President’s Statement – Board Meeting, July 18, 2019
The UN is winding down the last two weeks of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) for 2019, and the discussions sound very much like those of former years. There is no emotion to indicate that the Earth is burning, yet today’s paper reports that the month of June was the hottest in history.
At the beginning of the week, I attended a Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy Meeting for a presentation by the International Energy Agency on the Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Industry. They provided forecasts for growth to 2024. At the end of the talk I asked, “How are we going to create a Zero Carbon World by 2050 with such investment and growth in the gas industry?” I had heard the same kind of talk about investment and growth in the oil industry a few months back. I suggested to the speaker that perhaps he should give this talk at the UN, as we seem to be living in two different worlds. I also just heard a presentation by a representative of the UN Global Compact discussing how industry is becoming more and more sustainable, entirely omitting the fossil fuel industries.
As a reminder to our AMBASSADORS, please try to discuss with the Secretary General or the Deputy Secretary General the importance of REACHING THE MEDIA each day. When the media reports on oil and gas indexes, they should do the same for renewables. Otherwise, renewables will remain a secondary afterthought, preventing us from reaching the Zero Carbon 2050 Objectives.
As for internships, this summer we have accepted the greatest number, fourteen at one time, now down to eleven. The greatest challenge is always recruiting interns during the school year. Please do not hesitate to encourage college students, graduate students, post-graduates, and retirees to join us.
We are planning a Round Table Side Event at the United Nations for October 2019. Clients of Roth Capital who will be making presentations on the latest emerging technologies dealing with climate change. The co-sponsors will be the Mission of Slovenia, and hopefully, the UN Global Compact.
