Energy in Conversation

About 3 billion people globally depend on open fires or inefficient stoves and fuels to cook their food. This has serious impacts on our climate and environment, as well as health and livelihoods, especially for women and children. The World Health Organization estimates that around four million extra deaths per year result from this indoor air pollution, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In this episode, Dr Kandeh Yumkella (former Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and former CEO of Sustainable Energy for All) speaks with Amey Bansod (iDE Cambodia) and Rebecca Wentworth (BURN Manufacturing) about advancing this important, and often silent, aspect of access to energy.

The world’s commitment to hold global temperature increases to well below 2°C will require significant changes to large-scale infrastructure. New assets require planning and financing, and investors are looking for guarantees that their investments will be rewarded. Global investment in the low-carbon energy transition reached $500 billion in 2020 (BNEF), but we need to go further and faster to reach targets. Where will all this money come from? In this episode of Energy in Conversation, Energy Institute Fellow Lawrence Slade (GIIA) chats to Falco van Wissen (Neptune Energy) and Anne Munaretto (EY) about the future of green finance.

Clean electricity is crucial for achieving a sustainable, low-carbon energy system. We already use it to charge our phones and light our homes – but we are also set to use it to decarbonise other sectors like heat and transport. Great progress has been made in adding low-carbon energy sources like wind and solar to the grid – however, the variability of renewables means that careful grid management is more important than ever. In this episode, President of the Energy Institute Steve Holliday joins Maria Carmona (Vattenfall) and Ariana de Almeida (IBM) to discuss the future of electricity grids. They conversation covers how mature grid systems currently work, the new energy sources and technologies that are changing how things will operate, and what this means for energy consumers going forward.

In their landmark Net Zero report, the UK’s Climate Change Committee states that carbon capture and storage (CCS) “is a necessity, not an option” for reaching net-zero emissions. Despite growing global consensus of its importance, there are only a limited number of pilot projects operating today. In this episode, we join Aleida Rios (BP) as she chats with Dr Jeni Reeve (Drax) and Charlie Garner (CCSA) about how CCS works, the policy interventions and financial investments required to develop it, and the opportunities for Generation 2050 in this growing sector.

To kick off our new season, the Energy Institute’s Chief Executive Louise Kingham chats with two talented young professionals to explore their motivations as they progress in the energy industry. Mervin Azeta (Schlumberger), and David Davidson (Ørsted) consider what it means to have a ‘career with a conscience’ in an industry often criticised for shirking its responsibilities to the planet. They discuss the challenges faced by women working in a sector still dominated by men, how we can address the dual challenges of energy access and the climate emergency, and whether a career in oil and gas can be reconciled with our climate goals.