Trust No One (Particularly Businesses Prioritising Quarterly Profits Over Climate Action)
The Truth Is Out There (in the donations data, say researchers researching business climate policy shenanigans).
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This week our Bonus episode unpacks the second year of data from the reformed Safeguard Mechanism with a side serve of national accounts figures. Run, don’t walk, over to www.letmesumup.net and subscribe to our Patreon to check it out.
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Your intrepid hosts reconvene Global Energy Crisis Corner because, There Is Too Much. Since our last episode we’ve seen the PM’s performative tour de force to short up energy contracts in the region, the launch of a mass media campaign gently suggesting we Keep Calm and Take Public Transport Where You Can, one of two Australian fuel refineries ON FIRE, the Great Gas Tax Debate, the blink-and-you-miss-it-open-and-close-of-the-Strait-of-Hormuz, aaand some alarming reporting revealing the inner workings of the Trump administration’s decision to start a war with Iran. Or in other words, just a day ending in Y for 2026!
Our main course
This week, we read a paper from two political science researchers, Jared J Finnegan and Jonas Meckling, ‘Fighting the Future: Short Term Investors and Business Opposition to Climate Policy in which they’ scour US corporate data for answers to why some businesses oppose regulatory climate policies more frequently or intensely than others. Their focus? Not differences in company emissions intensity, already well studied, but differences in time horizon. Their conclusion? Businesses with more pressure to deliver short term results are more likely to more actively oppose climate policy. Some of this is a bit Captain Obvious, but there are a couple of gems in here, even if there’s a worrying reliance on US political donations data! Extra props must be given for the X-Files Movie reference in the title!
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is: the IEA Oil Market Report for April 2026 - free! Exciting! Full of uncertainty!
Frankie’s One More Thing is: a reconvening of Muskovic’s Methane Musings featuring the currently open DCCEEW consultation on the 2026 National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme Updates, including updates to accounting for fugitive methane emissions from coal and gas mining!
Luke’s One More Thing is: two shout outs! One for sometime co-host and friend of the pod, Alison Reeve, for the paper recommendation this week, plus one for another friend of the pod, Jan Rosenow, who continues to provide on-point analysis throughout the current, and previous, crises!
And that’s it for now, Summerupperers. There is now a one-stop-shop for all your LMSU needs: head to
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