USTDA director joins policymakers, business leaders in conversation about clean energy collaboration
Enoh T. Ebong (right), the director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, joined a tour of the ASU Center for Negative Carbon Emissions after speaking at the “Accelerating Energy Sector Transformation through Global Partnerships and US Innovation" event held on ASU's Tempe campus on Aug. 8. Photo by Andy DeLisle/ASU Knowledge Enterprise
As technology rapidly accelerates and humanity finds itself in what scientists frequently refer to as the most decisive decade for climate action, we stand at a crossroads: How will we power our future?
On Aug. 8, policymakers and technical and business leaders in the energy sector gathered at Arizona State University's Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health to demonstrate the strength of collaboration in supporting positive outcomes for green economies.
The public event, “Accelerating Energy Sector Transformation through Global Partnerships and US Innovation,” was hosted by ASU's Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
“We have an urgent responsibility to invest in energy-efficient infrastructure that is both sustainable and cost effective,” said U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona in a recorded statement for the event.
He pointed to the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act as recent examples of legislation aimed at strengthening our approach to energy production. He said efforts must not stop there.
“There's more work to do to accelerate the global green-energy revolution,” he said. “And it's going to take all of us, all of the U.S government at all levels, the private sector, academia — we have to work together.”
Nathan Johnson, a senior Global Futures scientist with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and the director of numerous efforts at ASU to advance sustainable development initiatives and innovation, led the event. In a presentation at the event, Johnson said that the efforts to transition to clean energy can be described in three words: “everything, faster, everywhere.”
“Our planet is adapting to present conditions faster than we are, and the only way to catch up is to accelerate,” he said.
Johnson provided examples of collaborative ASU efforts spanning Southeast Asia, Pacific Island countries, central Asia, Africa and central America that have combined technical, business and policy efforts to support communities. These efforts could not have been possible, Johnson said, without working closely with the impacted communities and cross collaboration with entities outside of ASU. They also challenged the idea of how a university can engage with global change outside of the classroom.
“Yes, we’re graduating students,” Johnson said. “Yes, we’re doing research and publishing papers. But what we also need to do is solutions brokering. If we want to advance public impact across the globe, we need to advance ourselves as a university and a partner in the solutions process.”
Enoh T. Ebong, the director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, leads the federal agency in developing sustainable infrastructure and fostering economic growth. The scale of the task, she said, is immense.
“Economies around the world need to invest around $2 trillion a year between now and 2030 to achieve the transition to net zero (global carbon dioxide emissions) that is hoped for by 2050,” Ebong said. “This is five times more investment than is currently planned, and the bulk of the financing that is required will need to come from sources other than the government.”
Ebong said the private sector has a large role to play in achieving the financial investment goals.
The event included a panel discussion moderated by Johnson, featuring private sector representatives Mounir El Asmar, head of strategic accounts for First Solar Inc.; Jason Bagley, senior director of U.S. state government affairs for Intel Corporation; and Thomas Baker, managing director and partner for Boston Consulting Group.
“By developing a global system of partnerships, we can help bridge these gaps,” Ebong said. “Tapping into the collective capabilities of U.S. federal government agencies can be transformative for our global partners, especially when our work compliments the extraordinary innovation of institutions like ASU and our private sector."
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