The HC Insider Podcast: Conversations in Energy & Commodities HC Insider, Paul Chapman

On April 16th, we hosted a live podcast event in Geneva to celebrate the launch of our office there, sponsored by Artis Works and Allasso to discuss the past, current and future status of Switzerland as a commodities trading hub. Why and how did Switzerland become the key commodities trading hub in Europe? What are the key components of a thriving ecosystem? How have sanctions and the rise of the UAE threatened this? And what does the future hold with the energy transition and digitization. Our panelists were Simon Collins, CEO of Tradecloud and Chairman of HC Group, Ivo Sarjanovic, Professor at the University of Geneva, Sanctions and trade finance expert Sarah Hunt, Partner at HFW and Florence Schurch, Secretary General of the Swiss shipping and trading association, SuisseNegoce.

In this episode, Ariel Perez, Head of Environmental Products at Hartree Partners, returns to update us on the state of the carbon markets over the last two years in a more inflationary and unstable world? Global commodity leaders are calling for a price for carbon – are we any closer? How have compliance markets fared in the energy crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Have compliance markets expanded globally? How have voluntary markets fared? What were the key outcomes from COP28 and what does the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism mean for the world? Could this be the catalyst for a global carbon pricing mechanism that can provide the much needed basis for market based solutions to the energy crisis.

In this bonus episode, I give my views on the key takeaways from this year's FT Commodities Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. This annual gathering of the top executives and thinkers in commodities is one of the key opportunities to take the pulse of the sector and hear from its leading thinkers. This is my take on what was top of mind.

In this episode we discuss the impact of AI on the future of commodities trading . What does it mean for forecasting? What does it mean for the commodity trading platform of the future? What are the nascent tools today and how might they develop? What does it mean data, costs and talent? Our guest is Felipe Elink Schuurman, CEO & Founder of Sparta Commodities, an intelligence and forecasting company for the commodities sector.

The US Dollar has been the world’s global reserve currency since the Second World War, underpinning global trade and US dominance. However, as our guest argues, its use as a global policy tool such as in sanctions, increasing geopolitical competition and political instability at home is threatening its status. Various countries and blocs are attempting to circumvent dollar trades. Yet, perhaps, the dollar’s biggest threat comes from blockchain and especially Bitcoin. What does that mean for commodities and the world? Our guest is Jonah Van Bourg, former oil derivatives trader at Goldman Sachs and Vitol, crypto and precious metals trader at DRW and now helping to build Onyx Commodities. Jonah is also the co-host of the 1000x podcast.

In this bonus episode, Anton Posner, CEO of Mercury Resources joins us to discuss the impact of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse on March 26 on the commodities markets in the domestic US and globally. The Port of Baltimore is a major commodities hub - especially for coal and metal. What does that mean for logistics and markets?