Commodities Focus

California has one of the most aggressive clean energy goals in the US and the state leads the US in utility-scale solar capacity and battery storage capacity. More recently, discussions have picked up regarding offshore wind in the West. Platts power news editor Kassia Micek discussed with Commissioner Karen Douglas the work the California Energy Commission is doing to develop offshore wind along the West Coast.

Germany goes to the polls on September 26 in the most open contest for years. As Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to step down, S&P Global Platts’ news and analytics experts discuss the daunting energy challenges facing her successor. The rally in natural gas prices adds uncertainty and may overshadow coalition talks that will set the framework for the coming four years as the new government has to put Europe’s biggest economy on track for the new 2045 net zero target.

Leaders in the public and private sector are faced with the possibility of more frequent and intense weather events -- winter storms, heat waves, cyclones, wildfires -- as anthropogenic climate change continues, and must decide whether they should "price in" the risk of such events in building more robust and sustainable energy infrastructure. Michael Webber, chief technology officer at Energy Impact Partners, discusses the opportunities and challenges to that approach with Mark Watson, S&P Global Platts senior editor for North American electricity and gas, and Kieran Kemmerer, power sector analyst at Platts Analytics.

Tariff uncertainty, high freight rates, labor issues and other dynamics have combined with supply constraints and healthy demand to elevate global aluminum premiums. And all that’s happening as the value chain -- from producers to end-users -- is grappling with decarbonization and other big-picture challenges. Hear from S&P Global Platts senior North America aluminum editors Tina Allagh and Sarah Baltic, along with Christopher Davis, Platts Regional Pricing Director for Metals in the Americas, about how US market participants are navigating these difficult times and more.

Companies operating in Latin America have set their eyes on nascent opportunities in the region like Guyana and Brazil, as Mexico has put the liberalization of its upstream sector on hold. But the attractiveness of the 25 billion barrels of oil equivalent found in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico has not been lost because of politics. We talked with Sergio Pimentel, a partner at Mexico City consultancy Agon and a former official at CNH, Mexico's energy regulator, about the country's regulations and how they can still be used to bring investment into the country. We also talked with Bill Fuller of S&P Global Platts Analytics about the potential for Mexico's reserves and how private companies who have production contacts have performed in recent years.

New York has one of the most aggressive decarbonization plans in the country through its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which sets goals for building several gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, including offshore wind, battery storage and the transmission lines to connect those resources with urban demand centers, particularly New York City. In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer with S&P Global Platts, speaks with Sophie Brochu, CEO of Hydro Québec, whose company is active in the transition to cleaner energy sources and has submitted a proposal to transport hydropower from Québec’s large network of reservoirs into New York City via a high-voltage direct-current transmission line. Additionally, Kieran Kemmerer, power market analyst with S&P Global Platts Analytics, offers perspective on the outlook for New York's clean energy ambitions and how the state’s goals could impact power supply, demand, and pricing dynamics.

Sustainability is currently a key theme in the world of commodities. Recycled plastics and recycled metals have garnered considerable attention given how widely plastics and metals are used in downstream consumer products including food packaging and electronics. S&P Global Platts market experts Samuel Chin, Miranda Zhang, and Eric Su explore the differences and similarities of these materials and their markets, and offer insights on how both commodities fit into the bigger picture of sustainability in Asia.

Container shipping markets have been tagged as red hot because base box rates have more than quintupled since the market began its steep hike north in May 2020 amid the pandemic's operational and logistical constraints. But because exorbitantly high base rates are no longer the ticket to getting a box on a ship or a guarantee of timely delivery, the market has been shaped by measures such as carriers' premium services and surcharges that can more than double base rates. S&P Global Platts Americas shipping senior managing editor Barbara Troner talks to Platts global container market experts Parisha Tyagi in Gurgaon, George Griffiths in London and David Lademan in Houston about how unusual market fundamentals make for unorthodox market behavior on all sides of the equation.

Jonty Rushforth, Senior Director of Markets and Energy Transition, and Paula VanLaningham, Platts Global Head of Carbon, talk about the devastating wildfires sweeping across the globe and the challenges facing Nature-Based Carbon Credits as the market reckons with Offset Permanence in the face of rising global temperatures. For more discussions on all topics related to the Energy Transition, make sure to tune in to the Platts Future Energy podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and our website.

Plastic usage and recycling has become a hot-button topic recently, as the push for sustainable products is forefront in manufacturing goals. Aluminum has long been touted the beverage package of choice because of the perceived sustainability it offers, but are the two closer in the race for sustainability than we think? We take a closer look at the economic and environmental sustainability of recycling a can versus recycling a plastic bottle, and what it means for the industry at large.