Redefining Energy

• 181. “Hot Air” from Tony Blair - May25

  The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) recently released a widely publicized report titled “The Climate Paradox”, which has garnered significant positive attention from outlets such as the Guardian, the BBC, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and much of the European press.Beginning with the statement, “Climate action has reached an impasse,” the report, authored by Lindy Fursman (who holds a PhD in Sociology from UC Berkeley), outlines several key “facts” that have been effectively debunked by experts like Michael Liebreich in his Substack and Michael Barnard in Cleantechnica.The TBI concludes with a series of recommendations, the most prominent being the call to “accelerate and scale technologies that capture carbon, alongside significant investments in engineered carbon-dioxide removal technologies, including direct air capture (DAC) solutions”. To emphasize this message, the cover of TBI’s report features an image of Climeworks’ plant in Iceland. Climeworks, a Swiss engineering company with 500 employees, has received $800 million in equity and subsidies from major players such as Partners Group, the GIC (Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund), Baillie Gifford (an early investor in Tesla), Swiss Re, and Microsoft.However, last week, Climeworks faced a major setback when it was revealed that despite receiving substantial funding, the company had only captured 105 tonnes of CO2—not 105,000, but just 105 tonnes (less than a single flight London – New York) —despite the strong backing of tech giants like Stripe, Microsoft and Shopify.This revelation has sparked widespread concern and warranted a prompt discussion with Laurent Segalen, Gerard Reid and Michael Barnard to assess the implications. The conversation will explore the credibility of the TBI’s stance on energy, the broader potential of DAC, and whether this technology is, in fact, a case of "Deception, Amateurism, and Con."Links:Michael Liebreich substack:https://mliebreich.substack.com/p/why-tony-blair-needs-to-reset-hisMichael Barnard Cleantechnicahttps://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/05/tony-blairs-new-climate-reset-report-promotes-delay-not-action/https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/15/climeworks-dac-fiscal-collapse-the-brutal-reality-of-pulling-carbon-from-the-sky/

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• 180. The KKR Energy formula - May25

  KKR is a Private Equity giant whose involvement in the Energy/Infrastructure sector has grown bigger over the decades. Energy/Infrastructure investments now represents approx 10% of their global Asset under Management of c.700bnUSD.KKR’s approach combines several strategies which are developed in different vehicles from run of the mill yield funds to more risky platforms. Since the beginning of the decade, KKR has invested billions in the acquisitions of assets in the sector (Zenobe, Avantus, Albioma, Contour Global, Actis, Ignis, SMS, Acciona, Encavis, EGC, Eni biofuels) plus a special agreement to develop AI with ECP.Laurent and Gerard have the pleasure and privilege to invite Emmanuel Lagarrigue, Partner and co-head of Global Climate at KKR, who co-runs this global effort. Prior joining KKR in 2022, Emmanuel had a 27 years stellar career at Schneider Electric where he ended up leading the Group Strategy. Under his tenure, Schneider Electric’s shares grew tenfold.What is KKR’s strategy, how can it provide returns in this volatile environment, how to foster synergies inside its portfolio, where are the next big trends they are looking at? Emmanuel also discusses how private markets and public markets differ when it comes to asset valuations, how to deal with volatility, how much energy growth will be triggered by datacenters and finally what he thinks about Hydrogen and ”Green Premiums”.A ”tour de force” from one of the most prominent Energy investor on the planet.

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• 179. The future of the Auto Industry: Winners, challengers and zombies - May25

  On one hand, tariffs are causing significant disruption in the global automotive industry. On the other, the electric vehicle (EV) market continues to surge, seemingly unaffected. According to the latest Q1 2025 data from Rho Motion, 4.1 million EVs were sold globally in Q1 2025—a 29% year-over-year increase compared to Q1 2024. Growth is particularly strong in China (+36%), followed by Europe (+22%) and North America (+16%).To help make sense of these opposing dynamics—and to assess which OEMs are likely to lead or fall behind—Laurent and Gerard have brought in a top-tier expert: Michael J. Dunne. Michael is the CEO of Dunne Insights LLC, a San Diego-based firm specializing in electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and battery supply chains. With over three decades of experience, Michael has held prominent roles including President of General Motors Indonesia and Managing Director of JD Power China. He is also the author of American Wheels, Chinese Roads (2011), and the host of the podcast Driving With Dunne.Key Insights from Our Conversation:China: BYD reigns supreme, followed by legacy brands, tech giants, and emerging players.Japan: Toyota, the shogun of the market, stands tall—while the rest struggle to keep up.Korea: A tale of strong potential under threat.Germany: VW appears stuck in reverse, Mercedes feels increasingly "Chinese," and BMW navigates a narrow path.USA: Stellantis, Ford, and GM—industries in limbo, often described as “zombies.”The Wild Card: Tesla. With Elon at the helm, anything is possible—genius or chaos.Across all regions, we forecast who the likely winners are, who may barely survive, and who seem destined for the dustbin of history.

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• 178. Delivering the Wind Reset - May25

  Laurent and Gerard sit down for an in-depth (and at times fiery) conversation with Ben Backwell, Chair of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), to unpack the current state of the wind industry. Ben joins from Brazil, where preparations for COP30 are already underway.As GWEC has just released its flagship Global Wind Report 2025—a must-read for anyone serious about the energy transition—they reflect on wind power’s progress. While the sector has continued to grow, it's been outpaced by solar and storage, grappling with supply chain bottlenecks, technical hurdles, and an all-out culture war driven by fossil fuel interests and political headwinds.The discussion covers the recent struggles of the U.S. offshore wind sector.We also dive into China’s meteoric rise, now dominating two-thirds of the global wind market with players like Goldwind, Envision, Windey, and Mingyang—now surpassing Western stalwarts such as Vestas, Siemens Energy, and GE Vernova.Despite the noise and negativity—what Laurent refers to as “the enemies of freedom”—there’s reason to stay hopeful. Wind remains a cornerstone of clean, secure, and locally sourced energy in many regions.Check out the full Global Wind Report 2025 from GWEC here: https://www.gwec.net/reports/globalwindreport

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• 177. The Transatlantic Power Cable: from concept to reality - Apr25

  There's been a great deal of excitement and curiosity surrounding the idea of a Transatlantic Interconnector. So, as co-founders, Laurent Segalen, Gerard Reid and Simon Ludlam have decided to release a special episode to bring our listeners up to speed on where things currently stand.While we can’t dive into our discussions with governments and system operators—those are protected by NDAs—rest assured, those conversations are very much underway, as you might expect. To put this episode together, we have brought in a range of perspectives:First, you'll hear an excerpt from a conversation with John Pettigrew, CEO of National Grid, on the Aurora Unplugged podcast last October, where he discusses the potential of ultra-long interconnectors.Next, we feature an interview with Laurent on the Jolts podcast from this February.That’s followed by a deep dive into the technical aspects with Cornelis Plet, Global Head of HVDC at DNV.We then explore the legal landscape with Silke Goldberg, partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and one of the world’s foremost legal experts in this area.And finally, we wrap up with a conversation between the three co-founders, where Simon Ludlam lays out the key steps ahead in the coming months and Gerard engages with investors.We hope this gives you a clearer picture of what has been accomplished so far—and what lies ahead on this ambitious journey.A lot of information, reports and data are available on www.nato-l.org

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