There is a fundamental mismatch between forecasted demand and supply for those metals vital for energy transition and EVs. What are the supply challenges? And what are the solutions, if stated goals and public demand are to be met? What roles will policy, investment and market solutions play and how can the metal producers, traders and consumers prepare and profit from what will undoubtedly be one of the biggest stories in commodities over the next decade. Our guest, Chris Berry, founder of House Mountain Partners, a battery metal advisory firm, takes on this challenging subject.To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insiderTo connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

Technology is revolutionizing agriculture and its markets. Over the last two decades, rapid strides have been made in the business of farming. Genetics is de-commoditizing crops; in the future, constituent yields of oils and proteins will be far more likely to drive pricing than crop itself. Automation of planting, plant care and harvesting is boosting yield. Both technologies are tackling sustainability and driving the drastic reinvention of farm equipment and practices. At the heart of all this lies data. Across the globe, planting and yield data is being collected, uploaded and analyzed. How this data is owned and used could transform the agri commodity markets. Think crop reports on a real time, global basis. To guide us through this quiet revolution is Barrett Barr, Global Head of Business Development, Seeds for Syngenta and former strategist, technologist and economist for John Deere. To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insiderTo connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

Emerging technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence are unlocking the capacity to efficiently trace, track and share ownership of physical assets at a granular level. Digitalization not only provides the ability to interconnect entire value chains from origin through to trading but can also give commodities utility as a form of payments. Could commodities become new currencies, powering circular economies that de-risk all participants? Could the future take us back to a barter economy where the value of one digital asset is exchanged for the value of another? Our guest in this episode is pioneering just this concept. Brent de Jong is the Chairman of Emergent Technology & Payments which has launched G-Coin©, a digital gold token that can be used to save, send, and spend Responsible Gold™ - an idea that conceptually could be applied to all physical commodities. Brent is also the Managing Partner of De Jong Capital, an investment firm focused on the commodities world. To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insiderTo connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

Are we in a super-cycle or is it a chimera generated by the short-term impacts of COVID and trade wars? What’s the role of energy transition and redistributive policies around the world? How long will it last and how high will prices go? This episode is a recording of a panel discussion which host Paul Chapman moderated at the Reuters Events Commodity Trading 2021. The panelists represent the leading economists in the commodities world: Jeff Currie, Global Head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs; Saad Rahim, Chief Ecnomist at Trafigura; Derek Sammann, Global Head of Commodity and Options at CME Group and Alex Booth, Head of Research for Kpler. To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insiderTo connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

With COP26, voluntary carbon credits, Green Financing and shrinking opportunities in established markets, energy investors and producers are looking to emerging and frontier markets for future projects. Such projects presents great challenges, some new and some old. In this episode, our guest Francis Ugboma guides us through some of the additional complexity and hurdles to take on this growing sector. Francis has a long career in energy and emerging markets and is the author of the recently published book Developing Sustainable Energy Projects in Emerging Markets.To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insider To connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

Demand for commodity financing is skyrocketing as prices, volumes and margin calls are on the rise. However, after a decade of low demand, low returns and pressure from a variety of sources, the supply of liquidity is far more constrained. Many banks, who had prominent roles in commodity finance in the 2000s have pulled back entirely while newer entrants often lack the deep product expertise to provide the services needed. Now volatility, high prices and supply chain challenges have left traders and merchants scrambling to finance their positions and capture the opportunities presented. How much of a risk does this present to the commodity trading world? What will happen to the availability and costof financing and how are companies responding? Will the response only add risk to the system? Guiding us through the tightening world of commodity finance and its ramifications is Lewis Hart, Managing Director at Brown Brothers Harriman where he leads the firm’s Commodities & Logistics and Corporate Banking businesses.To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insider To connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

Record prices, extreme volatility, net-zero carbon demands, liquidity challenges and disrupted supply chains are the ‘new normal’ in commodities. Planning for 2022 and beyond in this environment is incredibly hard. In this episode, we go into the boardrooms of traders, producers and consumers to understand the challenges they face and the decisions to make to survive and thrive in this uncertain world. Our guest is McKinsey’s Partner Xavier Veillard, who leads the commodity trading practice. Xavier takes us on a guided tour on which topics (and why) are on the agenda and why this ‘new normal’ is likely here for the long term. To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insider To connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

In this episode, we explore the hidden, dark side of the energy transition. The West offshored to Asia the pollution stemming from the mining and processing of the key metals and products needed for the modem world, from electric cars to defense technology. In doing so has it also irrevocably ceded dominance to China in the future digital and energy economy? And in a world of rising prices, the EV revolution and increasing tension, will these metals become the new strategic resource and how far can and will China leverage its position. And what was the environmental cost to this dominance? Our guest is the journalist, author and documentary maker,  Guillaume Pitron. Guillaume’s book, The Rare Metals War, has just been published in English and the product of decade of research into this hidden world. To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insider To connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

Hydrogen is touted as a key component in energy transition, providing a carbon-free source of energy from transportation to heating our homes, while conveniently using existing oil & gas infrastructure and reserves. If so, why haven’t we built a hydrogen economy already? Is the hydrogen economy more hype than hope? What are its challenges from the immutable laws of thermodynamics, to technology, to safety and cost that have limited it to date?  And as the commodity community begins to focus on its, what questions need to be asked. Our guest is Paul Martin, a chemical process engineer with a long association with hydrogen and its uses. Paul, a well-known thinker and writer on energy transition, walks us through the science and why hydrogen might continue to play a minimal, even negative, role in the energy transition story. To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insider To connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/

The shipping market is treacherously cyclical. Adding the pandemic, digitization, trade wars and energy transition has made this lynchpin of the global energy markets one of most challenging segments to operate in and to plan for the future. What drives the tanker market? What are the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic? What does digitization mean for the market structure and talent? And just what will energy transition mean for owners, operators and traders over the next decade. Our guest is Richard Matthews, Director of Consultancy & Research at E.A.Gibsons the shipbroker, who guides us through the volatile world of tankers. To find out more about HC and our talent advisory services in the energy & commodities sector visit www.hcgroup.global/hc-insiderTo connect with our host Paul Chapman, you can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/paulchapmanhc/