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

Who prices Lithium today and who will trade it in the future? In this episode we dive back into the Lithium supply chains. What forms of Lithium are traded and how are contracts structured and priced? What efforts are the exchanges making to create liquidity and risk management tools and will the trading houses of today dominate Lithium trading in the future? Our guests are Simons Moores, founder and CEO, and Caspar Rawles, Chief Data Officer, at Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, the independent price reporting agency and consultancy focused on battery metals.

This week, journalist and author, Rob Copeland joins to discuss his explosive best-selling book: The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates and the unravelling of a Wall St Legend. Long seen as the paragon of systematic trading, Bridgewater grew to the largest hedge fund in history. Alongside that, its founder, Ray Dalio - a one-time commodities trader - became a business legend with his best-selling books and his devotion to his “Principles”. Rob’s book exposes a very different fund and leader. We dive into the unique culture and management style Ray created which includes 24hr surveillance, inquisitions over bagels and very public take downs. And also how exactly the fund invested. Rob is a finance reporter for the New York Times.

Wind & solar have had a tough year. Rising costs, disrupted supply chains, market economics and weather events have all contributed to the woes that have seen projects parked and stock prices fall. Yet, renewables are crucial to the energy transition and can be cost competitive and profitable in many cases. Just what does it take to build projects and companies that can weather this volatility? How can the sector build resiliency and robustness? Julie McLaughlin and Elizaveta Malashenko of Alvarez & Marsal join us to diagnose the challenges and identify the pathways forward for the renewables sector as outlined in their latest white paper released today. Julie is Managing Director of the US Energy Practice (previously our guest in episode 94 on the still upcoming SEC regulation on climate disclosures) and Elizaveta is a Senior Director focused on the energy transition.

The commodity trading world is adjusting to greater volatility and higher capital costs. Individual companies are needing to increase their market and commodity footprints to navigate the energy transition while many are building trading capabilities for the first time. Commodity Trading Risk Management software, the backbone of any trading platform, needs to keep up. The wrong choice can be very costly. How have CTRM’s evolved over the last 5 years in capability, price and implementation? Sameer Soleja, CEO of Molecule, one of the most modern, cloud-based CTRM, joins us to discuss.

What is the energetic consequence of a simple ‘like’ on social media? Or a zoom call? Modern technology is underpinned by a very real material and energetic infrastructure that is putting immense strain on energy production and the world’s natural resources. 5G and AI have supercharged this consumption. Yet, technology companies have been successful in creating a “dematerialized” perception. The energy transition and sustainability emphasis has focused largely on the energy & commodities world while tech is seen by many as clean and green. It is not. This is the story our guest, investigative journalist and author, Guillaume Pitron has told in his book “The Dark Cloud” published in English this year by Scribe.

In 2023, Renewables have struggled with rising costs and higher interest rates. Alongside, there is a growing palpable shift in the perceptions, and expectations of nuclear power’s role in the energy transition. Is this a structural shift? Natural gas remains the bridge fuel but can shale production keep up with growing US exports and if not, what will that mean? in this episode, Adam Rozencwajg, Managing Partner of Natural Resource investor Goehring and Rozencwajg rejoins us to discuss the structural shifts and shifting sentiments in energy in 2023 and what 2024 may hold in store.