Brazil’s energy sector offers a valuable perspective, where the growth of the oil and gas sector is coming alongside the deployment of clean energy technologies in a country that displays one of the largest shares in the world of renewables in its electricity generation mix. 
 
The Center on Global Energy Policy, in partnership with Women in Energy Brasil and Columbia Global Centers | Rio de Janeiro, hosted a discussion to provide insights into Brazil’s pragmatic pathway to a clean energy transition from the perspective of an oil and gas producing country. A stellar panel of women leaders in the energy sector discussed the future of the country’s energy system in the context of global high energy prices, the country’s policy approach towards low carbon fuels, the lessons learned from the deployment of clean technologies, and integration of renewables in the power grid, all while at the same time working towards lowering the carbon footprint of its oil and gas production.
 
Moderator:

• Dr. Luisa Palacios, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA; and former Chairwoman, Citgo Petroleum Corporation

Keynote Speaker:

• Mrs. Agnes Maria de Aragão da Costa, Head of the Regulatory Special Advisory Office of the Ministry of Mines and Energy

Panelists:

• Fernanda Delgado, Executive Director of IBP – Instituto Brasileiro de Petróleo e Gás
• Elbia Gannoum, President, Brazilian Wind Energy Association – ABEEólica and Vice President of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)
• Camila Ramos, Founder and managing director of CELA Clean Energy Latin America

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Please note: This is a hybrid event. Registration for in-person attendance has reached capacity. Should additional space open, this message will be updated. Virtual attendance is still open and we invite you to join us remotely.

Background:

Foreign direct investment can contribute significantly to sustainable development through tax revenues, the transfer of capital and technology, job creation, linkages with local industries, infrastructure development, and capacity building. However, the extent to which these benefits actually accrue to host countries depends heavily on the policies of the host country and the investor, the regulatory and legal framework governing their relationship, and the institutions available to find mutually satisfactory outcomes for both parties. Nowhere are the stakes higher than with extractive industries, where oil, gas and mining have sometimes been a springboard to development and at other times a source of corruption, social degradation, and environmental catastrophe. As the resources are non-renewable, countries have a one-shot opportunity to transform the resource wealth into development.

Objective:

This event, co-hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy and Columbia Global Centers | Rio de Janeiro, will provide a basic knowledge of the transformative potential, benefits and risks of the extractive-industry and the role of industry, governments and civil society. Participants will have the opportunity to learn and interact with experts from Columbia University and Fundação Getúlio Vargas to discuss the interlinkages of oil, gas and mining in Brazil and the U.S.

Speakers:

• Lisa Sachs

Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Since joining CCSI in 2008, she established and now oversees CCSI’s robust research portfolio in its cross-cutting areas of expertise, and has overseen advisory work in Chile, Guinea, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Paraguay, Tanzania and Timor-Leste, among other countries. She teaches a masters seminar at Columbia Law School and Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development, and lectures at Externado University in Colombia on International Investment Law. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University, and earned her Juris Doctor and a Masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, where she was a James Kent Scholar and recipient of the Parker School Certificate in International and Comparative Law.

• Fernanda Delgado

PHD trained in Energetic Planning (engineering), with petroleum geopolitics emphasis, Master degrees in Management Engineering and in International Finance. Two published books on Petropolitics, and an affiliated professor of Oil Geopolitics in Brazilian Navy Officers University. Professional experience in relevant companies, in Brazil and abroad, as Deloitte, Vale S.A., Gama Filho University, Royal Shipping Services and Dickinson Maritime Agency. Skilled on business plans design and construction, project financial viability studies and business valuation. Long experience in strategic planning, merger and acquisition, business analysis, economic and financial evaluation and competitive intelligence.

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Please note: This is a hybrid event. Registration for in-person attendance has reached capacity. Should additional space open, this message will be updated. Virtual attendance is still open and we invite you to join us remotely.

Advance registration is required. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with access details.

For more information about the event, please contact energypolicyevents@columbia.edu.

Concerns about the impacts of climate change and the pace and scale of our efforts to reduce emissions have prompted a resurgence of interest and attention on how we can remove carbon from the environment, store it and use it for practical purposes using CCUS (carbon capture, use, and storage) technology. Policy shifts at the state and federal level have created new markets for this clean energy technology, inspiring the launch of new projects in both the industrial and power sectors, extending into new enterprises (like direct air capture or CarbonTech). Despite this interest, few non-experts are familiar with the technology, the market potential, or the political viability of CCUS deployment in the United States or abroad.  Join us on March 26 for the first public event of the Center’s Carbon Management Research Initiative. Come hear leading experts at the front lines of policy, technology, and governance discuss this critical path technology for a just and vibrant energy transition. This event is co-hosted by CGEP’s Women in Energy program.  The panel of experts will include: Erin Burns – Associate Director, Policy – Carbon180  Sarah Forbes – Scientist, Office of Fossil Energy – US Department of Energy Sallie Greenberg – Associate Director, Energy & Minerals – Illinois State Geological Survey Julio Friedmann – Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy (Moderator) Guests unable to attend in person can view a livestream of the event at energypolicy.columbia.edu/livestream. This event is open to press. Media attending the event should register using the registration link below. Media inquiries or requests for interviews should be directed to Artealia Gilliard (ag4144@sipa.columbia.edu). For more information contact: energypolicy@columbia.edu.

Most of the pressure on oil companies to make more environmentally-conscious investments is targeted at companies like Shell and Exxon. But these companies produce only 15 percent of the world’s oil and gas supply. 

The majority of oil production comes from nationally-owned oil companies, and the question of how they will respond to the clean energy transition is especially vital in Latin America where state-owned companies like PDVSA, PetroBras and Pemex dominate the region’s energy sector. 

In this episode, host Jason Bordoff speaks with a leading expert on oil markets and the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) agenda in Latin America — Dr. Luisa Palacios. She has special insight into this topic as a former board chair of the oil refiner Citgo, an energy firm owned by the Venezuala-based nationalized oil company, PDVSA. 

Dr. Palacios is currently a Senior Research Scholar at CGEP and received a Masters degree at Columbia University. Previously, she was Medley Global Advisor’s Head of Latin America. She also worked at Barclays Capital as a Director in emerging markets research.

Dr. Palacios spoke with Jason about where Venezuela and other Latin American oil majors are headed in a moment of big market shifts. They also took a broader look at the future of oil and ESG practices in the Latin American Region.