayan country, destroying communities, damaging critical […]
Australia Is Building a New Pacific Security Architecture. Next Week’s Pacific Islands Forum Will Test Its Limits.
Ahead of next week’s Pacific Islands Forum, Canberra has assembled an increasingly dense network of defence and security agreements across the region. The question is whether Pacific governments can shape that architecture around their own priorities of sovereignty, resilience and shared prosperity. Australia is rapidly reshaping the security map of the Pacific. With particular momentum […]
