Energy policy

Energy, though, Ted, is a really big deal for homes and also, of course, for businesses.

What's going on with energy policy right now?

Well, this was another reform announcement.

They were going to cut energy bills by £250 a year within the first 100 days of their government.

We're in crisis mode.

We're gonna talk with Edward Ring, the director of Water and Energy Policy at the California Policy Center.

Edward, welcome to the show.

Welcome back.

Well, Edward has plenty of answers.

Here we go.

Edward Ring is on fire today, the Director of Water and Energy Policy at the California Policy Center.

Well, Edward, you're spot on.

Right.

Yeah, it's sort of fascinating to me how it's, I mean, it honestly underscores just what a kind of flashpoint energy policy, utility bills, data centers, anything connected with energy has become in every political spectrum lately.

Yeah, that's kind of like this revenge against the machines kind of thing going on between all like the anti-data center and the anti-flock stuff that's going on too.

Yeah, I haven't been talking to voters about this specifically, but I'm excited to talk to them when we get out there this fall.

I believe that the root cause stems from Christianity, that we are a Protestant people and, and, and thus we put a lot of emphasis on our conscience.

Energy policy, Denmark is seen as a model.

Well, I, I disagree.

[gentle music]

So, so it's, um, it's very important.

Now, I think in a European and, and Danish context, our lack of, or our poor competitiveness is not due to social trust levels, uh, are, are changing.

It's due to our own, um, amounts of regulation and red tape and, uh, high taxes and energy policy, uh-

Energy policy, Denmark is seen as a model.

Today, Abu Dhabi's ascent.

Joining us today is Dr. Neil Quilliam, Energy Policy, Geopolitics, and Foreign Affairs Specialist and previous head of Chatham House's Future Dynamics in the Gulf project.

Our conversation is moderated by Courtney Doggart, President of Network 2020.

Thank you, Neil, so much for joining us today.

Before we get to the news hook that really prompted us to have this conversation, I wanted to talk a little bit about your experience.

And one of the reasons why we wanted you in particular is because you have this energy experience, you have this understanding of the politics, and you've lived and worked in the region, which I think is critical today.

So having lived and worked across Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Jordan, and across all of these sectors of government, energy, geopolitical risk, what did working in the region teach you about the UAE that someone who might just be looking at, let's say, headline diplomacy or... energy policy might miss?

Thank you.

They've helped us on a number of different issues.

Uh, I think we, we both agree, um, that California energy policy needs to make sure that we ha- we keep the good jobs here.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and so they have been very helpful and, and we support the California Building and Trades in, in everything we do.

I know you're, you're, um, you're busy running a refinery, so you, you, you can't just be at cocktail parties talking about-

[laughs]

... energy policy all the time.

Yeah.

So should we be pumping out as much CO2 into the atmosphere as we can? Absolutely no, we shouldn't be.

Should we have a sensible energy policy that is about making sure that we actually grow our economy and keep our people wealthy and also have the money to make the adjustments we're going to have to make to the fact that climate will change? And we can't control that.

That's the real question.

It's not about do you believe climate change or whatever.

Don't, don't worry about reading the whole PhD.

I would not recommend that, but yes, we published a poli- uh, a paper in Energy Policy.

Okay.

Which is on the, on the website of the school, yeah?

And it also affected the grid stability for EV charging.

So her energy policy was a mix of boldness and caution.

Exactly.

She made one bold move, the nuclear phaseout, but she was less bold in building new renewable capacity, especially wind.

When you're in a position of influence, staying quiet while bombs fall on hospitals and schools is a huge red flag.

It raises questions about whether Vance sees Ukraine as a pawn in energy politics rather than a partner needing protection.

I think the real danger here is that both sides are rationalizing their positions.

On one hand, critics say Vance is indifferent to civilian suffering.