Today we covered the sector’s future, investability and how companies can best position themselves for success. There are a lot of moving parts that could take us in different directions and the sessions today gave focus to the convergence of demand destruction, ESG, the geopolitical environment, renewables, and recovery from a pandemic.
Another key take away is around innovation. our executive team touched on some of this in the kick-off today and, certainly, the “virtual hands-on” Innovation Expo proved there’s a lot of passion and excitement to adopt new technologies and lean into the challenges ahead.
EVOLVE Keynote Speaker Recap:
As Texas faced unprecedented power outages this morning Jessica O. Matthews delivered an inspiring keynote about driving innovation and transforming our cities’ infrastructures. A passion born from her family’s connection to Nigeria, a place where rolling blackouts and unreliable power was an everyday occurrence. The timing was uncanny.
We often take our grid’s reliability for granted but now as temperatures drop to record levels and many of us are still at home without power there is a sense of empathy long overdue for communities that face this uncertainty as a regular way of life. Also, a realization that our own system is not ready to confront the future. This may just be the kick we needed to face the fear of changing a system that has “worked” for so long and innovate to a more sustainable future.
Ultimately her message to us today was that we should not just accept things because that is how they have always been. We run the risk of dealing with problems we have always had because the idea of changing them are too daunting and paralyzing.
She left us with these words of advice: “Be flexible with your plans but uncompromising with your mission.” Too often we fall in love with the solution and we lose site that we should only be in love to the problem we are trying to solve. Remaining true to that central mission gives us the flexibility to learn and realize what we don’t know so that we can ultimately deliver a solution that is truly transformative.
Panel Discussion:
Today’s investability panel offered insights from credit and equity investors in both the public and private arena. The discussion was split into two parts, the first focusing on the old energy economy while the second focused on energy evolution opportunities. It seems like nat gas is in focus and the M&A market is heating back up. But is it here to stay? Well continued access to capital from the banks and private debt market will ultimately answer that question. However, opportunities abound in the new energy economy as investors and operators grapple with the best way to fast questions around ESG. It’s seems like it’s time to get long carbon.
Want to catch up on what you missed or interested in attending?
If you happened to miss day one, feel free to send us a note and schedule a replay or speak to one of our presenters. If you’d like to attend the rest of the conference, register here. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our recap of day two.
