Join First Online Conference in New ‘Road to Congress 2022’ Series

Editor's note: Since the publishing of this piece, it has been determined that it is not feasible for the 2022 World Energy Congress to be held in Russia. Additional information will be published to the Council's website as it becomes available.

An online conference entitled 'COVID-19: Accelerating a Better Energy Future for All' is set to take place on 17 June 2020 at 11:00 (BST) / 13:00 Moscow time. It will be the first in a series of online events themed around 'Road to Congress 2022' to be held twice a year under the brand of the 25th World Energy Congress, which will take place in St. Petersburg on 24-27 October 2022.

The conference is being jointly organised by the World Energy Council and Roscongress Foundation, and is being held with the support of the Global Energy Association.

The COVID-crisis situation is a potential gamechanger. Discussions of a return to ‘normal’ and the prospect of an emerging ‘new normal’ are underway. The pandemic has already dramatically influenced the balance of supply and demand in energy markets and highlighted an increasing focus on new digital operating models as well as immediate improvement in urban air quality. Energy organisations are successfully demonstrating their resilience to keep the lights on for people around the world, however the crisis has the potential to trigger a perfect storm of conditions favourable to bankruptcy across the energy sector.

To help energy organisations prepare for what comes next, the World Energy Council is convening its global community to facilitate a deeper exchange of energy systems expertise and has identified a set of post-crisis scenarios. While it is not possible to predict the future, by using plausible and alternative scenarios it is possible to engage diverse perspectives, to make sense of the chaos, and to explore and rehearse new pathways for progressing a shared and compelling vision of successful global energy transition.

Among those taking part in the conference will be Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation; Angela Wilkinson, Secretary General and CEO of the World Energy Council; Pavel Livinsky, Director General and Chairman of the Management Board of Rosseti; Helima Croft, Managing Director and Global Head of Commodity Strategy, Global Research at RBC Capital Markets; and Leonhard Birnbaum, Member of the Management Board of E.ON and CEO of Innogy. The event will be moderated by Sergey Brilev, Deputy Director of Russia TV Channel and President of the Global Energy Association.

The conference will be streamed on the 25th World Energy Congress website and YouTube channel.