Karl J Mathiesen

This year, Karl Mathiesen has produced an outstanding series of lyrical features on the political challenges of dealing with the climate crisis.

Rather than ignore the trade-offs involved in protecting the environment, Karl’s reporting looks them in the eye. His reporting shaped the political discourse on climate change in the UK and Europe, with political parties of all stripes taking deeper account of the frustrations of those who fear being left behind by the energy transition.

One profile of Sadiq Khan took stock of the personal and political price the London Mayor paid for his efforts to clean up the air of the U.K.’s capital city. The piece revealed shocking death threats targeting Khan, took in a wild protest on the streets of an outer London borough and captured a deep anger over green interventions. This rage is being stoked by right-wing groups across Europe, who use it to feed a wider sense that elite concerns are trumping the interests of those on the margins.

In the north of Sweden, he spent days with a family of Sámi reindeer herders who faced losing their traditional lands to a mine for cobalt and nickel — minerals critical to Europe’s clean energy ambitions. In recounting one woman’s spirited fight for her land, the story revealed the layers of history leading up to the present conflict: colonialism, mass displacement and personal tragedy.

Finally, in a particularly insightful feature, Karl recounted the deeply personal journeys of two activists — Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland — who committed one of the most high-profile and controversial climate protests of all time: the throwing of soup on Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.” Rather than condemn or lionize the protesters, the article took readers inside their world, exploring their motivations and the consequences they faced. In doing so, it raised a deeper question about the role of the state in protecting its citizens and the hardening of British justice toward protesters of conscience.

Testimonials “Karl is always essential reading for everybody working on energy and environmental questions because he is so well connected, and does such a consistently brilliant job of explaining the intersecting local, national, European and international economic and political dynamics that shape the decisions on the biggest story of our lives: climate change.” - Joss Garman, Executive Director of the European Climate Foundation. “Karl has a proven talent for identifying, dissecting and narrating stories that delve into the heart of the tension between environmental aspirations and political realities.” - Stephan Faris, Enterprise Editor POLITICO.