What my grandmother knew | Loic Brachet | TEDxINSEAD

About this video

What if the best solutions to climate change are not always invented in labs, but rediscovered from the wisdom of communities? In this TEDx talk, Loïc Brachet explores how traditional practices, from reusing cooking oil to wind-powered shipping, offer practical lessons for today’s energy transition. His message is simple: sometimes, the most powerful intelligence is not the newest, but the oldest. Loic started his trading career in Paris in 2001, and ended up in biodiesel. Not the glamorous commodity. But he built something lasting with it. He built Repsol's Asian biofuels origination business from the ground up in Singapore, led Hartree Partners' APAC biofuels desk, and today heads biofuels trading at Aramco Trading Company — where he architects FuelEU Maritime and IMO Net Zero strategy for one of the world's largest energy companies. His core insight: in biofuels, regulations don't just shape the market — they are the market. The traders who win aren't those with the best models. They're the ones who read the regulatory landscape and move first. Loic's talk breaks down how compliance obligations become commercial positions, and what the shipping, aviation, and energy industries must do now to stay ahead of the decarbonisation curve. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx