SmarterMarkets™

We continue Catching Up On Climate this week by welcoming Alexia Kelly back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Alexia is Managing Director of Carbon Policy and Markets Initiative at High Tide Foundation. David Greely sits down with Alexia to discuss what's been happening beneath the quiet surface of the voluntary carbon markets in order to get them ready for prime time and unlock the institutional capital these markets need.

This week, we kick off our new series, Catching Up On Climate, where we'll be discussing the state of the climate, the energy transition, and carbon markets going into Climate Week New York City 2025. We begin our new series by welcoming David Shukman back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Shukman is a journalist and former Science Editor at the BBC. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Shukman to catch up on how our experience of climate change is becoming more local and immediate, how governments and corporations are responding, and how the stories we tell – and the way we tell them – must adapt to help us confront this changing reality.

We close out our Summer Playlist this week by welcoming Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director Emeritus at the International Energy Agency, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Nobuo Tanaka to discuss how the energy trilemma of balancing energy security, affordability, and environmental sustainability is shaping the energy and geopolitical landscape facing Japan and Korea – and what it means for the future of LNG and nuclear power.

We continue our Summer Playlist this week by welcoming Helima Croft back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Helima is Managing Director & Global Head of Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets. David Greely sits down with Helima to discuss the state of the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, how and why the Trump administration may be turning to tariffs and trade deals to reduce Russian energy exports, and the consequences for energy markets and prices going forward.

On this week’s installment of Summer Playlist 2025, we welcome DJ Watkins and Chanel Host, Founder and Director of the Aspen Design Conference, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with DJ and Chanel to discuss their relaunch and reimagining of the historic International Design Conference in Aspen. Together, they explore how design thinking transforms ideas into innovations that build businesses and change our lives – and how design thinking can be applied to help solve our biggest challenges.

This week on Summer Playlist 2025, we welcome Yassir Benjelloun-Touimi, Co-Founder & CEO of ARTEX Global Markets, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Yassir to discuss how ARTEX is building the market infrastructure to broaden access to trading and investing in museum quality fine art – as well as the challenges and opportunities in creating a new asset class.

We continue our Summer Playlist this week by welcoming Catherine Flax back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Catherine is CEO at Zefiro Methane Corp. David Greely sits down with Catherine to catch up on her work at Zefiro addressing the global methane emissions problem by cleaning up and plugging end-of-life oil and natural gas wells. David and Catherine also discuss how she's been navigating the reduction in carbon finance through the voluntary carbon markets and the volatile policy landscape in the United States to better understand what it takes to run a company in a challenging environment.

Our Summer Playlist rolls on this week with Theresa Kammel and Pierre Buisson, Originator and Senior Structurer of Weather & Agro Zurich at Munich Re. David Greely sits down with them to discuss the role of weather derivatives in managing weather-related risks — and how the market for these derivatives is growing and becoming more sophisticated with the energy transition to renewables like wind and solar.

We continue our Summer Playlist this week with Albert Cheng, CEO of the Singapore Bullion Market Association (SBMA). SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Albert to discuss the SBMA's vision for Singapore to become a leading global center for the trading of gold and other precious metals – and the SBMA's roadmap to making that vision a reality.

On our third installment of Summer Playlist 2025, we welcome Jeff Currie back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Jeff is Chief Strategy Officer of Energy Pathways at Carlyle. David Greely sits down with Jeff to discuss the implications of the breakdown of the world order that has defined the post-World War II era – implications Jeff lays out in his new paper, The New Martial Plan, the sequel to The New Joule Order. Together, they discuss how the quest for security is becoming the paramount force reshaping geopolitics, energy, and investment.

This week on Summer Playlist 2025, we welcome Michael Greenstone into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Michael is Director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), Founding Director of the University’s Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, and Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics. David Greely sits down with Michael to discuss how EPIC is translating the insights of cutting edge energy and environmental research into real world impact, including building cap-and-trade particulate emissions markets in India.

We kick off our Summer Playlist 2025 this week with Michelle Finneran Dennedy, Chief Data Strategy Officer at Abaxx Technologies. David Greely sits down with Michelle to discuss why CEOs and organizational leaders are shifting how they view data from seeing it as a risky liability to potentially seeing it as their greatest asset – and what that means for the ways we measure and manage our businesses.

We close out Gold for the 21st Century this week with a special roundtable episode with Dan McElduff (President, Abaxx Exchange), Siddiq Farid (Managing Director, Abaxx Spot), and David Gornall and Steve Lowe (Strategic Advisors for Precious Metals, Abaxx). David Greely sits down with them to discuss their experience and insights at the 2025 Asia Pacific Precious Metals Conference in Singapore this past week, following the introduction of Abaxx’s integrated gold infrastructure – including physically-deliverable Gold Kilobar Singapore Futures on Abaxx Exchange and the launch of a new provider of spot market services, Abaxx Spot, enabling secure transfers of physically-allocated gold in Singapore through a central pool structure. Together, they mark the first instance of co-located spot and futures infrastructure for gold, aiming to reduce fragmentation in global gold markets by aligning futures and spot markets with how gold is actually traded, stored, and settled.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Thomas McMahon, Co-Founder of Abaxx Technologies. David Greely sits down with Thomas to discuss how the role that gold may play in our financial system in the near future is not that different from the one gold and silver played in the not-so-distant past. They also explore precious metals' market evolution in the latter half of the 20th century and its implications for the role of gold in the 21st century.

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Greg Sharenow back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Greg is Managing Director & Portfolio Manager for Commodities and Real Assets at PIMCO. David Greely sits down with Greg to discuss how policy uncertainty and inflation are shaping the investing landscape and the role that commodities and real assets – including gold – are playing in helping investors grow and protect their wealth.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Sakhila Mirza, President of Responsible Gold. David Greely sits down with Sakhila to discuss the role of standards, data, and technology in building an ecosystem of trust for responsible and sustainable gold.

It’s a holiday weekend in the United States, and we thought it would be a good time to revisit some of the big ideas that our guests shared with us over the past year. Meeting the new commercial realities created by the globalization of the natural gas market, the energy transition to a lower carbon economy, and the rise of artificial intelligence requires new and smarter markets in which participants are empowered with new financial technology. And building those smarter markets will require big ideas. We hope you enjoy revisiting these moments and ideas with us. Our guests featured on this episode are: -Robert Friedland, Founder & Executive Chairman, Ivanhoe Mines -Brad Hitch, Director of LNG Trading, EQT Corporation -Samantha Dart, Head of Natural Gas Research, Goldman Sachs -Susan Sakmar, Visiting Professor, Univ. of Houston & Board Member, Flex LNG -Mark Lewis, Head of Research, Andurand Capital -Hannah Hauman, Global Head of Carbon Trading, Trafigura -Andy Home, Senior Metals Columnist, Thomson Reuters -Andrea Hotter, Special Correspondent, Fastmarkets -Ben Hunt, Author of Epsilon Theory & Co-Founder/CIO, Second Foundation Partners -Michelle Finneran Dennedy, Chief Data Strategy Officer, Abaxx Technologies -Dr. David Bray, Distinguished Chair of the Accelerator & CEO/Principal, Stimson Center & LDA Ventures, Inc. -Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO, Abaxx Technologies

On this week’s installment of Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Steve Lowe into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. Steve is Former Managing Director, Co-Head of Global Base and Precious Metals at Scotiabank. David Greely sits down with Steve to talk about his experience and insights into the gold markets from his time leading the iconic Scotia metals business. They also discuss what market infrastructure and technology the gold market needs now – and what could be the opportunity for the next iconic gold business of the 21st century.

This week on Gold for the 21st Century, we welcome Michael DiRienzo, President & CEO at The Silver Institute, into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. David Greely sits down with Michael to discuss the outlook for silver, its role in the energy transition, and the role it can and should play in investor portfolios and our financial system in the 21st century.

We continue Gold for the 21st Century this week with Josh Crumb, Founder & CEO of Abaxx Technologies. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with Josh to discuss how gold has shaped Josh’s vision and mission to build smarter markets throughout his career. They also talk about how the gold market is where the many dimensions of Abaxx come together as it launches a physically deliverable kilobar gold futures contract in Singapore through Abaxx Exchange, a gold pool through Abaxx Spot, and deploys the new financial technology that will pave the way to full digital title.