Happy new year!
To close out 2025, by popular demand, we’re lifting the paywall on Episode #254, our comprehensive review of the state of the global energy transition with Ember’s Nic Fulghum. This is one of our occasional lagniappe shows—that’s what they call a little something extra in New Orleans, like the 13th bagel in a baker’s dozen. So, all of our listeners on the free feed can see what you’ve been missing! We hope you’ll share it widely with friends and colleagues because it cuts through the noise with hard data on the state of the global energy transition from one of 2025’s most important reports.
Despite claims from both “fossil gradualists” who would like to see the energy transition fail, and “net-zero puritans” who deny that the energy transition is happening at all because emissions are still rising, the transition is very much under way and gathering momentum. Countries are switching to renewables, electrifying transportation and decarbonizing heating faster than even the most seasoned energy analysts thought was possible, while the fossil fuel holdouts still white-knuckling their strategies are quickly dwindling in number.
Ember, a clean energy think tank, published a report in April 2025 titled Global Electricity Review 2025 that plainly lays out these facts. One of its lead authors, Nic Fulghum, joined us in this conversation to discuss the report’s findings in a conversation absolutely packed with the data you can use to win any debate with a transition denier.
Nic outlines how solar is growing faster than any energy source in human history, electrification of transport and heating are advancing quickly enough to materially slash fossil fuel demand, and power generation from fossil fuels is headed into structural decline. Global power-sector emissions may finally be close to peaking, thanks to the accelerating energy transition.
