Watt Matters: The FORESIGHT energy transition podcast

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. This week marks the end of our series on the nexus of competitiveness and the energy transition. Over the past seven episodes, we've delved into the key questions facing European industry as it strives for economic strength and decarbonisation. In this final episode, David, Jan, and...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. The cost of power is inextricably linked to Europe’s competitiveness. Bram Claeys from the Regulatory Assistance Project joins Watt Matters to discuss the impact recent price fluctuations have had on European industry and what a decarbonised economy would mean for energy bills Power...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. The wind sector could be a key pillar of the European Union’s clean energy future and help bolster the bloc’s competitiveness, but the industry faces significant challenges. From permitting roadblocks to supply chain bottlenecks, the wind sector is struggling to meet installation ta...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Making Europe’s industry more efficient can have big benefits: cutting energy consumption, boosting productivity, providing international market advantages and allowing companies to hit green goals.  There are low hanging fruits that industries can take advantage of, but there...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Europe’s energy-thirsty industries are suffering from high power prices, are at risk of being outpaced by global competitors and need to decarbonise to meet the European Union’s green targets. The energy transition can help address all of this, by increasing electrification, energy...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Since his return to the White House, President Donald Trump has caused shock waves across global trade. On this episode of Watt Matters, Joseph Francois from the World Trade Institute joins the team to discuss the new trade paradigm and what it means for the energy transition The wo...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. China is the world’s biggest emitter but also a key driver of the energy transition. The country is responsible for the biggest renewables rollout but also commissioned 70% of new coal capacity in 2024. The country has also been accused of unfair practices, with markets like the Eur...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. A flexible grid underpins Europe’s energy transition and helps bring more renewables online. According to statistics from SolarPower Europe, it could also bring big benefits, including saving the European Union €30 billion and avoiding 151 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Today’s uncertain geopolitical context and the economic power of the United States, China, and others mean Europe must find new ways to collaborate and compete in the global economy. By doing so, European countries can create jobs, ensure growth, and, equally importantly, decarbonis...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. The energy transition is gaining momentum. For our Watt Matters series on Energy in 2030, we’ve seen growing interest in new ways to decarbonise our world and tackle climate change. We’ve looked at carbon removals, industrial electrification, ground source heat pumps, and other inno...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Digitalisation holds big benefits for energy systems, including allowing more renewables to be integrated and providing a picture of what’s happening across the entire system without requiring any physical upgrades. When it comes to asset management, digitalisation can help companie...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Carbon removals technologies go beyond the more traditional carbon capture or tree-planting. They look at how to draw carbon directly out of the air so it can no longer cause the damaging greenhouse effect.  Research into this area is ramping up, with a number of options on the...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Electrifying as many sectors as possible will play a significant role in reducing emissions to net zero by mid-century.  While many industrial processes can be easily switched to an electricity-based system, some are proving more difficult. As 2030 approaches, efforts to electr...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. We ask every guest who enters the Watt Matters studio to look into their crystal ball and give their vision of the energy sector in ten-to-twenty years. Their answers are often aspirational but always revealing.   Many market observers provide their own visions for the fut...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. By minimising our energy needs, we can accelerate our journey to net zero, making the energy transition not only quicker but also more affordable.  The COP28 climate negotiations in 2023 saw the successful “triple-up, double-down” campaign, which included the promise to double...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Wind and solar energy tend to be the main focus when we talk about renewable energy, but geothermal energy also offers many benefits; it is a constant energy source and offers the potential to decarbonise heating and cooling. Ground-source heat pumps take advantage of the heat under...

The energy transition needs to happen across society, including in our homes. Big shifts are expected in consumer demand and the technology we use, including electric vehicles and heat pumps. To make the transition a success, it’s key that these elements work in the real world, and that households are involved in the transition and experience the benefits of a decarbonised society. For the second...

Last year’s COP28 climate conference saw some big pledges, including tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 and agreeing to transition away from fossil fuels. With COP29 and COP30 on the horizon, it’s important to look at what is needed in the run-up to 2030 to get the world on track to meet its energy and climate goals. How will that change the way our world looks? And what ca...

A circular approach, which disconnects economic activity from the ever-increasing consumption of natural resources, has emerged as a key strategy for making our societies more sustainable and helping mitigate the climate crisis. Circularity is particularly important for our built environment, as construction and renovation sites alone currently generate over a third of the waste that ends up in Eu...

As Europe progresses towards achieving a climate-neutral economy by 2050, the concept of circularity has emerged as a powerful approach to reducing emissions, minimising waste and promoting sustainability.   Adopting a more circular economy entails Europe transitioning from its linear economic model of producing, consuming, and disposing of materials to new approaches that aim to keep materia...

With the latest round of elections for the European Parliament just around the corner, and the formation of a new Commission following closely behind, issues around the energy sector are at the forefront of political discourse.  Joining us on Watt Matters this week to discuss how the next era of European lawmakers could approach decarbonisation efforts is Linda Kalcher, executive director of...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Addressing methane emissions is key if the world is to succeed in limiting global warming and preventing drastic climate change. In the short-term, it is significantly more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide. But to properly address the world’s methane problem, there needs...

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Currently, 10-25% of EU buildings host solar panels and the rooftop market continues to grow. It could see another boost as Europe agrees new support for the industry. This includes the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which introduces an EU Solar Standard, expected to...

Record falls in fossil fuels and record levels of renewables - Sarah Brown from think tank Ember joins the Watt Matters team to discuss Europe’s latest electricity stats The EU’s electricity transition is in full swing Ember’s European Electricity Review 2024 concludes. The report celebrates new records, including a record fall in both fossil generation and CO2 emissions. Renewables are on the up....

From climate change to air pollution, there are a lot of issues that need solving in the 21st century. With all the doom and gloom, it’s hard to see that some progress has actually been made. Hannah Ritchie is a researcher and deputy editor at the University of Oxford’s Our World In Data publication. Her new book “Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable...