Vaitheeswaran named global energy and climate innovation editor at The Economist

Vijay Vaitheeswaran, the U.S. business editor at The Economist, is the new global energy and climate innovation editor.

In this new post, he will lead global coverage of the energy and utility industries, the clean energy transition, climate innovations and low carbon technologies. He will be on the lookout for changing business models, novel financing and venture capital approaches and breakthrough innovations that promise to transform hard-to-decarbonize industries.

Vaitheeswaran will also lead coverage of America’s ambitious new climate and infrastructure proposals, and keep a watchful eye on ESG trends for signs of excess and greenwashing. He will also host a new climate podcast.

Previously, he opened the magazine’s Shanghai bureau in 2012 and served as China business editor and bureau chief until mid 2017. He also serves as chairman of The Economist Innovation Summit, a provocative series of global conferences on innovation.

He joined the editorial staff in 1992 as its London-based Latin America correspondent, and opened the magazine’s first regional bureau in Mexico City. From 1998 to 2006, he covered the politics, economics, business and technology of energy and the environment. From 2007 to 2011 his portfolio encompassed innovation, global health, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.