Climate Week special: Chats with Google and California Forward, assessing the risks to US renewables, our energy transition scenarios, and more.

Climate Week NYC is in full swing! Our Wood Mac team is actively engaged in the heart of it all, with our CEO Jason Liu , SVP Ed Crooks , and Head of Power Renewables Xizhou Zhou leading the charge.

This week's special newsletter is packed with key insights from our discussions in New York, along with carefully selected data and analysis to fuel the energy transition.

The Energy Gang Climate week specials

During Climate Week, we're excited to present a series of special episodes of our podcast "The Energy Gang."

We began by discussing the influence of oil and gas in the energy transition. Ed is joined by Bjorn Otto Sverdup from the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative and climate economist Gernot Wagner from Columbia University.

Listen now on our website, Spotify or Apple podcasts.

Our second episode shifts focus to the challenges of the US electricity system, including the impact of AI. This episode was recorded as a live panel discussion and features insights from notable experts:

• Caroline Golin, Global Head of Energy Market Development and Innovation at Google
• Kate Gordon, Chief Executive of California Forward
• Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU's Climate and Sustainability Lab
• Xizhou Zhou, Head of Power Renewables at Wood Mackenzie

Listen now on our website, Spotify or Apple podcasts.

Assessing the risks to US renewables

With the looming US election on November 5, voters face two very different energy futures. If Trump returns to office, the future of tax credits for low-carbon tech could be at risk. He's criticized renewable energy and called current emissions policies a "Green New Scam." While he may not fully repeal the tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, he plans to redirect unspent funds to other infrastructure projects. However, making changes would require support from Congress, which may not be guaranteed.

Although we do not think an end to the IRA tax credits is the most likely outcome, our analysts have modelled a scenario for what we have called a “severe downside case”, to give an idea of what the impact could be under a second Trump administration.

Read our thoughts and analysis here.

Carbon removals: the 'net' in net zero

A significant gap currently exists between the pace of carbon removal project development and what is required to get to net zero. To bridge the gulf, we believe three key things must happen:

1. Carbon removals must be monetised
2. Governments should set national carbon removal targets.
3. Developers need to deliver projects at cost levels that make removals an attractive option.

In this month’s Horizons report, we look at how carbon removals are emerging as an investment opportunity, the challenges that must be overcome and what investors and governments can do now to scale up solutions. Click here to access the full report.

Wood Mackenzie's Energy transition outlook

Our energy transition outlook report maps three different routes through the energy transition with increasing levels of ambition – but also difficulty and investment. They are our independent assessment of what it would take to deliver on countries’ announced net zero pledges and potential outcomes for the planet.??

Get the full report here, including our base case, country pledges and net zero 2050 scenarios.

The global power market outlook: can global power generation keep up with the energy transition?

lobal power demand is set to rise significantly as the energy transition progresses, with electric vehicles, decarbonised heating, artificial intelligence processing and green hydrogen all contributing strongly. But can power generation keep up, and what are the implications for supply and prices for different regions??

In our regional power Strategic Planning Outlooks, our expert local analysts explore the road ahead for power markets across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe. Click here to read on.

Find out more about our conversations Climate Week, or how our experts can help you move through the energy transition with confidence here.