the rings

The rings are ordered deliberately, not rigidly. Like a tree, you can grow understanding from the inside out. You can also enter at any point and build understanding from wherever the issue interests or touches you.

Each ring builds on the last, moving from (i) what we know, to (ii) how climate change is experienced and contested, to (iii) what societies and individuals can do about it.

With a new visual arriving each week, the rings become more coherent over time. They are:

1. Science: What we know about the climate system, how we know it and where the uncertainties are.
2. Impacts: How climate change is affecting people, ecosystems and the natural world.
3. Economics: The incentives, costs, markets and capital flows that drive decision-making.
4. Political Economy: How interests, incumbents and competing priorities shape the speed of the transition.
5. Governance: The rules, institutions, diplomacy and accountability mechanisms that seek to coordinate action.
6. Solutions: How the net zero transition happens: scaling clean tech, cutting emissions, removing carbon, adapting to impacts and building resilience.
7. Energy: From fossil fuels and renewables to electrification and industry – and the shift from molecules to electrons.
8. Life: How our choices, voices and spheres of influence can help advance climate action.

Whether the rings are ordered correctly or internally consistent is ultimately subjective. I’ve been wrestling with their structure for years, and think about it almost every day. For now, this is where I’ve landed.

There is a strong case for adding other rings – nature, health or sport, for example – but for this first Big Picture series, the above represents the best balance I’ve found between parsimony and comprehensiveness.

Beyond the rings, every visual includes a further reading tree to help readers dig deeper, while branches connect related visuals across themes.

Please watch this space. The rings are likely to grow and evolve, as of course they should.

If you think a ring is missing, or have feedback, please drop the Trunk an email or ping me on LinkedIn.