The Polycrisis is an independent publication about the political economy of climate and the energy transition – taking in geopolitics, finance, trade, industrial policy.

It's founded and edited by Tim Sahay (New York) and Kate Mackenzie (Sydney, Australia).

How it started
The two of us met on Twitter in the late 2010s, when we both worked in climate change policy advocacy. We created The Polycrisis because we felt that "climate change" had become an overly siloed topic; with its own media, research disciplines and even sub-sectors within other fields, such as finance.

What we're doing
Our goal is to put the heating climate and the need to cut emissions in a broader context of a world that is fighting – and generating – multiple interconnected problems: hot wars, information meltdowns, pandemics, broken global financial architecture, a shortage of stuff required to decarbonize, and geopolitical rupture.

Another goal of ours is to take a Global South lens to things; climate change can only be addressed alongside development. We are techno-optimists; but not the delusional kind.

The Polycrisis launched in late 2022 as a newsletter series published by Phenomenal World, but as of March 2026, we are spinning it out into a more stand-alone publication – although we'll continue as a monthly newsletter with PW. We also run occasional panel discussions, book clubs, and a semi-experimental weekly Dispatch newsletter and a Discord.

Plus: a podcast! Our first season is "Electric World Order".

It's mostly just the two of us running this, but we have had regular help from a few wonderful folk over the years, including Lara Merling, Lee Harris, Yusuf Khan (charts) and Sarah Allely (our podcast producer). Plus, our wonderful editors/friends at Phenomenal World, and our brilliant contributors.

You can email us: kate, tim, the whole team