Podcasts · Business · Science

Switched On

Bloomberg

300 episodes

The future of energy, transport, sustainability and more, as told by BNEF analysts. Each week, Dana Perkins and Tom Rowlands-Rees sit down with BloombergNEF (BNEF) analysts to uncover the key findings and stories behind their latest research.

Episodes page 2 of 6

  1. What Really Determines Where Data Centers Get Built

    · 35 min

    The geography of data center development is being redrawn at speed. BloombergNEF is tracking nearly 23 gigawatts of new capacity under construction worldwide, as AI and cloud workloads drive the next phase of digital…

  2. Clean Tech’s US Tariff Whiplash: Analyst Reaction

    · 13 min

    A US Supreme Court ruling is shaking up global clean-tech trade. By striking down Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, the justices have created an opening for some solar equipment and stationary storage batteries.…

  3. Sustainable Finance Enters Its ‘Messy Middle’

    · 37 min

    Sustainable finance has entered what might be its “messy middle.” For years, governments leaned into reporting regulations and other policies in support of ESG-aligned financial activities. Then came 2025, with the…

  4. How Climate Risk Flows From Insurance to City Budgets

    · 31 min

    Climate adaptation is increasingly a matter of financial resilience, not just physical protection. Across the US, climate risk is filtering into rising insurance costs, shifting property values and heavy reliance on…

  5. Beyond the Chip: Rewiring Data Center Supply Chains

    · 34 min

    As AI drives a new wave of data center expansion, the focus is shifting from chips to the infrastructure that powers and cools them. Denser AI workloads are accelerating the move toward liquid cooling, higher-capacity…

  6. How Co-Located Batteries Are Reshaping Solar’s Future

    · 31 min

    After years of rapid expansion, the buildout of solar power is starting to slow. Capacity additions are set to dip slightly in 2026, the first decline since BloombergNEF began tracking the market. At the same time, the…

  7. Power Grid Spending Surges But Capacity Still Lags

    · 29 min

    Investment in power grids is rising fast. Worldwide, spending on this critical piece of infrastructure rose 17% last year. Yet higher outlays are not necessarily translating into new capacity on the ground. Aging…

  8. AI’s Tilt from Clean Power to Gas: Analyst Reaction

    · 12 min

    Data centers are expanding at an unprecedented rate, and their need for fast, reliable electricity is reshaping power generation plans across the US. Grid bottlenecks and delivery timelines are tipping the balance…

  9. Oil, Gas and Metals in 2026: What to Watch This Year

    · 37 min

    Commodity markets are in a period of upheaval. Wars, sanctions and political shifts have already rewired global trade, and a new wave of pressures is coming into focus. A liquefied natural gas glut is looming, China is…

  10. Where Venezuela’s Oil Fits in the Global Market: React

    · 11 min

    What the recent US action in Venezuela means for global oil markets is still an open question. While the prospect of additional oil is drawing interest, high production costs, infrastructure constraints and political…

  11. Progress Amid Fragmentation: Energy Transition to 2030

    · 16 min

    The push toward a lower-carbon global economy ran into strong headwinds last year, and 2026 offers little sense of a clean reset. Political uncertainty, uneven policy support and slower progress in some markets…

  12. LNG, Biofuels and the Future of Maritime Transport

    · 33 min

    Maritime shipping is a notoriously tricky sector to decarbonize, yet options for a greener industry are slowly emerging. Bio-LNG is helping clean up fuel tanks. New ship-building and navigational techniques, from…

  13. Pay-Per-Mile Comes to UK EVs: Analyst Reaction

    · 12 min

    The UK’s latest budget sends mixed consequential signals for electric vehicles. A sharp increase in purchase subsidies is paired with plans for a new pay-per-mile charge, reshaping the economics of EV ownership as…

  14. Surplus for Many, Strain for a Few Transition Metals

    · 29 min

    Global metals markets are shifting faster than anyone expected. Once projected to face widespread shortages, most key energy transition metals now show far more balanced outlooks. Surpluses are pushing battery metal…

  15. Heavy Industry’s Bumpy Path to a Low-Carbon Future

    · 38 min

    Heavy industry faces one of the hardest paths to net zero, yet momentum is starting to build. New decarbonization commitments reached nearly $15 billion by mid-2025. The largest chunk of investment is concentrated in…

  16. From Mini EVs to Mega Scale: China’s Cars Go Global

    · 30 min

    China’s electric vehicle market is moving at extraordinary speed. Generous incentives, trade-in subsidies, and aggressive pricing have fueled mass-market growth, and roughly half of the cars sold in the country today…

  17. How Smart Chips Are Rewiring the Car Market

    · 25 min

    As vehicles become increasingly intelligent and connected, the chips powering them are transforming the automotive industry. Traditional supply chains are giving way to new partnerships, and advanced processors are…

  18. Adaptation and Resilience: A New Investment Imperative

    · 20 min

    How well prepared are we for a warming world? Climate adaptation is quickly moving from theory to strategy, reshaping investment priorities and exposing new risks and opportunities. On this bonus episode, Kobad…

  19. Ranking Resilience: Economies Adapting to Climate Risk

    · 33 min

    Climate is reshaping the global economy. Losses from major weather events are now estimated at $1.4 trillion each year, and as the damaged assets, disrupted supply chains and declines in productivity pile up, climate…

  20. Heavy Duty, Low Carbon: How Trucks Are Going Electric

    · 33 min

    The 85 million medium- and heavy-duty trucks on the road last year were responsible for nearly a 10th of global emissions, and an array of technologies and business models are in trial as a way to cut these vehicles’…

  21. The Hydrogen Hurdle: Costs, Policy and Progress

    · 32 min

    Hydrogen was once the golden child of the energy transition. Yet high costs and limited policy support proved high hurdles for the technology’s progress, global deployment has fallen well short of expectations.…

  22. COP30 Countdown: Ambition, Politics, Reality

    · 32 min

    In a few days’ time, world leaders will gather in Brazil for the COP30 climate conference. It’s been 10 years since the Paris Agreement laid out ambitions for a net-zero future, yet momentum is waning. Fewer than a…

  23. Capital Clash: Clean Energy vs Fossil Fuel Finance

    · 39 min

    Global energy investment is entering a period of realignment. Tariffs, inflation and geopolitical tensions have disrupted financial models, while a backlash against ESG along with renewed fossil fuel demand, driven…

  24. The Business of Breathing Life Into Old Wind Turbines

    · 37 min

    The first generation of wind turbines is now approaching retirement. Developers across Europe, the US and China thus find themselves at a crossroads: should they refurbish and extend the life of existing wind fleets,…

  25. Deep Freeze Risk Raises Stakes for Europe’s Gas Supply

    · 29 min

    Winter is coming, and with it a rise in demand for natural gas. With growing liquified natural gas exports from the US now crossing the Atlantic and filling European storage, the continent looks to be well prepared for…

  26. Wired for the Future: Reinventing the US Power Grid

    · 36 min

    The US power grid is under mounting strain from aging infrastructure, slow interconnections and regional bottlenecks, while demand, complexity and variability are on the rise. Building a future-ready grid will require…

  27. How Data Centers Are Fueling a Global Copper Crunch

    · 29 min

    Copper is a cornerstone of the world’s infrastructure. From transportation to the energy transition to massive new data centers, demand for the metal is everywhere, and supply is feeling the crunch. Copper demand is…

  28. Global Investment in Clean Energy Outpaces US Slump

    · 30 min

    Despite the gloomy headlines in the US, global investment into clean energy technologies is still rising. The first half 2025 saw a record $386 billion flowing towards clean tech, a 10% rise from the same period last…

  29. Data Centers Could Supercharge US Gas Demand

    · 31 min

    Artificial intelligence needs power, and lots of it. If all the data centers in the current US pipeline get built, they could suck up the electricity from 100 nuclear power plants and still be left wanting more. One…

  30. Renewables Bruised, Not Broken, by US Policy Shift

    · 36 min

    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has reshaped the US clean energy landscape. Designed to scale back major US decarbonization programs while promoting fossil fuels, the OBBBA has severely restricted the rollout of solar,…

  31. Direct Air Capture’s Cost Curve Conundrum

    · 31 min

    Right now, there are technologies that can pull carbon dioxide directly out of the air. That could be a critical tool in a world where climate change is rampant. Yet to fulfill this carbon removal potential, the…

  32. Reshaping Trade Flows in a Fragmented World

    · 34 min

    The Trump administration’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs are reshaping global trade flows. With the US currently renegotiating its trade positions with traditional partners and rivals alike, the tariffs’ true impact is yet…

  33. BNEF Pioneers: Making Light Industry More Sustainable

    · 55 min

    Cutting industrial emissions has long been one of the most intractable hurdles in the energy transition. That may finally be changing, as a new generation of smart technologies not only paves the way for abating…

  34. Fueling Change: Cutting Aviation’s Carbon Footprint

    · 33 min

    With air travel on the rise, the need for cleaner aviation is growing. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) presents the simplest means of decarbonization, but it’s expensive. Aircraft that burn less fuel, engines powered…

  35. Harvest Halted: Why Agriculture Funding Is Withering

    · 24 min

    Agriculture is responsible for around a third of global emissions. Yet investment in low-carbon means of growing food has stalled. Venture capital and private equity funding has declined by a massive 76% since 2021,…

  36. Inside the Blackout That Froze the Iberian Power Grid

    · 31 min

    When the Iberian electrical grid blacked out earlier this year, there were real-life consequences. Widespread disruption of transportation, communication networks and essential services left Spain and Portugal…

  37. Bonus: Will Trump’s bill trigger a ‘Big, Beautiful’ energy crunch?

    · 30 min · Bonus

    This week, we explore how the legislation’s attack on renewable energy may push up electricity bills and damage US competitiveness in AI. The tax credits in President Joe Biden’s sprawling Inflation Reduction Act were…

  38. Capex and Investment in the New Industrial Revolution

    · 32 min

    Just how green are the investment portfolios of credit, equity and multi-asset funds? Building on its existing suite of banking and investment ratios, BloombergNEF has introduced the Energy Supply Fund-Enabled Capex…

  39. AI Data Centers: Making Waves in the Energy Demand Sea

    · 30 min

    Everyone is talking about how much energy data centers and artificial intelligence will gobble up in the coming years. Yet AI is just one part of a vast, complex and constantly evolving energy landscape. So how will…

  40. China Drives Global EV Sales as US Support Fades

    · 35 min

    Sales of electric vehicles are set for another record-breaking year. Thanks to falling battery costs and a rise in affordable models, plug-in EVs will represent a quarter of global passenger car sales in 2025. And…

  41. White House Nuclear Energy Push Meets Uncertain Market

    · 36 min

    The Trump administration has made no bones about its desire to revitalize the US’s nuclear power industry. With four new executive orders hot off the president’s desk, nuclear is being treated as a silver bullet,…

  42. Burnt by the Boom: Solar’s Growing Pains

    · 32 min

    Solar module prices have been cratering in recent years, dragged down by global oversupply. Yet while this glut of photovoltaics has hammered manufacturer profits, it has also allowed emerging economies that are hungry…

  43. How Big Oil Is Investing in the Energy Transition

    · 29 min

    The oil and gas sector invested $33.4 billion in the energy transition last year. Yet while this figure suggests that decarbonization is a serious consideration for some fossil-fuel majors, just seven companies…

  44. Getting Decarbonization Megaprojects Off the Ground

    · 37 min

    Europe is making quick work of executing large industrial decarbonization infrastructure projects. The continent now boasts large-scale facilities for carbon capture, storage and transit in the UK, Denmark, the…

  45. Weathering the Storm: Climate Risk Stress Tests

    · 33 min

    Extreme weather has always meant extreme risks for businesses and investors. Yet climate change has varied the calculus, and many businesses are facing new, potentially existential risks as the world and the energy…

  46. CORSIA’s Flight Plan for Credible Carbon Markets

    · 31 min

    A United Nations-led aviation decarbonization scheme could offer some respite for carbon credit markets mired in controversy. With the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, also known as…

  47. Silicon States: US Data Center Expansion in the AI Era

    · 29 min

    The rise of AI data centers is reshaping the outlook for US power markets. Forecast to account for nearly a 10th of all US electricity demand by 2035, data centers are gobbling up power more quickly than electric…

  48. Powering Ahead: The Future of US Renewable Investment

    · 37 min

    Clean energy investment in the US grew $50 billion last year. With interest rates easing and inflation in decline, the market appears to be well positioned to meet skyrocketing power demand from sources like artificial…

  49. Trump’s First 100 Days: Tariffs, Turmoil and Policy

    · 35 min

    One hundred days of the second Trump presidency have passed, and the impact has already been significant. While running for president, Donald Trump put the Inflation Reduction Act, ESG investing and clean energy policy…

  50. Crude Reality: Oil Demand Growth Falls After Tariffs

    · 27 min

    Oil demand growth outlooks have taken a heavy hit in recent weeks. In the wake of the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcements, US business and consumer sentiment tanked and global GDP expectations…

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