As the world adjusts to a changing political landscape, the CERAWeek 2025 theme— “Moving Ahead: Energy strategies for a complex world”—rang particularly timely.
EFIF leadership contributed to several discussions in Houston, Texas, from March 10-14, speaking on new frontiers in energy innovation and highlighting new landmark EFIF research published ahead of CERAWeek on topics ranging from nuclear power scaling, energy finance, electricity load growth, and carbon management.
Kicking off EFIF’s on-the-ground engagement, on March 10, EFIF Founder and CEO Ernest J. Moniz joined a panel discussion moderated by Atul Arya of S&P Global titled “Climate Change: What are the priorities?” alongside Fredd Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund and Bob Dudley of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative. Moniz highlighted the need for a new approach to the energy “trilemma,” (i.e., energy issues in the context of climate change, energy security, and equity), emphasizing that this is one conversation: “If we don’t make progress on all of them, we impede our progress on all of them,” he said.
Moniz also joined an Agora session on day one of CERAWeek titled, “Energy at the Crossroads: Technologies, policies and business models,” which centered on the commitment to creating systems that encourage efficient and cost-effective new energy development. He spoke to the significant learning-by-doing that took place in the United Arab Emirates in the construction of the Barakah nuclear energy plant, particularly in cost reductions throughout the building process:
“The fourth reactor came in at about half the cost of the first reactor,” Moniz said. “We have to figure out what is the system that manages to take advantage of all the learning opportunities, to drive costs down.” In October 2024, EFIF’s Energy Futures Finance Forum (EF3), in conjunction with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, published related, in-depth research exploring pathways to mitigate costs and risk associated with new nuclear construction in the United States.
On day two, Moniz moderated a session on the challenges in financing clean energy initiatives. He joined BP’s Marisa Buchanan and Alterra’s H.E. Majid Al Suwaidi, where they discussed the role that policy has in enabling investment in and development of new clean energy projects. Buchanan stated that there is global uncertainty around policies that incentivize energy companies to push forward more expensive but lower-carbon cleaner fuel sources: “For investors, uncertainty can be really disruptive,” Buchanan said. Eliminating as much uncertainty as possible—for consumers and energy providers alike—is a winning strategy for all, they agreed.
Moniz also spoke at a strategic roundtable, “A Multidimensional Journey: India’s economic and energy transitions,” where he joined the stage with Deepa Kumar of S&P Global, Akhil Mehrotra of Pipeline Infrastructure Limited, and Spencer Dale of BP. Their discussion focused on the future of India’s energy sector and its growing economy, which relies heavily on coal. During the roundtable, Moniz made the case for nuclear energy as a piece of this energy security puzzle. While acknowledging land availability can be a barrier in India, Moniz noted the relatively small footprint of nuclear power, and stated, “I think nuclear just fits in” within the country’s land constraints.
Also speaking at CERAWeek was EFIF’s new Chief Operating Officer, April Salas, who joined the organization in January. Salas took part in an Agora session on “Sparking Innovation through Energy Policy” on March 13. This session was moderated by Roman Kramarchuk of S&P Global, and Salas spoke with Derek Walker of Dartmouth’s Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society and Andy Brooks of the North Sea Transition Authority.
Panelists focused on the impact of policy on innovation in the energy sector, and shared where they see the most exciting developments taking place. Salas discussed the benefits of regionalization and how those solutions can be scaled up when brought to global energy markets: “I think we’re going to see a lot of innovative structures … to bring these appropriately regionalized best solutions to market,” Salas said.
EFIF Executive Vice President and Executive Director of H2DI, Alex Kizer, also engaged in an Agora session on “Hydrogen Demand: Incentives, strategies and engagement,” joined by Naomi Boness of the Stanford Natural Gas Initiative and Stanford Hydrogen Initiative, Kate Macfarlane of Linde, and moderated by Brian Murphy of S&P Global. The panelists explored global hydrogen demand and the critical components to create sustainable markets.
Kizer stated, “There is significant interest in buying this lower carbon hydrogen product across the country.” The next step is meeting this demand with stable pricing. Despite turmoil in markets and policy, Kizer said he sees real potential to meet emissions mandates across the country with hydrogen fuels. The group agreed that a critical component of increasing viability is making sure that producers can understand what tax credits and funding support they’re able to provide in their pricing.
The EFIF team’s time at CERAWeek 2025 included substantive dialogue with colleagues and peers, both onstage and in meetings. We are heartened by the ongoing and forward-thinking conversations. One of the biggest takeaways from the CERAWeek mainstage is that natural gas and coal may be the first beneficiaries of the current administration’s declared energy emergency. With this, the need for effective and efficient low-carbon energy technologies has never been more pressing.
Want to read more about EFIF perspectives at CERAWeek? Check out some highlights in this piece from The New York Times and this article from Cipher.
– Alex Miller, Communications Associate
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