The changing economies of cocoa
In this episode of The Climate Economy, Kunal Shankar explores how climate change is disrupting the $15.2 billion cocoa industry. From West Africa's declining crop yields to price spikes and labour shortages, cocoa has become one of the most volatile global commodities. With increasing droughts, exploitation of farmers, and the rise of synthetic substitutes, the future of chocolate is uncertain. Tune in to understand why cocoa is a climate crisis bellwether — and what it means for the global economy.
Presentation: Kunal Shankar
Script: P. Jaisakthi Jothi
Camera: Thamodharan B
Editing: Aniket Singh Chauhan
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
4 days ago
- The Hindu
The changing economies of cocoa
In this episode of The Climate Economy, Kunal Shankar explores how climate change is disrupting the $15.2 billion cocoa industry. From West Africa's declining crop yields to price spikes and labour shortages, cocoa has become one of the most volatile global commodities. With increasing droughts, exploitation of farmers, and the rise of synthetic substitutes, the future of chocolate is uncertain. Tune in to understand why cocoa is a climate crisis bellwether — and what it means for the global economy. Presentation: Kunal Shankar Script: P. Jaisakthi Jothi Camera: Thamodharan B Editing: Aniket Singh Chauhan
The Hindu
18-05-2025
- The Hindu
How ceiling fans could aid in mitigating climate change?
Ceiling fans are a staple in almost every Indian home, but most of them are shockingly inefficient. In this episode of The Climate Economy, host Kunal Shankar uncovers how replacing conventional fans with energy-efficient BLDC (Brushless Direct Current) models could save up to 15% on individual electricity bills and slash India's national power demand by nearly 5%. To understand the issue better, we speak with Vishal Kapoor, CEO of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), about the massive untapped potential of fan replacement, the behavioural and market barriers holding consumers back, and how smarter policies, subsidies, and innovations like IoT-enabled fans could change the game. This episode dives into the intersection of everyday appliances, climate goals, and economic opportunity. Host: Kunal Shankar Editing: Aniket SIngh Chauhan Camera: Johan Sathyadas, Sabika Syed and Vishnoo Jotshi
The Hindu
24-04-2025
- The Hindu
‘Spend time on cross skilling or upskilling people to bring in change'
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be leveraged in industries, colleges or schools. Individuals can learn AI, apply it in their jobs and upskill themselves to find a next job , said Ashwin Desikan, co founder, CTO Atsuya Technologies, at the Tamil Nadu Startup Summit in Chennai on Thursday. Speaking about how AI and digitalisation will bring in disruption, he said, 'Look at how we waste resources today. We believe that labour is cheap. It is not. Rather, we could spend that time in cross skilling or upskilling them and that would bring in the change. Today the power of AI is such that you can have full conversations with it. ' He was speaking in a panel discussion on 'Digital Transformation: Startup as a Catalyst for Change' moderated by Kunal Shankar, Deputy Business Editor, The Hindu. Talking about the challenges that they faced, Mr. Desikan drew the example of emergency management system of Greater Chennai Corporation and said, 'In the initial stages, it used to be the cloud when we approached customer as we are a cloud-only platform. The whole perception that cloud is bad in many cases or not very secure sometimes puts fundamental blocks in company's mind. So winning trust over the customer with what they are observing was key.' Highlighting the need for a feedback loop, Tamizh Inian, founder, CEO, Frigate Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd. said: 'I believe in taking MSMEs global. You have to become a global vendor so that their margins can raise. If they do operation efficiency using digital there would be a lot of benefit for them. Even if you implement any policy, we also need to be able to get feedback. There has to be a feedback loop from the MSMEs. There has to be a structured format of policy for every sector based on their revenue. That's how all the players would benefit.' Pointing to the range anxiety that people might feel when they own an electric vehicle, as one of the challenges in the sector, Phunith Kumar V., CPO, co-founder Raptee HV said: 'The best way to solve it is by having a better charging infrastructure or better energy density technology than making a vehicle run longer on a single charge. Putting on bigger battery pads is not going to solve it. These are the things we need to work on.'
