WEBINAR - Building a Sustainable Future: Unlocking the Energy Challenge

Leaders who gathered in Doha to address the world’s energy challenges at the 18th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 18) faced formidable challenges. Policy recommendations that ignored the larger interdependencies in the global energy supply chain were unlikely to make headway. Economists since the 1960s, for example, have said that if we just get energy prices right, the market will work its magic. But getting the prices right depends on getting the policies right. Policy, in turn, is constrained by the social and political realities of each national jurisdiction.

Like a door with multiple locks, a transition towards a more sustainable energy system is replete with complex interdependencies.

Where should leaders focus in order to unlock this complex challenge and moved forward to a new energy future? What can be done to accelerate progress? Do we need a revolutionary change that does away with fossil fuels, or can current energy system be made more sustainable without dramatic changes? What is the balance between national and local action and global agreements?

On December 6, Harvard Business Review hosted an interactive webinar, broadcast live from Doha, in partnership with Future Influencers, an exclusive think tank working group enabling high-level discussions and collaborations on sustainability topics.

Participants included:

• Barbara Kux, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens, Head of Supply Chain Management and Chief Sustainability Officer, Siemens AG
• Jennifer Morgan, Director of the Climate and Energy Program, World Resource Institute
• Gregory C. Unruh, Ph.D., Director, The Lincoln Center for Ethics in Global Management. Thunderbird School of Global Management
• Future influencers: Gatien Bon, Anna Leidereiter, and Kali Taylor