Letter from the US: Energy needs require a rethink

Tariffs, AI, critical minerals and emerging markets all raise fundamental policy questions

The recent Energy Future Forum kicked off with a global perspective from Daniel Yergin, familiar to the energy world as the author of The Prize and other seminal works. One of his key messages was that a rethink is needed on net zero. The scale of the change needed to hit net-zero targets is far greater than envisaged by policymakers a few years ago; costs are rising and have probably always been under-appreciated. Nowhere near enough progress has been made as we come close to target dates such as 2030. Yergin’s view was neatly summed up by a phrase heard at the conference: “you cannot negotiate with physics.” This chimes with the view of the National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA), whic