The world’s biggest consumers of electricity are hidden in plain sight
Zero: The Climate Race
Bloomberg
4.7 • 219 Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Just three companies control the lion’s share of the $120 billion global market for industrial gases: Linde, Air Liquide & Air Products. And because the production of these gases is so energy intensive, each company consumes as much electricity as some small to medium-sized European countries. This week on Zero, Sanjiv Lamba, CEO of Linde, tells Akshat Rathi how he sees electricity demand changing, what Linde is doing to transition to clean sources, and whether low-carbon hydrogen can ever become big business.
Explore further:
- Read Akshat’s article on Linde and other hidden electricity giants.
- Expect to Keep Paying Record Prices for Coffee. This Is Why
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Eleanor Harrison Dengate, Siobhan Wagner, Sommer Saadi and Mohsis Andam. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | People are going to hate me. I won't move on with my life. And I was so petrified of being dragged across the coals for reporting them. And I still am. |
| 0:12.0 | My name is Laura Hughes. And for the past two years, I've been uncovering the United Kingdom's perplexing relationship with lead. |
| 0:20.5 | What I found has shocked me. |
| 0:24.4 | From the Financial Times, this is untold. |
| 0:27.9 | Toxic legacy. |
| 0:30.2 | Out now. |
| 0:31.4 | Welcome to Zero. I am Akshatrati. |
| 0:34.1 | This week, a hidden electricity giant. |
| 0:48.8 | Music This week, a hidden electricity giant. The demand for electricity is soaring, and you likely know why. |
| 0:53.2 | It's because of air conditioning, electric |
| 0:55.1 | cars and data centers powering artificial intelligence. But if you looked at a list of the |
| 1:01.4 | single biggest electricity consumers in the world, you would be surprised. It's not just tech |
| 1:06.7 | companies like Google or meta, oil and gas firms like PetroChina or Shell, or retail giants like Amazon and Walmart. |
| 1:14.9 | It also has companies that you may not recognize, linder, air liquid, air products. |
| 1:22.2 | These are all producers of industrial gases. |
| 1:25.9 | That's right. These companies make things like nitrogen and oxygen and hydrogen, |
| 1:31.9 | gases that get used in steel manufacturing and refrigeration and chemicals production, |
| 1:37.0 | among many other things that you are consuming on a daily basis. |
| 1:42.3 | Together, these three companies control about 70% of what is a |
| 1:46.7 | $120 billion global market for industrial gases. And because the production of these gases |
| 1:54.6 | is energy intensive, individually, these companies consume as much electricity as small to medium-sized European |
| 2:02.4 | countries. |
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