Senior Research Fellow @chathamhouse focusing on the geopolitics of climate change and the energy transition. Views my own. https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/chris-aylett Header: 'A List of Antagonisms', Hiba Abdallahhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mykoqggujk2c"US regulators have issued a warning to a nuclear project critical to Donald Trump’s efforts to revive the industry, after a contractor fell into a reactor cavity and a bundle of fuel rods nearly tipped over during refuelling" https://www.ft.com/content/bcc464cc-9d12-4b15-866d-64642de66ca8?syn-25a6b1a6=123 Oct 2026 17:18 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mykoqggujk2chttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mykk2tlfec2f"for decades to come" Would love to read a discourse analysis of how this term is used by government and industry to narrow the range of possible futures for UK fossil fuel production and consumption It appears no fewer than three times in the Jackdaw press release https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jackdaw-gas-field-gets-green-light23 Oct 2026 15:55 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mykk2tlfec2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mykjcw7nz22fOne of the less widely appreciated but most consequential developments of the last few years has been the extensive capture, by Trump-aligned billionaires, of the platforms through which most Americans receive their news https://www.semafor.com/article/10/22/2026/elon-musk-makes-1-billion-investment-in-ellisons-skydance23 Oct 2026 15:41 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mykjcw7nz22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mwdwm3ekvc2bSubsea electricity cables are playing an increasingly important role in European energy security This new book from my colleague Katja is a must-read [contains quote post or other embedded content]25 Sep 2026 14:00 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwdwm3ekvc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mvn2hc7lys2aBrilliant thought experiment from @davidfickling.bsky.social It is rather naive, shall we say, for a government to bank on seaborne gas imports to meet future energy needs, while trade becomes ever more political, climate shocks increase, and data centres gobble up all our electricity [contains quote post or other embedded content]16 Sep 2026 11:38 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvn2hc7lys2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mvmvrvddy224It's easy to become numb to the extraordinary violence the US government is systematically inflicting on the planet and all its inhabitants The Environmental Destruction Agency further abasing itself here, begging power plant operators to pollute more https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/14/trump-epa-repeal-pollution-standards-power-plants16 Sep 2026 10:14 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvmvrvddy224https://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3muzlxuqi4c2tThe thing I most object to with the Tories new energy policy (as set out by Onward) is the absurd claim that scrapping all climate policies and letting the market rip* is somehow consistent with good environmental stewardship * except for nuclear, which naturally gets massive subsidies [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Sep 2026 17:58 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3muzlxuqi4c2thttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3muwddicvrs2iGood to see the government so laser-focused on the most important thing about the fascist gang descending on Dover on Saturday - the minor disruption experienced by freight traffic and holidaymakers https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8znyzgkjjo07 Sep 2026 10:46 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3muwddicvrs2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3muwclwj2ek2iLabour MP for Dover: if only the aspiring fascist militia had been in possession of the correct facts and figures! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8znyzgkjjo07 Sep 2026 10:32 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3muwclwj2ek2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3muoscisit22oConvincing argument against shutting out Chinese competition - you pay, but you don't know how "The benefits (...) are concentrated, immediate and attributable, while costs are dispersed across consumers, deferred over time and scattered across policy domains" https://eastasiaforum.org/2026/08/14/the-strategic-price-of-selective-exclusion/04 Sep 2026 10:52 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3muoscisit22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3muhbeqp7hk2kThe UK has a new shadow energy secretary, Andrew Bowie MP Great to see his enthusiasm for ending the UK's contribution to climate change (aka net zero), in this 2019 statement: https://www.andrewbowie.org.uk/climate-change-concerns Presume this is still valid? Climate change has only gotten worse, after all01 Sep 2026 11:00 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3muhbeqp7hk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3muhajfakpk2kChina may be the largest GHG emitter but it takes climate change extremely seriously @kyleichan.bsky.social shows how and why this happened, drawing an interesting parallel with the current US-China scramble for AI supremacy https://substack.com/home/post/p-21294201101 Sep 2026 10:45 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3muhajfakpk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mu2ipotpgc2q"Why would the AI labs want to release research showing that their products make work less meaningful or more intense?" AI companies will, in the end, only publish research that supports their commercial objectives. Same for any company with a damaging product - fossil fuels, tobacco etc [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Aug 2026 09:07 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2ipotpgc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mty4zqx6vk2tI don't *think* Trump bombed Iran to increase the profits of the US LNG industry, and to seize market share from Qatar, but it would be a pretty coherent explanation https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/war-strands-qatari-gas-6-months-us-sales-rise-european-stocks-plummet-2026-08-26/26 Aug 2026 10:33 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mty4zqx6vk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3mt22t3wnos2s'Marsh names beach to succeed herring' is like a badly translated Norse proverb https://www.theinsurer.com/ti/news/marsh-names-beach-to-succeed-herring-as-uk-ceo-for-energy-and-power-2025-07-16/14 Aug 2026 11:33 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3mt22t3wnos2shttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3msxyrbv6mc2zIt's somewhat unwise of the Canadian PM to commit large sums of taxpayer money to oil and gas export infrastructure directed at an Asian market that is souring on imports and deploying alternatives at pace Me and Phesheya Nxumalo for @chathamhouse.org https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/08/why-carneys-pipeline-gamble-bad-bet-canadian-taxpayers13 Aug 2026 15:51 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3msxyrbv6mc2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3msqma7m3kk2oHard agree with all of these proposals but a levy on corporate social media (which lord knows we need less of) to fund local and independent media (which we desperately need more of) is 👌 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/760061 [contains quote post or other embedded content]10 Aug 2026 17:18 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3msqma7m3kk2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3msidkjjvjc2wAll over the world, Chinese EVs are structurally reducing the need to burn oil to get from A to B Put this in your Current Policies Scenario pipe and smoke it @iea.org @gavinjmaguire.bsky.social https://www.reuters.com/commentary/reuters-open-interest/chinas-ev-export-boom-is-starting-show-up-gasoline-market-2026-08-04/07 Aug 2026 10:22 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3msidkjjvjc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisaylett.bsky.social/post/3msi5rfejuc2kGood reality check from @noahjgordon.bsky.social However appealing, the idea that cheap clean tech and self-interest alone will save us from climate change is a fantasy Some necessary emissions-reducing actions simply don't have clear economic co-benefits https://www.ft.com/content/1aec6153-a264-4d04-8a8a-c2500c7a952d07 Aug 2026 08:38 +0000at://did:plc:6omsofoyibx7xygxuid2jo55/app.bsky.feed.post/3msi5rfejuc2k