Trade-offs get decided either way.
We'd rather they were decided on purpose.
Hold up your thumb and look at it with one eye, then the other. It jumps, even though it never moved. That jump is parallax: where you stand changes where things appear. Move your cursor and watch the close lines jump further than the distant ones.
what this is about
Offshore wind farms, lithium mines, LNG terminals, defence budgets, small modular reactors, gigafactories, supply chain regulation: each looks different depending on the room it's discussed in. Each reading is right against its own background, and that's the problem, because the trade-offs between them get settled by default in whichever room decides first.
With the Parallax Initiative, we want to put these issues in front of several backgrounds at once. We don't treat the shift between readings as noise. We measure it: how far apart positions really are, and what it would take to decide between them.
how we work
We don't debate climate and security in the abstract. We start with one thing that is being built, bought or budgeted right now: a data centre, a subsea cable, a line in next year's defence budget.
We read that object against every frame that will judge it. Climate asks about load, water and emissions. Security asks about control and redundancy. Industry asks about cost and jobs. Each reading stays in its own terms.
We put the readings side by side. Where they diverge, there is a real trade-off, and we name what each side gives up. Where they quietly agree, as on faster grid connections, there is a shared interest nobody is using yet.
We design formats that don't let anyone skip the choice: briefs that end with the decision to be made, strategy games where players with conflicting goals share one budget and panels where speakers argue from a background that isn't theirs. We don't allow others to skip the trade-off, and we don't allow ourselves.
where we look
Objects: compute, grids, chips, sanctions, stockpiles, supply chains, climate finance. Backgrounds: sovereignty, competitiveness, resilience, alliances, capacity.
who we are
We both come from the climate community and deliberately look beyond it. We aim to be pragmatic, interdisciplinary and ready to discuss difficult trade-offs openly.
political economist · campaign strategist
Political economist and strategist working on EU climate, grids, energy and industrial policy. With a background in game-theoretic modelling she focuses on the strategic trade-offs of transformation, from carbon markets and grids to technological sovereignty and the energy demands of AI.
LinkedIn
political analyst · journalist
Political analyst and journalist focusing on international security, crisis management, climate policy and global governance. He combines political analysis and public communication, with a particular interest in geopolitical change, crises and international cooperation.
LinkedIncontact