Rising global energy demand, security of supply and long-term investment decisions are shaping the future of the energy system. In this episode, Ashraf Al Ghazzawi, Executive Vice President for Strategy and Corporate Development at Saudi Aramco, joins Atul Arya to discuss these dynamics and their impact on energy markets.

Key topics include:

• Global demand growth and regional energy disparities
• Investments in supply needed to keep pace with resource depletion rates
• Energy security through diversity of suppliers
• AI's impact on operational efficiencies
• Disciplined approaches to lower-carbon investments

This episode builds up to CERAWeek 2026, where leaders will examine the intersection of energy security, technology deployment and long-term system resilience. Join the conversation March 23–27, 2026, in Houston. Learn more at ceraweek.com.

Rising electricity demand from AI, data centers, and electrification is reversing decades of flat load growth and reshaping power markets. In this episode, Lawrence Coben, Chair & CEO of NRG Energy, joins Atul to discuss how energy providers are responding to a new era of accelerating demand, tightening capacity and growing infrastructure needs.

The conversation examines how utilities, technology companies and large energy users are adapting—highlighting the growing importance of investment, partnerships and policy frameworks to ensure reliable and affordable power.

Key topics include:

• The return of large-scale electricity demand growth after decades of stagnation
• Implications for industry, large energy users, and residential customers
• Expanding generation capacity, modernizing the grid, and virtual power plant solutions
• Collaboration across utilities, hyperscalers, and technology partners
• Policy and permitting reform as critical enablers of new energy infrastructure

This episode builds up to CERAWeek 2026, where leaders will examine the convergence of demand growth, infrastructure investment and system resilience. Join the conversation March 23–27, 2026, in Houston. Learn more at ceraweek.com

Cloud and AI providers are no longer passive consumers of energy—they are shaping how and where new capacity gets built. In this episode, Atul Arya speaks with Uwem Ukpong, Vice President for Industries at Amazon Web Services (AWS), on how this shift is changing the energy landscape.

The conversation explores how Amazon is scaling its global data center footprint while driving efficiency, investing in carbon-free energy, and working directly with utilities to support grid reliability. A recurring theme in the discussion is that decisions around compute and power are becoming increasingly interconnected, raising the importance of collaboration between data center operators and the energy industry.

The discussion covers:

• AI-driven demand and its implications for power planning
• How cloud service providers engage with utilities and grid operators
• How energy, technology and public policies are coordinated - and where tensions emerge
• Energy efficiency gains, performance per watt improvements and impacts on the grid
• Energy security, sovereignty and system resilience

This conversation builds up to CERAWeek 2026, highlighting the convergence of energy, technology, and policy—and why cross-sector dialogue is becoming essential as digital and physical infrastructure scale together. Join us March 23-27 in Houston, Texas. Learn more at ceraweek.com.

In this episode, Atul speaks with Professor Jun Arima, Chief Sustainability Officer at the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC), on how Japan is recalibrating its energy strategy—placing energy security alongside decarbonization—and what this shift means for Asia and the global energy transition. The conversation explores Japan's evolving approach to nuclear power, renewables and system reliability amid rising power demand driven by AI, digitalization and industrial growth. It also examines JOGMEC's role in enabling technology deployment and investment across Asia, where emissions growth and energy security challenges will shape global climate targets.

Key themes include:

• Japan's latest Strategic Energy Plan and the renewed role of nuclear power
• Balancing energy security, affordability, decarbonization, and public trust
• Mobilizing private capital through risk-sharing and bankable projects
• Technology pathways across hydrogen, ammonia, CCUS, and renewables
• Critical minerals and the geopolitical risks shaping the energy transition

The episode previews the perspective JOGMEC brings to CERAWeek 2026—focused on security, partnership, and execution across a rapidly changing global energy system. Learn more at ceraweek.com

In this episode of the CERAWeek Podcast with Atul Arya, Atul is joined by MIT faculty leaders Professor John R. Williams and Dr. Abel Sanchez to examine the impact of generative AI for senior leaders across the energy value chain. As AI transforms electricity demand while reshaping operations, risk management and competitiveness, the conversation previews a new two-day executive education program launching at CERAWeek 2026: "Generative AI for Energy Executives: Intelligence per Watt."

Key topics include:

• AI's dual role as a major new source of power demand and catalyst for efficiency and resilience
• How AI is reshaping operating models, infrastructure planning and competitive business advantages
• The management, governance and cultural challenges of deploying AI at scale
• Emerging risks around data, reliability and autonomous systems
• Why energy leaders can no longer afford a wait-and-see approach to adopting generative AI

This episode frames the strategic questions energy executives must confront as AI, power systems and geopolitics increasingly converge—setting the stage for the leadership conversations at CERAWeek 2026.

In this episode of the CERAWeek Podcast with Atul Arya, Atul sits down with Varun Sivaram, Founder and CEO of Emerald AI, to examine how the rapid expansion of AI data centers is transforming electricity demand, infrastructure planning and global competition. AI's future hinges on chips innovation, but also on the availability and supply of power. Flexibility, not just efficiency, will determine whether AI can scale without straining power grids or driving up energy costs.

The discussion explores:

• Surging electricity demand from AI data centers and what it means for the U.S. power system
• The growing competition between the U.S. and China, driven by access to power and technology
• How flexibility can ease grid constraints and accelerate data center deployment
• Collaborative models between utilities, hyperscalers, regulators and technology providers is becoming essential

As energy, technology, and geopolitics increasingly converge, these questions will be central to the dialogue at CERAWeek 2026, where leaders will come together to address the future of AI, energy security, and infrastructure. Join us March 23-27, 2026 in Houston, TX. Learn more at ceraweek.com

In the final installment of this two-part series of the CERAWeek Podcast with Atul Arya, guest host Naki Mendoza is joined by Carlos Pascual and Roger Diwan to examine the dynamics shaping the agenda for CERAWeek 2026—and the growing convergence and competition between energy, technology and geopolitics.

Key topics:

• A shifting geopolitical order and the impact of great-power rivalry
• Competition for capital, driven by AI and rising power demand
• The strategic role of critical minerals in energy and technology supply chains
• China's technological positioning and global influence
• Infrastructure, permitting and policy challenges shaping investment decisions

These dynamics sit at the heart of CERAWeek 2026, where global leaders will come together to address energy security, technological transformation, and geopolitical risk. Tune in to the full episode—and join the conversation March 23–27, 2026, in Houston.

Learn more at ceraweek.com

In this special episode of the CERAWeek Podcast with Atul Arya, Daniel Yergin and Atul Arya join guest host Naki Mendoza to reveal the thinking behind the CERAWeek 2026 theme: "Convergence and Competition: Energy, Technology, and Geopolitics." They explore how accelerating linkages between energy and technology—and the geopolitical tensions surrounding them—are reshaping strategy, investment, and global supply chains.

Key forces include:

• AI, forging unprecedented linkages between the energy and technology industries
• Regional markets integrating into global systems
• Growing strategic importance of metals and minerals
• Geopolitical rivalries fracturing long-standing supply chains
• Economic nationalism and trade barriers complicating corporate choices
• New energy sources and technologies competing to power an electrifying world

These dynamics sit at the core of the 2026 theme and will frame the dialogue this March.

Convergence and Competition will drive the conversations at CERAWeek 2026, March 23–27 in Houston. This episode offers a first look—listen now and get ready to join the discussion.

Learn more at ceraweek.com