Axios AM Thought Bubble

March 11, 2025
π’ Greetings from Houston, where Axios Generate's Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman are covering CERAWeek, the Super Bowl of the energy world.
- With thousands of attendees and big-name energy execs from across the globe, it's a great place to take the pulse.
Smart Brevityβ’ count: 518 words, a 2-min. read.
1 big thing: "Pragmatic" climate reset

HOUSTON β A potent combo of MAGA policy and global energy demand is bringing a harsh reality check to climate change efforts, Axios' Ben Geman writes.
- Why it matters: Powerful execs gathered here for the marquee U.S. energy conference are declaring a new realism β even as temperatures keep shattering records.
"Energy realism is taking center stage," Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, head of UAE state energy giant Adnoc, said today in remarks at CERAWeek by S&P Global.
- "We need every energy option available. We need it all," he said, citing oil, gas, nuclear and renewables.
BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink β once a leading Wall Street advocate for net-zero emissions goals β told the audience: "Across the board, we have to think about power and energy in a pragmatic way."
- American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers told Axios: "An emerging theme that I've seen already is kind of: We're back to energy pragmatism."
π The big picture: Comments here from U.S. and global execs distill what's been building in C-suites and across governments.
- The rapid spread of zero-carbon energy is still too slow for net-zero emissions aims. And the willingness to absorb the political and economic costs of a faster transition is waning.
π¬ Zoom in: A new Bain & Co. survey of hundreds of executives finds that just 32% expect the world to hit net-zero emissions in 2050, down from 50% in prior surveys.
- There's no single reason for the rethink. But several forces are at work, including ...
πΊπΈ 1. The U.S. political pivot, with Trump 2.0 officials reversing Biden-era policies and abandoning multilateral climate efforts.
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright declared that global warming needs to be knocked down on the priority list.
- "The previous administration's policy was focused myopically on climate change, with people as simply collateral damage," he said in his conference-opening speech.
πͺπΊ 2. Even in the EU, where climate has long been a bigger priority, nations are recalibrating tradeoffs between green goals and industrial competitiveness.
- Recent moves include giving automakers more flexibility on emissions and easing rules on corporate emissions reporting.
π» 3. AI and other new technologies are pushing up electricity demand, with tech companies seeking energy of all sorts.
- Fink described his conversations with "hyperscalers" β large-scale cloud service providers offering data and computing services.
- "About four years ago, they would say: 'If we're building a data center, it must be with renewables,'" Fink said. "About two years ago, they said: 'We prefer renewables.' And today, they care about power."
π 4. Coal, oil and natural gas use keep rising in developing nations as people aspire to higher living standards.
The bottom line: Climate and clean tech remain big themes at CERAWeek. But the vibe has shifted.
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