Policy Dispatch: The FORESIGHT podcast on the policies underpinning the energy transition

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.The 54 countries that make up Africa face some of the same energy and climate challenges as nations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, but in many cases the hurdles and obstacles are more varied and more difficult to overcome. Climate breakdown will hit African communities harder than those on other continents, making the need for effective climate finance in particular absolutely vital. How it is spent is crucial though. For this final episode of 2024, Sam is joined by Lily Odarno, director of the Africa innovation program at the Clean Air Task Force, to discuss this issue and more. Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.More than half of the world’s total supply of renewable energy is provided by bioenergy, a fact often forgotten in energy transition debates. Its contribution to sectors like heating is, in particular, an integral part of the energy mix. How does the sector manage the fact that it flies under the radar so much? What will new policymakers in Brussels do to regulate the sector? And what else does the future hold for bioenergy? To answer those questions and more, Irene di Padua, policy director at Bioenergy Europe, joins the show for a discussion about all things bio. Enjoy the episode!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.Waste-to-energy power generation in Europe is not insignificant. More than 5 gigawatts of capacity is installed and there are plans in some countries to add more. The negative impact on the environment, climate and human health is well-documented: the emissions are often worse than fossil fuel combustion and the pollutants released by burning garbage can pose a significant health risk. So why is this practice still allowed? What rules are in place to regulate the sector? How is the industry evolving? And what does the future hold for waste incineration?  Zero Waste Europe’s Janek Vähk joins this episode of the Policy Dispatch to discuss those points and much more. Enjoy the discussion!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.Emission reductions are the primary way to address climate change. But if the international community is not able to slash greenhouse gases quickly enough or if leftover emissions persist, then the climate may still need a helping hand. That is where geoengineering may eventually come into play. Potential solutions include mass tree planting, capturing carbon, making clouds and the oceans more reflective, covering deserts in white plastic and other unconventional technologies. The scope for temperature reduction is huge but so is the risk of unleashing unpredictable side-effects. Researchers have to proceed with caution in order not to fail in their well-intentioned missions or even make the climate crisis worse.  Lisa J. Graumlich, president of the American Geophysical Union, joins the show to present a new ethical framework the scientific community has put together and explain why its principles are oh so important moving forward. Enjoy!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.Removing CO2 from the atmosphere is set to be big business in the coming years. Johan Börje joins the show to explain what is needed to scale carbon removals up and what challenges need to be overcome.  Carbon removals will be crucial in the fight to combat climate change, as excess CO2 will have to be removed from the atmosphere in massive quantities.  Efforts are underway to scale up this still nascent industry and policies are starting to take shape around the sector. Johan Börje from Stockholm Exergi, one company looking to be a frontrunner in carbon removing, joins this episode to shed some light on what the sector needs from policymakers and what kind of clients are looking to take advantage of their services. Enjoy the episode! Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.Transport’s electrification is gathering pace but it’s not quick enough for some. 2024 has been branded a disappointing year for EV sales and some have even suggested that this is the beginning of a dip. But is this true? Or is 2024 just a small bump in the road? And where do we stand on issues like charging infrastructure? Jaap Burger, an electric vehicles expert and senior advisor at the Regulatory Assistance Project, joins this week’s episode to shed some light on those questions. Enjoy the show and leave a comment in the contribution section below with your thoughts about e-mobility!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Look out of a plane window when you are flying over the sea or peer at the horizon from a ferry these days and chances are good that you will see giant wind turbine blades looming out of the deep. Offshore wind is generating more and more of our clean electricity, as governments around the world craft ever-increasingly ambitious renewable strategies. In Europe alone, countries want to roll out 111 gigawatts of the technology by 2030. But someone has to build these behemoths. The newest generation of turbines are hundreds of metres tall and hundreds of tonnes in weight. The infrastructure challenge is massive. New technologies like floating wind, larger capacity turbines and hybrid projects that include solar and hydrogen generation all mean that the challenge is only going to get more complicated. Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of wind turbine installer Cadeler, joins the show to share his experience from the frontlines of the energy transition and explain what is needed from governments to get more turbines in the water. Enjoy the discussion!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.Global climate action is not restricted to protesting in the streets. Legal courts are increasingly playing a bigger role in the fight for a decarbonised world.  As cases against companies and even governments are becoming more commonplace, who are the main figures leading the charge? What kind of outcomes are we seeing? And what kind of impact will this inevitably have on the energy transition? To answer these questions and more, Sam is joined for this episode by Nikki Reisch, director for the climate and energy program at the Centre for International Environmental Law. Enjoy the discussion!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Renewables are going from strength to strength in many European countries. Everyone is making some sort of progress towards their targets but if current trends continue, the EU will fall short of its benchmarks.That is why there are a number of policy options available to national governments to turbocharge their renewables rollout. One of those options are so-called renewable acceleration areas.Flore Belin, renewable energy policy coordinator at CAN Europe, joins this episode of the Policy Dispatch to explain what these areas are and how they should be rolled out.Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Farming emissions are not falling at the same rate that they are in sectors like power generation or industry. Complex factors like land-use change and livestock emissions make agriculture’s carbon footprint a difficult beast to tame.Factors like food production, geopolitics and strong cultural ties almost make an already complex decarbonisation challenge even more difficult.Carbon markets have helped bring down the emissions of power grids and manufacturing centres. In Europe, sectors like shipping, road transport and buildings are now set to get the same treatment. Could agriculture soon be rolled into the same system?The Institute for European Environmental Policy’s Krystyna Springer joins this edition of the Policy Dispatch to explain why this might be a good, albeit tricky, idea.Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clean technologies are the indispensable hardware of the energy transition. Whether its wind turbines, grid components or futuristic fusion power, without clean tech, we won’t get anywhere. The United Kingdom has proven itself to be an attractive place to develop and scale up clean technologies but the sector has begun to lose momentum and stagnate. A general election on 4th July could well mark a change in policies.Sarah Mackintosh, director of the Cleantech for UK initiative, joins the Policy Dispatch to explain what the UK is doing right and where it could stand to improve. Also check out Cleantech’s manifesto here for more details.Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Parts of the world that have introduced some form of carbon pricing have been able to disconnect their emissions from economic growth, thanks largely to the polluter-pays principle. But there is somewhat of a disconnect between carbon markets and the most important part of the energy transition: consumers. So is it possible to democratise emissions trading? To involve more people in carbon pricing? Is this something that would benefit the energy transition? Valentin Lautier, founder of Homaio, a startup that aims to unlock carbon markets for individual investors, joins this edition of the Policy Dispatch to explain his view on these issues.Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Grids are a key part of Europe’s energy system but they need a massive overhaul to be ready for the growth in renewables and electricity demand expected up to 2050. Kristian Ruby joins the Policy Dispatch to look at the current situation and what is needed to make the change happen.Europe’s grids need a major revitalisation to be able to support the energy transition. As more renewables and electric vehicles are rolled out, they will need to be bigger and smarter than ever.Grid industry group Eurelectric has come out with two new reports, one on investment and supply chain needs and one on digitalisation, to look at the current state of Europe’s grids and what is needed for the energy transition to be a success.The shift comes with a big price tag – Eurelectric estimates that it needs €67 billion every year until 2050 to keep up with the doubling of electricity consumption. But that could be reduced to €55 billion a year if the rollout is done efficiently and is supported properly.Eurelectric’s secretary-general Kristian Ruby joins the Policy Dispatch to talk about the group’s latest research into the state of Europe’s grids and what is needed to get them fit for the 21st century.Enjoy the show! You can read Eurelectric’s two reports here:Grids for speedWired for tomorrowDownload our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Heating soaks up a huge amount of energy demand and is responsible for an equally significant amount of carbon emissions. Technology likes heatpumps and more efficient buildings are starting to have an impact on both accounts.Bankwatch Network’s Morgan Henley, the group’s head of EU heating decarbonisation campaigning, joins the Policy Dispatch to lift the lid on district heating in Central and Eastern Europe.The region is a district heating heartland thanks to its legacy Soviet infrastructure. A lot of decarbonisation still needs to be done but it appears that it has all the tools needed to make a big dent in heating’s carbon footprint.Morgan provides plenty of insights on which countries are leading the way, what policymakers need to bear in mind and why Europe should realise that district heating is potentially an industry that it could lead the world in.Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. ‘Impossible’ is not in the vocabulary of Swiss explorer and environmentalist Bertrand Piccard. He was the first person to fly non-stop around the world in a hot air balloon and the first to do the same in a solar-powered plane.Piccard is firmly of the belief that society has all the tools it needs to solve the climate crisis, but there is perhaps something currently missing: enthusiasm and the will to act. That is why his latest adventure involves piloting a hydrogen-powered plane around the globe, to show the world that it can be done.One of the world’s greatest living explorers joins the Policy Dispatch to explain his thinking behind this latest endeavour and to inject a dose of hope into the climate and energy debate.Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Wind power in Europe continues to set records. Concerns over supply chains and geopolitical issues have posed challenges but have not derailed progress.Developments in the North Sea continue at a great pace but it is not Europe’s only resource for wind power. Other areas, some of them far-flung and unexpected, show great potential to provide clean electricity for all of Europe.That potential is now being tapped, as technological advancements and policy shifts gradually unlock zero-carbon generation on the Atlantic coast, in the Mediterranean, Baltic, Black and even Caspian seas.WindEurope CEO [Giles Dickson](https://www.linkedin.com/in/giles-dickson-98607229) joins the podcast to talk more about far far away wind farms, the general state of the sector and some of the challenges that still need to be overcome.Check out more information about WindEurope’s annual event in Bilbao [here](https://windeurope.org/annual2024/).Enjoy the show!Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Electrification of road transport has asserted itself as the leading decarbonisation for four-wheeled vehicles. Manufacturers are investing billions in new EV models and governments are following suit with the infrastructure needed to power them.But there is more to electric cars than just a battery and a plug. A whole host of data-related interoperability issues affect how EVs function and will have a significant impact on how quickly and effectively this new generation of vehicles are rolled out.Eurelectric energy and climate policy officer Ivan Asen-Ivanov joins the Policy Dispatch to explain in more detail about these fine-tunings that need to happen to boost EV uptake, as well as lifting the lid on a new report that dives even deeper into the topic.Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Indonesia is the world’s eighth biggest polluter and one of the most populous countries on Earth. Its energy system is largely reliant on coal and its economy is propped up by mass exports of the polluting fossil fuel.But there is appetite to break coal’s hold over Indonesia’s energy future. A $20 billion partnership between the island nation and wealthier countries could hold the key to sparking a green transition. It is just a drop in the ocean but if the cash is invested wisely, it could act as a trigger for longer-term sustainable changes.The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air’s Katherine Hasan joins the episode to explain the sheer scale of the challenge facing Indonesia and how the shift towards green power could actually play out.Enjoy the discussion!Want a free one month trial? Sign up, download the award-winning app and enjoy complimentary access to all exclusive features for one month. Click here to access.Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The majority of countries around the world have some sort of coastline. That means that they have access to natural resources that could soon make a substantial impact on the energy transition: waves and tides.Water is a proven energy source: countries with the right geography have used hydropower to generate green electricity for decades. Now the power of waves and tides, which can also spin turbines, is starting to garner attention. The technologies already exist and new innovations are being trialled at select sites around the world. Now the sector needs investment to scale up.Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe, joins the Policy Dispatch to explain the potential of the sector, what is needed to unlock gigawatts of clean energy and how wave and tidal power is a great complement for more established renewable technologies.Want a free one month trial? Sign up, download the award-winning app and enjoy complimentary access to all exclusive features for one month. Click here to access.Enjoy the episode? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

COP28 generated plenty of headlines during the two weeks it ran. Emission pledges, new alliances, policy agreements, informal deals and various other announcements flooded the airwaves and email inboxes. Add in the emotional aspect that is now a hallmark of top level climate talks and you would be forgiven for finding the whole thing an overwhelming ordeal.That is why more than a month on from the summit, Sam is joined by Linda Kalcher, executive director of pan-European think tank Strategic Perspectives, to look back at what happened in the United Arab Emirates. Linda shares her thoughts on the big issues that were dealt with at the summit and what it all means for policymakers as 2024 gears up to be yet another defining year for the energy transition.Thanks for listening, enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.