In this COP28 focused episode of the Energy Connects podcast, Editor-in-Chief Julian Walker hosts Rawan Oueidat, CFA Corporate Ratings at S&P Global Ratings. In the lead up to COP28 in the UAE, they focus on the global and regional growth opportunities for sustainable finance.

Rawan highlights why the global green, social, sustainable and sustainability linked issuances will recover to about $1 trillion this year, and how sustainability bonds will become more prevalent. She also touches on the trend of investor mandates and regulatory oversight shifting more towards an ESG and green focus across the region.

In this new episode of the Energy Connects podcast, Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Norbert Rücker, Head of Economics and Next Generation Research at Bank Julius Baer, to discuss the profound changes in global energy markets brought about by the energy transition.

They discuss the structural transformation taking place across the energy value chain as the pursuit of a lower carbon future gathers momentum in the industry, focusing on electric mobility and clean energy.

Norbert outlines why Europe fared much better than feared during the energy crisis last year and how markets showed resilience in absorbing intense supply shocks. He also talks about how niche areas such as hydrogen are showing signs of growing into full-fledged commercial markets, driven by rapid progress in technologies, and what the future of the industry will look like.

In this episode of the Energy Connects Podcast, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Deepika Sriram and Sergey Shiposha, Managing Associates at Linklaters, to discuss all about ESG as the region pivots to a lower carbon future. Diving into the key trends shaping the ESG and climate transition space in the Middle East, they examine the Middle East ESG Legal Outlook 2023 published recently by Linklaters and co-authored by Deepika and Sergey.

They talk about new developments in ESG regulation and disclosure requirements, the ESG related activities in the region’s energy sector between COP27 and COP28, and how the global energy community is responding to the challenge of achieving a just energy transition. They also outline the financing landscape for emerging sectors that are critical to the transition, such as hydrogen and CCUS.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Henning Huenteler, Expert Associate Partner at Bain and Company, to discuss why carbon markets are crucial to the success of Gulf economies achieving their net zero ambitions.

They talk about the carbon market landscape in the region and how GCC states are deploying a wide array of decarbonisation strategies and carbon abatement solutions on their journey to a low-carbon future.

Henning also delves into the debate over carbon offsets as greenwashing, addresses the challenges of quantifying Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and outlines the common governance standards and industry benchmarks that define carbon markets. He narrates how recent carbon-credit exchanges in the region are building the perfect momentum for carbon offsets and why the outlook for voluntary carbon markets in the Gulf and Middle East is positive.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets and Security at the International Energy Agency (IEA), for a wide-ranging discussion on the global energy landscape and the pathways to a clean energy future.

They talk about the outlook for global energy markets after an extraordinary year last year, the impact of China’s reopening of the economy, the rising demand for natural gas and LNG, and the role of low-carbon hydrogen from nuclear energy in the energy transition.

They also discuss how the winter of 2023 is likely to shape up for Europe from an energy security perspective, and the prospect of the Biden administration replenishing its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil.

Sadamori outlines the reasons why LNG supply growth was modest globally last year and why LNG trade will remain under pressure until 2026. He examines several final investment decisions for LNG projects that did not materialise in 2022. They also delve into role of natural gas as a transition fuel and how it will integrate higher shares of variable renewables in global grids, ways to prevent methane emissions, the scope for low emission gases such as biomethane, and investments in the clean energy industry.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Editor-in-Chief Julian Walker hosts Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy, to talk about the energy transition and why 2023 will be such an important year with the UAE hosting COP28 later in the year.

Robin outlines why we are entering a phase of acceleration when it comes to the energy transition with a ramping up on spending across the whole renewable energy sector. They also touch on why this is an important year for the Middle East as the UAE will be hosting COP28 and the region needs to make the most of it and lay the groundwork for future activities.

Robin explains how the solar boom in the Middle East is spreading out from the core countries like UAE, Jordan, and Egypt to new markets in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. They also look at hydrogen and how there is a huge amount of activity with 60 plus hydrogen projects in the MENA region at various stages.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Vandana Hari – founder of Vanda Insights, the Singapore-based provider of intelligence on the global energy markets.

Energy Connects Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Russ McMeekin, CEO and Co-Founder of mCloud Technologies and a digital tech trailblazer with leadership roles at Yokogawa and Honeywell, to discuss methane – the other greenhouse gas – for the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts.

In this week’s podcast Patricia Roberts theme is “Records Broken and Broken Records” as she summarises some of the market records broken this year and the 3 issues, we all talk about (like broken records!) which have been holding us back - hopefully now we are starting to address those!

The biggest/ longest deal in history and there’s more! - more news and coverage of the week’s top events.