Semafor Net Zero: One Good Text
After winning a $20 billion contract with Google, Intersect Power wants to “create a whole new class of real estate.”
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When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it triggered an immediate humanitarian crisis. But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decisions also triggered an energy crisis that shook Europe’s economies and put their energy transition plans to the test.
Join host Dr. Melissa Lott, CGEP Director of Research, as we take a deep dive into the European energy crisis and explore the history, politics, and energy systems of Germany and Poland. In this season, we’ll examine whether Germany’s and Poland’s short-term efforts to solve the energy crisis conflict with their long-term goals of tackling the climate crisis.
One year into the war, we explore the history of how the EU became so dependent on Russian oil and gas. And will the conflict in Ukraine accelerate or slow down Europe’s push toward green energy? Find out in Season 3 of The Big Switch.
Listen to the trailer, and make sure you’re following the podcast when the season drops on June 26th.
So far over this season we've traced the global lithium-ion battery supply chain from mining to processing to manufacturing. And we've put it all into a geopolitical and economic context.
China has been the world's biggest battery manufacturer for over a decade. By 2022, according to the IEA, China manufactured 76% of the world's batteries. But that's changing.
Batteries can replace gasoline in our cars, or diesel in our generators with electricity. But batteries and petroleum-based fuels share something in common: they both rely on energy-intensive processes to turn extracted materials into something useful.
To produce enough batteries to reach global net-zero goals, the International Energy Agency says we'll need to increase production of critical minerals by six fold by 2040. It's a monumental task.
Saudi Arabia’s recent moves into the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market may be a sign the giant oil exporter is looking to expand into a rapidly growing and politically influential market it had long ignored.
On April 30, 2025, the United States and Ukraine signed a long-anticipated economic partnership agreement establishing the US–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.
The Trump administration may release a blueprint for a US sovereign wealth fund (SWF) in early May after the president signed an executive order in February giving the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce 90 days to develop a plan.
President Donald Trump’s second term has begun with sweeping changes, just as the candidate promised: tariffs instituted against allies and adversaries alike, budgets and programs cut, and entire agencies shuttered.