Explore every episode of the podcast Capital in Transition

One figure has come to dominate discussions about financing the energy transition: $4.5 trillion per year. But what exactly does that figure represent, and does it accurately reflect the scale of the challenge facing capital markets?  

In Episode 2 of Capital in Transition, Mark Campanale and Harry Benham examine how headline transition investment estimates often combine fundamentally different categories of spending, from consumer EV purchases and grid infrastructure to early-stage technologies and long-duration industrial decarbonisation.  

The episode explores what sits behind the headline number and whether it provides an accurate picture of the investment needed to build the next energy system.

In its November 2025 piece, The Quiet Retreat, Carbon Tracker argues that, despite political calls for more oil and gas financing, many international oil companies are acting as if long-term demand growth is uncertain. After a decade of capital discipline, investment in new oil and gas supply has stabilised well below the 2014-2015 peak, and more cash is being returned to shareholders rather than used to expand production. Episode 1 examines what is driving that behaviour, and what it signals for investment decisions across the energy system.