What a year for energy! As 2022 began, we faced a new wave of COVID, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation, and a global energy crisis that’s put a light on how important energy is to our everyday lives.
With these challenges came opportunities for allyship
This summer, a bi-partisan effort to juice the energy transition came with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act as billions are pouring into new efforts to stave off climate change. A surprise winner? The oil and gas industry. The Department of Energy has nearly 2,000 roles to fill just to get the billions appropriated out into the market. 2023 is going to be busy!
With these challenges came opportunities to educate
Closer to home in Houston, we were honored to host the US Department of Energy recently to create connections and pathways of understanding the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition. We spoke about the clean energy workforce of the future and met with industry leaders to talk about what it means to have a just energy transition.
People want a rational middle
These conversations made it clear: to make the energy transition a reality we need to work together. They know that to achieve NetZero we’re going to have to put the full force of science and engineering into all energy. They know too, it’s going to take serious collaboration and investment to make it happen and that we must design an equitable roadmap for everyone But as we’ve proven during the pandemic when humans put ingenuity into action, we get stuff done!
Getting stuff done
In 2022, ALLY Energy has been spending a fair amount of time working across industry, think tanks, and government on workforce efforts to shore up talent. Last week I attended a "serious game" with the National Academies of Science and this week I attended the National Petroleum Council meeting where the 186-member CEO-led council briefed Secretary Granholm on several matters. In 2023, we’ll be sharing this work with you so keep your eyes and ears open when we launch the calendar next week.
We need to double down on energy literacy and diversity
We’re still not cutting it when it comes to energy literacy, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The entire energy sector needs to come together to solve this. It’s not an oil and gas thing or renewables thing, it’s an energy thing. And diversity isn’t about pledges or slogans on Linkedin, it’s about moving the numbers in the right direction. It’s also about fully appreciating the spectrum we have of talent we need to tap to be a part of the challenges we face. It also means stepping outside of energy to create new talent pools and ways to resource jobs.
Talk more, tweet less
Despite how divided and how far we must go, I’m an inspired optimist. People are our greatest assets. We must continue to develop ourselves and seek views different from us. And with COVID largely behind us, we need to reach out and engage more and tweet less.
As 2022 draws to a close, we’re excited about the year ahead. I for one am dreaming of a white Christmas, devoid of COVID and full of cheer. In 2023, I also hope for more energy literacy, more equity, solutions, and of course, a middle ground where we find solutions and celebrate our differences and get things done.
We have plenty of work to do to bring energy to the world and to develop the workforce of the future. Let's hope the new year brings us together closer to help move energy forward!
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