The Price Of Everything

 In this episode of The Price of Everything, we're returning to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The SAF landscape is very fresh and emerging as a real focal point in the energy transition space, so there are various ways to look at the SAF market.  Our guest for this episode is going to help us view SAF from a project finance side. John May, Managing Director at Hamilton Clark Sustainable Capital, Inc. is known as perhaps known as the world's leading project financier for SAF project development.  John gives us some fantastic insight into the role investment banking plays in SAF markets, how "hot" SAF is right now globally, the costs associated with commercial scale, and much more. This episode of The Price of Everything was introduced and presented by David Elward. It was produced by Andrew Wheeler at General Index, in collaboration with Sassy Clyde and Fraser Heanue of Janno Media. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, or if you have any ideas and would like to be involved in future episodes, then please get in touch. Learn more about GX and how we’re bringing robust, reliable price transparency to the world’s commodity markets. About Hamilton Clark Sustainable Capital, Inc. Throughout the past 30 years, Hamilton Clark Sustainable Capital, Inc. have assisted public and private companies that are overlooked by large Wall Street firms and by regional investment banking firms that had merged into larger financial institutions.  Typically, their financing transactions are sourced from institutional private equity, venture capital or strategic corporate investors who were looking to extend their R&D and project activities by investing in promising new projects or technologies.  They also assist private companies in selling their business, as well as helping large companies divest of non-core operations, and they advise on shareholder value enhancement engagements.  Based on the prior banking and investment banking experience of their Managing Directors, they have been sought out by companies that want Wall Street experience but without the cost, complexity, or attitude of a Wall Street investment banking engagement.

 For the carbon-intensive energy sources being transitioned away from, commoditisation is far more advanced. But pricing and standards rarely stand still for long and the era of energy transition will challenge existing norms like never before. Oil markets have long been at the vanguard of pricing evolution, and from time to time, we’ll delve into these markets to learn how they may evolve over the transition and ask if they can offer any lessons to those vying to replace them. Producing and transporting nearly a quarter of the worlds crude oil, no discussion on fossil fuel or environmental policy is complete without a deep dive into understanding the workings of the Middle East crude market. To help guide us through this terrain, David is joined by Russell Robertson, Chief Commercial Officer at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). Also on the episode, and joining David as co-host is Aabha Gandhi, Pricing Director at General Index. This episode of The Price of Everything was introduced and presented by David Elward. It was produced by Andrew Wheeler at General Index, in collaboration with Sassy Clyde and Fraser Heanue of Janno Media. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, or if you have any ideas and would like to be involved in future episodes, then please get in touch. Learn more about GX and how we’re bringing robust, reliable price transparency to the world’s commodity markets. About DME DME is the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, home to the world’s third crude benchmark. Launched in 2007, DME brings fair and transparent price discovery and efficient risk management to the East of Suez. The DME lists the Oman Crude Oil Futures contract (DME Oman) as its flagship contract, providing the most fair and transparent crude oil benchmarks for the region. DME Oman is the explicit and sole benchmark for Oman and Dubai crude oil Official Selling Prices (OSPs) – historically established markers for Middle Eastern crude oil exports to Asia. 

Across the energy transition landscape, few markets are expecting the journey to reduce emissions to be plain sailing.  In this episode of the podcast, we're looking at the marine fuels (bunker fuels) space, and like the other markets we've considered so far, particularly SAF, there are a number of challenges including changing fuels, adapting infrastructure, and regulatory dimensions.  David is joined by co-host, Eesha Muneeb, VP Crude at General Index, and guest Rustin Edwards, Head of Energy Procurement and Risk Management at Euronav NV. This episode of The Price of Everything was introduced and presented by David Elward. It was produced by Andrew Wheeler at General Index, in collaboration with Janno Media. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, or if you have any ideas and would like to be involved in future episodes, then please get in touch. Learn more about GX and how we’re bringing robust, reliable price transparency to the world’s commodity markets. About Euronav Euronav and CMB.TECH together represent a group with around 150 ocean-going vessels (including newbuildings) in dry bulk, container shipping, chemical tankers, offshore wind vessels and oil tankers. The group focuses on large marine and industrial applications on hydrogen or ammonia. They also offer hydrogen and ammonia fuel to customers, through own production or third-party producers.

In the landscape of the energy transition, one sector that is harder to reduce carbon emissions than others, is the aviation industry. The challenge has been set, the big goal for the aviation sector is net zero by 2050, and amid the range of routes to achieve that are alternative fuels – namely SAF.  Joining us for this episode and taking us through the SAF markets is Kasper Spitzen from SkyNrg.  This episode of The Price of Everything was introduced and presented by Neil Bradford and David Elward. It was produced by Andrew Wheeler at General Index, in collaboration with Janno Media.  If you’ve enjoyed this episode, or if you have any ideas and would like to be involved in future episodes, then please get in touch.  Learn more about GX and how we’re bringing robust, reliable price transparency to the world’s commodity markets.  About SkyNRG  A global leader in Sustainable Aviation Fuels, SkyNRG are fuelling a new era of progress in aviation! Since 2010, SkyNRG have made it their mission to build up SAF capacity for aviation to meet its 2050 net zero commitment, and in doing so, significantly reduce the industry’s impact on our environment. They work to source, blend and distribute SAF to airlines worldwide and are creating partnerships that significantly increase the supply and production of SAF all over the world.  

Across the energy transition landscape, few markets have attracted as much fanfare and derision in recent years as Voluntary Carbon. “The VCM” as it’s commonly known, has been on a rollercoaster ride. Carbon markets and emissions offsetting which have been around for decades have exploded onto the scene as a way for seemingly anyone and everyone wanting to reduce their carbon footprint. One firm looking to help VCM turn this corner and encourage better standards is BeZero Carbon. GX and BeZero recently announced a partnership to establish clearer links between carbon credit quality and price. And BeZero’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Sebastien Cross joined us for the first episode of the new series. This episode of The Price of Everything was introduced and presented by Neil Bradford and David Elward. It was produced by Andrew Wheeler at General Index, in collaboration with Sassy Clyde and Fraser Heanue of Janno Media. The guest was Sebastien Cross. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, or if you have any ideas and would like to be involved in future episodes, then please get in touch. Learn more about GX and how we’re bringing robust, reliable price transparency to the world’s commodity markets. About BeZero Carbon BeZero is the carbon ratings agency. Its ratings and risk products equip world-leading organisations with the knowledge, tools and confidence to make better climate decisions. Its aim is to scale investment in environmental markets that deliver a sustainable future.