Dr Angela Wilkinson: “In the quest for solutions, there is no shortage of technology or money - but Mother Nature is shuffling the deck.”

Our Secretary General and CEO Dr Angela Wilkinson presented a closing keynote at the 4th Saudi Green Initiative Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Below are Dr Wilkinson's remarks as originally prepared for delivery. You can watch the speech recording here.

Your Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

As Secretary-General and CEO of the World Energy Council, I am honoured to help set the scene at this year’s Saudi Green Initiative…

…even though it’s hard, if not impossible, to do a better job than Saudi Arabia’s very own Chief Inspiration Officer, His Royal Highness, the Minister of Energy.

For more than 100 years, the World Energy Council has helped modern energy societies to connect the dots between energy for peace, prosperity and sustainable development.

Energy actions are in our nature!

And how we do this is what really sets us apart.

We are deeply local, truly global and deliberately plural!

We have learned a lot about energy in the last 100 years that is still relevant in this new era of energy for people and planet.

Most notably, energy is a system that includes people and diverse communities.

As His Royal Highness rightly noted yesterday, transformation will only happen if there is what he called “buy in”.

We call this Humanising Energy.

The good news is that there is no shortage of technology or finance.

Securing more energy for climate neutral, nature positive, sustainable development, however, involves much more than financial cooperation or technological innovation.

It is essential to engage more people and diverse communities in making change happen.

Today’s world energy system is no longer fit for purpose and the outlook is more uncertain than ever.

Mother Nature – not just geopolitics - is now shuffling the deck: all signals point to an overshoot of 1.5oC.

Two months ago, 20 million people were on rooftops as southern Brazil flooded. Now parts of the LAC region face water rationing.

Droughts are disrupting hydro plants in Latin America and Africa, driving demand for fossil fuels.

Water is already a multi-local hot-spot and heatwaves are expected to quadruple!

How will we meet the pledges to triple nuclear or scale renewables without reconnecting energy, people and water?

Climate adaptation must go hand-in-hand with emissions reductions and nature-based solutions.

Despite the progress on climate finance pledges at COP29 there is currently no revenue stream for climate adaptation and resilience.

As we learned from the COVID-19 crisis, the challenges of resilience extend beyond physical assets to people and communities. How are we planning to manage the resilience of energy services?

Whilst many are excited by the promise of AI in enhancing the efficiency and productivity of energy systems, others are concerned about how to meet the energy demands for advanced computing.

Energy and AI are the new power couple. Making faster and wiser energy choices is essential. How will we mange IF digital data is locked behind paywalls or restricted to national energy clouds?

The hardest truth is how we got here wont get us to where we need to go.

For the past century, we have organized modern and connected energy societies for linear and predictable changes.

We are now facing infinite horizons and standing at the precipice.

The nature of change itself is changing.

Change is no longer fast or slow. It is sudden, everywhere, all at once.

The greatest regret is, as we have all probably experienced, is acting too slow.

The best way to reduce the costs of early action is to be open and flexible, avoid premature prescriptions, and make use of ALL available energy levers.

Easier said than done!

A key part of the energy puzzle - people and communities - is being overlooked.

Over 80% energy systems and emissions are not involved in net zero dialogues. And in Europe, 90% people believe energy transitions are essential but less than 40% are willing to pay for them.

No country or community can sustain large scale systems change when a majority are not sufficiently engaged.

All of us can and need to do a better job at engaging society with energy. Energy literacy is poor despite its importance.

When we talk about using ALL energy levers at the Council - we mean ALL levers – financial, technological, and ESPECIALLY the societal transformation levers.

Humanising energy creates a new space for learning, beyond the choices of conventional supply-side, technology-centric wisdom.

It requires an evolution of the World Energy Trilemma approach – to include resilience and justice alongside security, affordability and sustainability dimensions.

Today the term ‘energy transition’ has become one of the most commonly used, misunderstood, and politically polarising phrases of the 21st Century.

Humanising energy also means engaging with the deeper narratives being used to make sense of all the numbers and moving beyond the forecastable future.

The future of energy is not a straight line. A more intergenerational and experiential approach to foresighted energy futures is essential and emerging.

And there has never been a better moment for increasingly diverse regions to lead with and learn from each other about what is working – and not working.

The diversity of regional visions, approaches and pathways is a source of innovation and learning - the future should never be used for mischief, to justify fear or to blame others.

Let me say a few words about what is happening in this region and the Saudi Green Initiative.

I am delighted to see that the SGI focus remains on demonstrating achievements rather than making promises – and on showcasing what is being achieved and the new and diverse collaborations underway.

The five pillars of this year’s forum convey the sheer scope and scale of greening everything – connecting climate, biodiversity and nature - with the development of a new model of circular carbon economy to maximise energy and minimise emissions.  

We heard directly from His Royal Highness that vision has to be accompanied by pragmatism. Measurement MUST accompany promises.

May I applaud all of you who are making the Saudi Green Initiative a reality. It takes a lot of perspiration to turn inspiration into reality.

Let me also extend the opportunity for this region to learn from what is happening in other regions - and through engagement in the humanising energy programmes of the World Energy Council.

China is shaping a story of ecological civilisation and the shift to new power systems with four productivity revolutions and one global cooperation.

Europe is grappling with a new era of democratic capitalism and the tough choices in managing consumption-based emissions.

Latin America is transforming the roles of women and kids in energy.

All the regional communities of the World Energy Council are contributing to evolving and extending the World Energy Trilemma framework – in order to provide a practical and flexible approach to measuring the health and performance of increasingly diverse and connected energy systems.

How we connect narratives and numbers, mindsets and metrics really matters. Societies need a new shared language for a better quality dialogue.

We can start by including new voices and reducing the techno-economic jargon so often used in conferences!

For a century, the Council has convened global power for the common good.

Today, modern societies are diverse and need different energy solutions that are societally transformative, economy-wide and nature positive.

We persist and grow as the only truly independent, inclusive and intergenerational energy leadership community.

And it our collective responsibility to challenge ourselves to change the ways we think about and cocreate the future.

I invite you all to join us – in bold and courageous actions - and in pioneering more inclusive, intergenerational, and transformational collaborations.

I look forward to welcoming you to World Energy Week in Panama in 2025 and to the World Energy Congress in Riyadh in 2026, which is themed ‘Inspiring Transformations, Delivering Transitions’.

We are committed to pulling together diverse energy interests across geographies, genders and generations.  

The future of energy is not a distant reality. It is THE story of humanity and it starts with us all here and now.

Thank you!