Energy Vista

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Melanie Kenderline, principal of Energy Futures Initiative, dubbed as a low-carbon energy think tank. They discuss Turkey's ambitions to become a hub, but recent geopolitical tensions could slow down progress. Melanie dives into key drivers that make a functioning hub, including infrastructure and market design. This chat is full of anecdotes: working with 4 different energy secretaries, including former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, commuting on a weekly basis from New Mexico to Washington DC, working in two transition teams, having a supportive life partner. Melanie explains also her role as the C3E Symposium series ambassador, a joint MIT-DOE program to support the careers of women in clean energy with cash prizes.

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Clara Gillispie, Senior Director of Trade, Economic and Energy Affairs at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). They chat about the meanings and objectives of US-led Indo-Pacific initiative, Asia Edge, TPP 2.0. They discuss several bilateral strategic energy partnerships with Japan, India and Australia and whether they will evolve into a multilateral forum. They cover the increasingly blurred lines between public and private financing for energy infrastructure and the role of China in this strategy. Clara shares her personal and professional trajectory, her tips to keep away digital distraction and to maintain work-life balance when working with Asia and travelling long distance. 

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Rachel Ziemba, founder of Ziemba Insights, a macroeconomic research firm. They chat about investments from oil-rich sovereign wealth funds (SWF) and their impact on energy and geopolitics.They also talk about institutional investors greening their investments. Rachel explains how strategies of funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Russia, Alberta, Alaska and other are evolving. As important is Rachel's insights on her career path and how she successfully built a "portfolio approach" of activities and clients. She is grateful for the support of women networks and like-minded entrepreneurs doing innovative businesses. 

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Dr. Kelly Sims Gallagher, a Tufts University Fletcher School professor and former US climate policymaker, on her new book Titans of Climate. They chat about the reasons that motivated her and her co-author to write the book and the process of writing it. Kelly tells us about China's post-Paris agreement climate actions and China's progress on being a responsible stakeholder. They talk about energy investments within China's Belt and Road initiative and Beijing's ambition to make it greener, as well as US-led Indo-Pacific strategy. In terms of personal trajectory, Kelly explains how it is more challenging for a woman to become a professor with tenure, and how she embraced the opportunity to work for the government--despite feeling guilty for her family at first. 

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Michael Lustig who retired after nearly 25 years at Blackrock, and now devotes the majority of his time toward teaching, non-profit & impact-related enterprises. Michael explains what led him to start new professional ventures, including advising a solar company that brings augmentative power generation in countries such as Rwanda. We discuss Power Africa, financing projects in less-credit worthy countries, CSR, fossil fuels, batteries, and US-China competition. 

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Rudolf Huber, president of LNG Austria. Rudolf is an outspoken expert on all things methane, with views that often challenge the consensus. Rudolf explains why natural gas will play a role in Europe's greener energy mix, including in road transportation (heavy duty vehicles and buses), and why German society will need to have difficult conversations about their energy choices. We discuss also the fact that talking about natural gas is toxic for some European policymakers (that's the case for some Americans too). Rudolf is also very spontaneous and transparent in sharing his experience in parenting a child with special needs that led him to adjust his professional path away from corporate.  

The episode was recorded on March 8, 2019 

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Isuru Seneviratne, an energy expert and investor with a strong passion for pragmatic solutions to global warming. Isuru explains with great pedagogic skills what climate action means at the policy and investment levels (e.g Bipartisan Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, carbon tax, New green Deal, green investment, divestment). Isuru discusses also his climate engagement and civic leadership at a personal level which is very inspiring. Isuru tells us about his journey from Sri Lanka to becoming an American citizen. Hollywood TV series have definitely been an important force of American soft power (listen to the end to find out about our favorite shows growing up oversees)!

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Sylvie d'Apote, a managing partner at Prysma Consulting and an expert on Latin America oil and gas with a focus on Brazil. Sylvie shares her insight on Brazil's gas and LNG needs, the demand for flexible and stable sources of energy to complement renewable and energy transition in the country. They also talk about Argentina's potential to become again a significant gas/LNG exporter. One of the most interesting part of this podcast is when guests share they personal trajectory and Sylvie spontaneously shares with us what she likes the most as being a woman consultant (flexible hours, reward, adaptation, creativity...). She is also talking about her professional and personal teamwork with her husband. 

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Guy Broggi, former Total's LNG senior advisor who has just retired after 40 years in the company. Guy is very knowledgeable on all things LNG and shares his insight on LNG developments in East Mediterranean (Egypt, Israel, Cyprus) and Mena (Qatar, Iran, Abu Dhabi). Leslie and Guy discuss about demand, pricing and contracts for new LNG capacities entering the market. They talk about geopolitics and growing competition between LNG suppliers (Australia, Qatar, US, Russia). Guy is also explaining that working for Total allowed him to live fully his love for travelling. His family followed him in each country where he took a new position (Argentina, Japan, Indonesia, Scotland...) and they adapted together, learning some of the languages and cultures. 

This episode was produced by Leslie Palti-Guzman and recorded on Dec. 7, 2018.

Our theme music is provided by Music Screen licensed under Creative Commons.

Leslie Palti-Guzman exchanges with Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, director of the Energy Center at the French think tank Ifri.  They talk about the rise of Co2 emissions, the coming back of coal in Asia, the climate leadership crisis, Germany's unsuccessful energy transition, France's challenged President with the 'yellow vests' movement and the lack of common European energy policies. The discussion delves also into Marc-Antoine studies, his work/home balance and his bi-national (French German) competitive advantage. He believes that energy analysts and researchers have a new sense of responsibility to inform better decision makers to navigate complex energy transitions and we agree. 

The episode was recorded on December 7, 2018. 

Our theme music is provided by Music Screen licensed under Creative Commons.