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Over the course of billions of years, the Universe has steadily been evolving. Thanks to the expansion of the Universe, we are able to “see” back in time to watch that evolution, almost from the beginning.
The BBC is now losing more than £1bn a year from households either evading the licence fee or deciding they do not need one, according to a cross-party group of MPs who warned the corporation is under “severe pressure”.
Attempts to enforce payment of the licence fee are also stalling. The number of visits to unlicensed homes increased by 50% last year, but it did not translate into either higher sales or successful prosecutions. BBC executives have said they face the increasing problem of householders simply refusing to answer the door.
The Commons public accounts committee said the BBC was not doing enough to enforce the collection of the licence fee, which it said was “unfair to the vast majority of households who do pay for a licence”.
Its analysis of BBC accounts found that the licence fee evasion rate is now at 12.5%, costing it up to £550m. The number of households to state they have no need for a licence, because they do not consume BBC content, has risen from 2.4m in 2021 to 3.6m this year. That equates to a loss of up to £617m from potential fees.
Despite making nearly 2m visits to unlicensed homes last year, prosecutions fell by 17% in 2024.
Graph showing decline in paid-for TV licences
The BBC is facing critical government talks over the future of the licence fee as it negotiates the renewal of its charter.
It does so amid turmoil at the top of the corporation, after the resignation of its director general, Tim Davie. He resigned as a result of criticism about how an episode of Panorama edited a Donald Trump speech.
Critics of the licence fee say it has become harder to justify as viewers increasingly consume digital platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, which are particularly popular with younger audiences.
However, BBC executives see the licence fee, or something very similar, as the only way to ensure the corporation provides a “universal” service, with content for everyone.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative chair of the public accounts committee, said its report revealed “an organisation under severe pressure”.
“Our report makes clear that the ground is shifting beneath the BBC’s feet – the traditional enforcement method of household visits is seeing fewer and fewer returns at a time of heightened competition for almost every aspect of the BBC’s activities,” he said.
“Without a modernised approach focused more on online viewing, the broadcaster will see faith in the licence fee system ebb away.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “The licence fee needs reform. We are actively exploring all options that can make our funding model fairer, more modern and more sustainable, but we’ve been clear that any reform must safeguard the BBC as a universal public broadcaster.
“TV Licensing works hard to collect the licence fee and enforce the law efficiently, fairly and proportionately and we are audited on this each year. The National Audit Office reports that we continue to successfully deliver on these measures.”
Beautiful but delicate, cardamom is a demanding crop
“People often think cardamom is a lucrative crop – it may be. But it’s also the toughest crop a farmer can cultivate,” says Stanley Pothan, who has been farming cardamom in the southern Indian state of Kerala for decades.
Prized for centuries for its complex, aromatic flavour, cardamom is fiendishly difficult to grow.
“Cardamom is a very delicate plant – prone to diseases and pest attacks. You have to be constantly in the field, watching every leaf, every flower. It demands attention every single day,” says Mr Pothan.
It’s also extremely sensitive to weather conditions.
“Last year’s summer was brutal – we lost a significant portion of our crop to the heat. Guatemala, the world’s largest cardamom producer, lost almost 60% of its crop that season, and we too suffered badly here in Kerala,” he adds.
That poor harvest contributed to a 70% jump in cardamom prices last year to 1,178 rupees (£10; $13) per kilo, up 70% compared to the previous year, according to figures from India’s Spice Board.
Cardamom has always been expensive, usually the third costliest spice by weight, after saffron and vanilla.
Farmers would be keen to raise their output, but it’s not easy.
“One bad summer or unexpected rain can wipe away the entire effort. That’s the harsh reality of cardamom farming,” says Mr Pothan.
Stanley Pothan
Stanley Pothan says cardamom is the “toughest” crop to grow
The government-funded Indian Cardamom Research Institute (ICRI) is trying to ease the burden of tending to cardamom’s needs.
“Our focus is on crop improvement, pest and disease surveillance, soil management, capacity building, and technology transfer related to cardamom,” says A.B. Rameshwari, Director of the ICRI, which is part of the government’s Spices Board of India.
One of its tools is an app that farmers can use to monitor the health of their soil and gives them tailored recommendations on how to best manage it.
“Technology is no longer separate from farming. It is now a daily tool for cardamom growers, from checking soil health on an app, to monitoring rainfall and disease alerts on their phones,” says Dr Rameshwari.
“Even small farmers today are using digital tools. They don’t have to depend only on local advice, they can check the soil quality, moisture, and even disease symptoms right from their field.”
Meanwhile, scientists are looking for hardier cardamom varieties.
“We are mainly focusing on developing cardamom varieties that are tolerant to major diseases and pests, while also being high yielding and climate resilient,” says Preity Chetty, assistant professor at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Kerala Agricultural University.
They have made one breakthrough, by finding a cardamom variety that can grow with limited water.
The researchers are also delving into the genetic make-up for cardamom to find genetic markers for desirable traits. That knowledge should speed up the breeding of more productive plants.
“Unlike other spices, studies on cardamom are limited, especially at the molecular level. There’s a lack of molecular markers for reproductive or yield traits, which we are now trying to address,” says Dr Chetty.
Graayma
Only saffron and vanilla are more expensive than cardamom by weight
One key process in cardamom farming is drying the pods once they have been harvested.
Traditionally only the larger farms could afford to set up their own dryers, often fueled by wood.
“Smaller farmers had to depend on middlemen or neighbours for drying, which often affected the quality,” says Annu Sunny, who founded the social enterprise, Graamya, in 2016 to help farmers in Kerala.
“As cardamom is the queen of spices and a cash crop lot of people have started get in to cultivation,” she says.
“It’s a very tricky crop. It takes 10 to 12 years to really understand cardamom, how it behaves, what it needs, when to act and when to wait. Every season is like a new experiment,” she adds.
To help farmers with the drying process, Graayma has introduced heat-pump dryers.
Graayma charges 10 rupees per kilo, which is significantly cheaper than wood drying which cost around 14 rupees per kilo.
“The finish of the product is much better, there’s no smoke, no uneven heating, and the pods retain their natural green colour. That’s very important because colour decides the price.”
Mathews Geroge
Mathews Geroge switched from banking to organic farming
Growing cardamom with the help of fertilisers and pesticides is hard enough, but some farmers are going a step further, by taking an organic approach to cultivation.
“When I first started, I had no idea what I was getting into,” says Mathews Geroge, formerly a banker who turned to farming in Kerala in 2020.
“When I first spoke to scientists at the Cardamom Research Institute, they discouraged me. They said cardamom is too sensitive and difficult to grow organically.”
Initially they appeared to be right – around 90% of his first crop was destroyed by pests and local traders rejected his cardamom because, to them, it looked in poor condition.
After two years of experimentation he turned to the ancient Indian cultivation methods of Vrikshayurveda, which he says has bought more success. But it’s still not easy.
“Even today, I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered cardamom farming. It’s still a challenge. Some seasons are good, some aren’t. But now I understand the rhythm of the crop – when to act, when to wait, when to let nature do its job.”
Ultimately, Mr Geroge thinks organic farming will be able to compete with traditional methods.
“Sustainable farming begins with reducing input costs. Many farmers think organic means expensive, but if you make your own inputs and understand your soil, you can actually earn better with less dependence on chemicals.”
One aspect of cardamom farming that is unlikely to change soon is the need for skilled workers.
Mr Pothan estimates that labour accounts for 75% of his costs and most of that is spent at harvest time.
“Harvesting is a skilled job – mostly done by women. They know exactly which capsule is ready and which isn’t. They may pluck one or two from a bunch and return to the same plant after 45 days for the next round. That’s why it’s so labour-intensive,” Mr Pothan says.
Ms Sunny says those jobs are likely to be secure.
“Mechanisation in cardamom is limited. You can mechanise spraying or de-weeding, but not pruning or harvesting. Every innovator who visits our farm looks at cardamom and says ‘we’ll solve this’. But nothing concrete has come out yet.”
Mr Pothan agrees and adds that cardamom demands more than just good process.
“In cardamom, there’s no shortcut. You can’t automate everything. It’s one of those crops that needs both science and soul.”
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Under intense lobbying, pressure and threats from US officials, delegates to the International Maritime Organization last month delayed the carbon price decision by a year.
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By Michael Ethan Gold
The ships that keep global trade afloat face a complex path toward decarbonization. Accounting for roughly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the maritime sector needs a bold strategy to reach net zero – a reality that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) appeared set to acknowledge with the introduction of a carbon pricing framework, the first-ever for the sector. As a vote to approve the framework inched closer last month, climate advocates were cautiously optimistic that it would set a new milestone for the industry.
They did not account for intervention of the climate-denying Trump administration.
Under intense lobbying, pressure and threats from US officials, delegates to the IMO ultimately delayed the carbon price decision by a year. The vote, 57 to 49, followed what diplomats described as an unprecedented campaign of bullying tactics by the Trump administration. According to a New York Times investigation, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally called officials in small and developing countries, threatening tariffs, visa bans and sanctions if they supported the measure.
For the maritime community gathered in Barcelona at the Tomorrow.Blue Economy World Congress in early November, the reaction was one of shock and frustration, mixed with determination to press ahead nonetheless.
“It came to a screeching halt,” said Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, CEO of the World Ocean Council, whose members include major shipping lines and port authorities. “We’re disappointed, but cities, ports and corporations now have to step in. We’ve seen this before, when the US walked out of the Paris Agreement. Subnational actors kept the work going.”
That subnational momentum, from ports, cities and coastal states, has become a lifeline for maritime climate progress, according to Allyson Browne, CEO of the High Ambition Climate Collective.
“The US is not a monolith,” Browne told Earth.Org in Barcelona. “Individual ports are still pushing ahead. The real work is happening on the ground.”
Browne emphasized, however, that local initiatives cannot replace an international framework. “Shipping is inherently international,” she said. “Without standardized rules and a collective fund for a just and equitable transition, we’ll get a patchwork of policies that makes it harder for developing nations to keep up.”
The tension between global ambition and fractured national politics has long defined shipping’s struggle to decarbonize. London-based IMO is a UN agency founded in 1948 to improve maritime safety after the Titanic disaster. It began addressing climate change in the 2010s, with a set of mandatory measures to improve energy efficiency. While a 2018 commitment to cut shipping’s emissions by at least 50% by 2050 earned plaudits, it was only with the proposed carbon price that the body made concrete moves toward decarbonization.
Under the plan, ships would pay fees as high as $380 per tonne of CO2 equivalent for emissions above set thresholds, with the revenues supporting green innovation and climate adaptation in Small Island and Developing States.
It had the makings of “excellent regulation,” Tristan Smith, Professor at University College London focused on the decarbonization of international shipping, said on the Cleaning Up podcast. Smith called the US pressure campaign “an appalling deployment of pressure” and believes the move reflected a gross distortion of the normal rules of international diplomacy, to the extent that long-held principles became all but meaningless. “It felt apocalyptic,” he said.
Panelists at the Barcelona summit agreed that while the delay was political, it should not derail progress. Hector Calls, Director of Environmental Sustainability and Energy Transition at the Port of Barcelona, called it “disappointing, but not a stop. We’ll keep the course, because clarity and regulation are good for the sector.”
Patrik Benrick, Head of Strategic Development and Innovation at the Port of Gothenburg, echoed Calls’s sentiment: “Better to postpone and keep working than to get a rejection. The risk is that others lose courage, so the EU must stay firm and show leadership.”
Despite the setback, green shipping remains a growing trend. Global shipping giant Maersk sails methanol-powered vessels, and several ports, from Los Angeles to Singapore, are building green corridors to support zero-emission trade routes. Browne said such examples can help build the confidence of member states to resist continued US pressure ahead of next year’s postponed vote. Whether that will be enough to garner majority support remains uncertain, but for many in the maritime community, retreat is not an option.
“We know what our goals are and we need to meet them,” said Sarkozy-Banoczy. “Ports and shipping lines are moving towards greener fuels. I’m hopeful that’s the direction.”
Featured image: International Maritime Organization/Flickr.
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About the author: Michael Ethan Gold is a climate and energy communications strategist, helping innovators and mission-driven organizations craft stories that earn trust and mobilize change. Drawing on a background that spans journalism, thought leadership and messaging strategy, he specializes in turning complex science and systems thinking into resonant narratives. He was previously a Taiwan correspondent at Reuters and managing editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit, based in Hong Kong and San Francisco. He is now based in Barcelona and speaks English, Mandarin and Spanish.
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Stanley Pothan
Graayma
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