Energy Gang

Energy security has surged up the policy agenda as geopolitical shocks have exposed the risks of relying on imported fuels. But replacing oil and gas with renewables, batteries and electric vehicles can create new dependencies of its own. The question running through Climate Week NYC was whether countries can strengthen energy resilience while curbing greenhouse gas emissions.Host Ed Crooks held a series of conversations with leaders in energy policy and business about managing the trade-offs between energy security and climate action.First, he is joined by former British Army Lieutenant General Richard Nugee, and Erin Sikorsky, a former US intelligence officer who leads climate-security work at the Council on Strategic Risks. They argue that climate change itself is a security concern: extreme heat can threaten military operations, while climate pressures can create political instability. They see adaptation to a warmer world and emissions reduction as complementary, not competing priorities. However, they acknowledge that the shift to clean energy also raises questions about reliance on Chinese supply chains. Richard and Erin discuss cyber protections, domestic innovation, and “friend-shoring”, as ways to manage those risks.Next is Harry Mateer, US head of FIC research at Barclays. He sets out an overview of a global energy system that is mostly adding new sources of supply rather than replacing old ones. Barclays expects global energy demand to grow by 1.9% a year through 2050, with renewables growing faster, at more than 3%. Harry and Ed discuss what that means for investment in oil and gas, nuclear power, batteries and electric vehicles.Next up are Hannah Safford, co-director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Center for Regulatory Ingenuity, and Noel Hacegaba, CEO of the Port of Long Beach. Noel says the port has cut emissions while cargo volumes grew 44%, and is targeting net zero emissions by 2050. Hannah argues that outdated rules and fragmented agency responsibilities can slow progress in decarbonizing transport systems. Both guests point to clearer long-term plans, coordinated regulation, incentives and partnerships as practical ways to move the whole supply chain towards lower-carbon systems. But the remaining steps will be harder and costlier, and some of the required technology is not yet widely available.Long-time climate activist Bill McKibben is next. He published a book last year on renewable energy, which he sees not just as a solution to the challenge of climate change, but “a path that opens into a very new world.” He makes the case for accelerating deployment of solar, wind and batteries, and explains his latest group Third Act, which organizes people over 60 to work on climate and related issues.Finally, we hear from Helen Clarkson, CEO of the Climate Group, which organizes Climate Week. Helen says climate work continues even as corporate announcements grow quieter: much of the focus has shifted to implementation, investment and the need for stable policy. Her view is that electrification can serve both emissions goals and energy security. The stakes are whether governments and businesses can turn that shared interest into durable infrastructure and investment without mistaking a quieter climate conversation for a reason to slow down. This episode of Energy Gang is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at engieresources.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A fresh shock to global energy markets has pushed an old question back to the center of the climate debate: When supplies tighten and prices rise, do governments double down on the transition, or reach for the fastest fossil fix? From the Strait of Hormuz to rising demand for cooling, the pressure is no longer just about fuel availability. It is about whether power systems can stay secure and affordable while demand keeps climbing and decarbonisation deadlines get closer.In this special Climate Week NYC episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, Kayte O’Neill, chief executive of the UK’s National Energy System Operator (NESO), and David Calabrese, Executive Vice President at Daikin US Corporation. Together, they test whether efficiency, electrification and long-term system planning can offer a credible response to a crisis that is global, political and increasingly shaped by both AI and air-conditioning demand.Damilola argues that the discussion cannot be reduced to a rich-world debate about prices and reliability. Nearly 600 million people still lack access to electricity, and 2.4 billion do not have access to clean cooking. In that context, the real risk is not simply a temporary return to fossil fuels in advanced economies, but a much larger lock-in of diesel and petrol generation across emerging markets. Her case is that energy access and energy transition have to move together, supported by integrated national plans, targeted finance and more support for clean distributed systems such as solar, storage and inverters.Kayte makes the case that decarbonisation and system reliability are not competing goals if the grid is planned properly. She points to the UK’s progress in moving away from coal, its high share of renewable generation, and the growing importance of demand flexibility as new loads arrive. With data centres and cooling demand reshaping power curves, the question is not only how much new generation gets built, but how intelligently demand can respond. David brings that argument down to the appliance level, arguing that heat pumps, inverter compressors and more efficient cooling systems can cut energy use while also helping the grid by acting as flexible load rather than blunt spikes in demand.What ties the discussion together is a shared insistence that the short term cannot be separated from the long term. Crisis management that relies only on more supply risks entrenching the very vulnerabilities the energy transition is supposed to solve. But a clean system will not build itself: it needs policy support, workforce training, flexibility, and capital that reaches the places where future demand growth will be greatest. That is the real stakes question for policymakers now, not whether to choose between security, affordability and net zero, but whether they can still design systems that deliver all three.This episode of Energy Gang is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at engieresources.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Electricity markets are under renewed pressure. Surging demand forecasts from data centres and other large loads are colliding with anxiety over reliability, rising consumer bills, and the pace of new investment. In markets such as PJM and ERCOT, those tensions are turning an arcane debate about market design into a live political question: can competitive power markets still deliver affordable, reliable electricity in a period of rapid growth?Host Ed Crooks and regular contributor Amy Myers Jaffe are joined by Stacey Doré, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer and Executive Vice President for Public Affairs at Vistra, one of the largest competitive power producers and retailers in the US. Drawing on Vistra’s growth from Texas utility successor to multi-state owner of gas, nuclear, coal, solar and battery assets, Stacey makes the case for competitive markets as the best way to drive efficient investment, innovation and customer value.The discussion starts with a challenge to the dominant narrative around load growth. Stacey argues that some of the most eye-catching forecasts for new demand are overstated by speculative projects and duplicative queue requests, and that the grid already has enough existing generation to serve most near-term growth for the vast majority of hours in the year. In her view, the real bottleneck is not an absolute lack of power, but the failure to connect new load to the grid quickly enough, alongside delays in transmission, distribution and interconnection processes.Are competitive markets sending the right signals to build what is needed next? Stacey says yes, pointing to rising capacity and energy prices in PJM, bilateral contracts with large customers, and a wave of announced investment in new and upgraded generation. She argues that the better near-term solution is not to force every new large load to wait for one-for-one new generation, but to connect customers faster, use co-location where possible, and rely on demand flexibility, backup generation and storage to manage the system’s few true peak-stress hours.Amy pushes on the consumer side of the equation. Even if competition can work, who pays when prices rise, and are current cost-allocation rules fair to households? The conversation digs into the distinction between wholesale generation costs and the rapidly rising transmission and distribution portion of electricity bills, with Stacey arguing that getting more large loads onto the grid would help spread fixed system costs more broadly. Amy counters that cost allocation may be the first reform policymakers need to tackle if they want to protect residential customers while accommodating a new wave of industrial and data-centre demand.What emerges is less a simple argument for or against deregulation than a sharper question about what the grid actually needs now: faster interconnection, better load forecasting, clearer price signals, and a more honest debate about who should bear system costs. Whether policymakers double down on competition, let regulated utilities build more rate-based generation, or rethink cost allocation altogether, the stakes are clear: keeping the grid reliable while bringing on new demand without pushing affordability further out of reach.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.