The COP Collection
It's time to think differently about resilience
What does it mean to be resilient? Staying the course in the face of changing conditions? Or the opposite - allowing new context to give rise to new responses and paving new pathways? Answering this question is more important than ever in the face of the global energy transition. So we asked an expert.
Landon Derentz has seen nearly every angle of energy and climate policy, having worked in the White House, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of State, and currently as senior director at the Atlantic Council, a think tank where he serves as Morningstar Chair for Global Energy Security. When Landon Derentz speaks, we listen. During a wide-ranging conversation, he shared his views on resilience.
Landon Derentz speaking at an Atlantic Council event
“When you think of COP, resilience is often about mitigation and adaptation. But when you think about the world that I reside in how energy security impacts the geopolitical landscape, and the interplay between climate change and the energy transition - resilience can mean a different thing. For example, resilience to the people of Ukraine often means distributed energy systems, while resilience to the European energy grid right now means diversification of energy resources. In the Global South, you may be solving for energy access and providing reliable affordable power because you want to grow your economies and maintain political stability. The core of resilience in those instances is energy security.” Derentz stressed that alongside sustainability, security is a catalyst that can address the urgent actions needed today. Examining those drivers over different time horizons is equally important. Every country's journey to a clean energy system will look different, he emphasized, highlighting the long-term visions set at 2050, 2060 and 2070. “We need to plan for a moment in time when our societies can achieve net zero emissions that outpaces politics and outcompetes near-term investment cycles for companies.” Whilst there is complexity, establishing guideposts is essential to a healthy multi-generational planning process.
“We need to plan for a moment in time when our societies can achieve net zero emissions that outpaces politics and outcompetes near-term investment cycles for companies.”
He pointed out the dynamic between developed economies and the Global South, and the criticality of understanding the specific energy and economic needs of developing nations to ensure the energy transition is achievable. “Hundreds of millions of people still don't have access to power and some of those political leaders are focused on access and affordability prior to climate change. Respecting the human element and the need for quality of life is often overlooked as we prioritize addressing emissions over security and affordability.” “The energy transition is providing new economic opportunities as it transforms the energy system, and we need to capitalize on making technologies affordable and integrating them into our ecosystem. This means you must seek out and adapt those new opportunities with new technologies or new business models.” Derentz cited nuclear energy as a strong example of technology becoming more affordable when considering the course of its 50-plus-year deployment cycle, a business case that is strengthened when associated with burgeoning market opportunities poised by data centers and artificial intelligence.
GE Vernova provides services for nuclear power operating plants worldwide
“The energy transition is providing new economic opportunities as it transforms the energy system, and we need to capitalize on making technologies affordable and integrating them into our ecosystem.”
Navigating this path with a long-term view is crucial. On Derentz’s mind is the risk of near termism. “I think if we're overly protectionist, if we're overly concerned with immediate political success or economic opportunities from a narrow lens of what's good for one individual, or an individual country, I think you can set back the aggregate opportunity afforded by a major transformation of energy systems worldwide.” In his role running the Global Energy Center at the Atlantic Council, Derentz focuses on the infrastructure that powers our day-to-day lives. He noted that on the one hand, these systems have enabled a quality of life that would’ve otherwise been unimaginable. But on the other hand, how do we go further and build new pathways for communities to be more resilient in terms of capabilities and job opportunities? “For example, retrofitting/repurposing existing infrastructure of coal fired power plants with small modular nuclear reactors to deliver clean energy to these communities is a part of resilience too. How do you meet people at their level and can we maximize the resiliency of our system when faced with the very human element of how climate change and the energy transition impact a localized community?”
“The average person isn't aware of the global ill as much as what their power bill is, what their air quality is, what they’re experiencing locally in terms of jobs or flight from the neighborhoods.”
Within the framework of energy transition, Derentz emphasizes the role of localized communities as a key ingredient to resilience. For him, deep partnership with all actors in a system is not just desired but required. In short, Derentz views the energy-transition dialogue itself as a precious source of change - “a gift that must be fortified and legitimized through relentless inclusivity” - bringing in the perspectives of every possible actor in the system. “Civil society leaders can be multifaceted in terms of what they're passionate about. Those voices fill a gap in the global dialogue when you're trying to solve a problem. For example, last year at COP28, the dilemma was how to bring the conventional oil and gas industry into a global conversation about climate change given that industry’s history - both in terms of contributing to emissions because of the products that they produce, but also in terms of their treatment of climate change decades prior. I think you need every one of those groups - industry, civil society, and government - to come together to compromise on what that looks like.”
GE Vernova at COP28
In a sense, Derentz believes civil society legitimizes the conversation and therefore fortifies it - makes it more resilient - in a way that industry and government couldn’t do alone. “The role of civil society is often saying, ‘You can come to the table, but here are the benchmarks, and here's how we're going to push you.’ In this way, civil society gives a voice of legitimacy to other stakeholders. It’s important for demonstrating that technologies, processes, and other energy-efficiency mechanisms are actually abating emissions. Civil society can verify where an actual impact is being made. That in turn can legitimize industry and government actions.”
“Building the bridges of consensus across a lot of different players to align different pathways and different goals.”
As Derentz sees it, the key to resilience is simply not giving up on one another - and that this isn’t some magnanimous choice but instead a necessity. “Building the bridges of consensus across a lot of different players to align different pathways and different goals.” GE Vernova sees partnership in an uncommon light, too - because it’s time for something bigger, deeper, and different. Follow our COP Collection for more insights on climate and the energy transition.
