Splitting Atoms, Scaling AI: Big Tech’s Nuclear Gambit

The boom in energy-hungry data centers in the US has led to a revival of interest in nuclear power. Small modular reactors, or SMRs, are often held up as the way forward, but the technology remains in development, which has led some big tech firms – or ‘hyperscalers’ – to explore other pathways for…

Getting Real: Net Zero Isn’t Enough for Fortescue

The world is focused on net zero. Yet some companies, like Australian mining giant Fortescue, have set their sights higher, and are now aiming for ‘real zero’. On today’s show, we bring you an interview from the recent BNEF Summit Shanghai, where Fortescue Founder and Executive Chairman Andrew Forr…

Under the Hood of Emerging Markets’ Energy Transition

Emerging markets have big plans when it comes to the energy transition. Today, 95% of developing economies have a renewable energy target in place, and many of them are seeing massive growth in solar and other renewable power technologies. Yet this clean power revolution won’t come cheap. While EMD…

Climate-Tech Finance: India Surges, China Slumps

Climate-tech funding is falling precipitously. During the third quarter of 2024, worldwide investment in the sector reached just $10.3 billion, a far cry from the $22.6 billion raised in the third quarter of 2023 and the $40.9 billion seen in 3Q 2022. These dramatic declines have been led in part b…

Burning Issue: Peak Coal Close But Demand Lingers

“It looks like coal weather today,” is an unlikely forecast, but it shouldn’t be. Coal production and consumption are linked to weather, and the return of a La Niña weather cycle has the potential to extend the lifespan of coal power assets and influence fuel switching. While peak coal demand is cl…

Gone With the Wind: Turbine Additions Still Fall Short

Wind is key to tripling global clean energy capacity by 2030, but in recent years both onshore and offshore additions have been blowing cold. The landscape improves as we look ahead to 2030, when BloombergNEF expects annual installations of wind to have risen by a massive 70%. China, which is curre…

Current Investments: Expanding the World’s Power Grids

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” This proverb is just as apt if you swap out “trees” for “grid investment.” Some $326 billion flowed into the world’s power grids in 2023, up 7% from the year before. Yet while investment may be increasing overall, only a…

Catch Me If You Can: EU Trails US On Clean-Tech Policy

Tariffs and subsidies loom large in the energy transition. The US Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, has been of global importance, changing trade relationships and causing some governments to rethink their domestic policies. The European Union responded by introducing the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA…

Heavy Transport Maps Out a Low-Carbon Future

Heavy transport is at a crossroads. There are many possible paths for decarbonizing aviation, maritime shipping and long-haul trucking, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), ammonia, methanol and synthetic fuels. Now that companies are working to secure feedstocks, governments are writing clea…

Who Gives a COP? UN Biodiversity Summit Expectations

This month, 196 parties are converging in Cali, Colombia for the 16th United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP16). Less famous but no less significant than its climate-focused sibling (which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, a few weeks later), COP16 offers a chance to negotiate an…