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The $4.5 Trillion Myth: What the transition really costs
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.
Other Episodes:
15 June 2026
The ElectroTech Revolution: Why this is an economic shift
Is the energy transition simply about replacing one fuel source with another, or are we witnessing a deeper restructuring of the global economy? In...
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The Quiet Retreat: Why Big Oil isn’t leading the transition
In its November 2025 piece, The Quiet Retreat, Carbon Tracker argues that, despite political calls for more oil and gas financing, many international...
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