2025
World’s Top 25 Thinkers
Prospect Magazine (Archived)
Judges’ Citation: While some in the climate space point to the incompatibilities of capitalism with the climate, Rathi instead argues that capitalism can be reformed to meet climate and ecological goals. His 2024 book Climate Capitalism takes the era-defining challenge of the climate emergency as its starting point, but counters what has become known as the “doomer” narrative. The situation is immensely serious, but “the world has already begun deploying the solutions needed to deal with it,” Rathi writes—before setting out examples of people and projects doing just that.
Rathi is a scientist as well as a storyteller. His day job is with Bloomberg News in London, where he is responsible for an emissions-focused newsletter and podcast, both called “Zero”, and he has also edited a book of essays from young climate leaders. But before entering journalism, he earned a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai.
Rathi earns a place on this list because his work addresses one of the most damaging narratives in climate action. Sceptical voices not long ago denied that climate change was real; today the question is one of delay. How quickly can we transition our economies away from fossil fuels? How much will it cost—and who will pay? Rathi makes a convincing case that transitioning economies is not only possible but makes good business sense too. If the world is to meet global emissions goals, we need CEOs to be listening.
Honorable Mention: Energy, Sustainability, Climate Change
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (Archived)
Stories:
How Tech Companies Are Obscuring AI’s Real Carbon Footprint
2024
Winner: Business Book Award
Kalinga Literary Festival (Archived)
Honorable Mention: Energy, Sustainability, Climate Change
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (Archived)
Stories:
Companies Are Dropping Carbon Offsets, But Still Buying the Worst One
2023
Winner: Whitman Bassow Award for International Environmental Issues
Overseas Press Club (Archived)
Judges’ Citation: The winning entry by Bloomberg Green took on the complex topic of carbon offsets, the system that allows companies to continue emitting their own greenhouse gases while paying others to reduce their emissions. The reporters analyzed more than 200,000 transactions to show how dozens of companies are using questionable accounting to claim “carbon neutral” status. One striking story shows how oil giant BP exploited workers in rural communities in Mexico by paying them very little and then using the savings to offset the company’s emissions. The reporters also revealed how organizers of the World Cup in Qatar attempted to compensate for that event’s enormous carbon footprint through a dodgy Doha-based certification body that would sign off on projects that fail to meet minimum standards anywhere else in the world. This project stood out as an eye-opening examination of an issue that could make or break the effort to slow climate change.
Honorable Mention: Explanatory
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (Archived)
Finalist: Video of the Year
Association of British Science Writers (Archived)
Stories
1. BP Paid Rural Mexicans a “Pittance” For Wall Street’s Favorite Climate Solution
2. Mexico’s AMLO Says Carbon Offsets Need Oversight After BP Revelations
3. Mexico Lawmakers Push Carbon Offset Regulation to Stop ‘Injustices’
4. Junk Carbon Offsets Are What Made These Big Companies ‘Carbon Neutral’
5. How the 2022 World Cup Rebuilt a Market for Dodgy Carbon Credits
6. What Really Happens When Emissions Vanish
7. The Huge, Weird Batteries of the Future
2022
Winner: Journalist of the Year
Wincott Foundation (Archived)
Judges’ Citation: The judges said it was a remarkable expose, revealing the threadbare methodology of the ESG index and raising many uncomfortable questions about the ESG movement.
Winner: International Reporting
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (Archived)
Commendation: Energy & Environment Journalism
British Journalism Awards (Archived)
Finalist: Loeb Award for Explanatory Journalism
The UCLA Anderson School of Management (Archived)
Finalist: Steve Connor Award for Investigative Science Journalism
Association of British Science Writers (Archived)
Stories:
1. The ESG Mirage
2. ESG Ratings Are Not What They Seem
3. How BlackRock Made ESG the Hottest Ticket on Wall Street
4. The Methane Menace
5. An Empire of Dying Wells
6. The Cheap and Easy Climate Fix That Can Cool the Planet Fast
7. How to Sell ‘Carbon Neutral’ Fossil Fuel That Doesn’t Exist
Bloomberg Green executive editor Aaron Rutkoff and Akshat Rathi at the Loeb Awards ceremony in New York City on Sept. 29, 2022.
2021
Finalist: Environment Journalist of the Year
Society of Editors (Archived)
Stories:
Exxon’s Plan for Surging Carbon Emissions Revealed in Leaked Documents
Pandemic Reveals the Science of Risk That Shapes Our Lives
2020
Finalist: EPPY award for Best News / Political Blog
Editor & Publisher (Archived)
Award for the “Net Zero” newsletter for Bloomberg Green
2018
Awards for stories in the series titled The Race to Zero Emissions.
Winner: Journalist of the Year
The Drum Awards for Online Media (Archived)
Finalist: British Science Writer of the Year
Association of British Science Writers
Finalist: John B. Oakes Award
Columbia Journalism School
Judges’ Citation: Much of the reporting on climate change and its devastating impact are justifiably bleak and alarming. This series, led by journalist Akshat Rathi, offers something quite different: a solutions-oriented approach to the issue of carbon emissions. This ambitious and innovative project takes a clear-eyed approach to the fast-advancing technology of carbon capture, presenting it not as an easy out but as an essential element of a comprehensive plan to meet emissions targets. With clear explanatory writing and outstanding informational graphics, the series has become the definitive piece that other journalists consistently cite. The judges commend the initiative and resources reflected in this important journalism. (Archived)
Quartz science editor Elijah Wolfson and reporter Akshat Rathi at Columbia Journalism School for the John B. Oakes award ceremony on Sept. 20, 2018.
Akshat Rathi 