Previewing CERAWeek: What world energy leaders will talk about in Houston

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Taylor Kuykendall:

Hello, and welcome to the Energy Evolution Podcast. I'm your host, Taylor Kuykendall. Today we're going to be talking about the CERAWeek Conference in Houston. That's coming up March 10th through March 14th.

I am going to be attending that conference myself, and we're going to have some additional bonus episodes here on Energy Evolution, featuring some top names in the energy space as we get to meet them at CERAWeek. So please do stay tuned for those insights in the coming days.

Now, joining me today though are two remarkable guests. Ken Downey, the Executive Director of Innovation Agora at CERAWeek, and Naki Mendoza, the Director of CERAWeek Programs here at SMP Global. See, CERAWeek is renowned for bringing together some of the brightest minds in the energy sector, and this year's conference promises to be no exception.

We're going to explore, in our conversations today, what attendees can expect, innovative discussions on the horizon, and how this event shapes the future of energy. So let's get started and hear from Ken and Naki about what's in store for CERAWeek.

Okay, Ken, Naki, thank you so much for joining us here. For our listeners who've never been to CERAWeek, can you tell me a little bit about what it's like? And how does it compare to maybe some other energy conferences people might be used to attending?

Naki Mendoza:

First off, to state the obvious and the exciting, CERAWeek is huge. It's massive. It is the single largest concentration of global energy executives in the world. And when I say global energy, it's broadly defined, energy broadly defined. Clearly, traditional energy, oil, gas, power, clean tech, but it's also the ecosystem that makes those industries run. So it's global executives around the supportive and still very meaty industries of tech, finance, transportation, trading and logistics, construction, and of course, global policymakers.

So it's the whole suite that is present, and contributing, and active at CERAWeek. Just to give a sense of the scale and the numbers, we're talking about 10,000 delegates, on the order of roughly 1400 speakers, coming from 80 countries, and very importantly, about 450 upwards towards 500 C-suite executives. This is important because, CERAWeek and what differentiates it, to the question, CERAWeek is not a trade show.

There might be other events, other conferences, other gatherings, other trade shows in the global energy space that bring together perhaps more numbers, but CERAWeek not being a trade show, it is a thought leadership forum, thought leadership conference, of these 450 to 500 executives exchanging thoughts, insights, critical business strategies that are shaping the energy landscape.

You might've heard, and it's widely promoted in literature, which we welcomely accept, that CERAWeek is often described as the Super Bowl of energy. That's fair and accurate to a large degree. I like to think of it as compared to a different athletic event. I like to call it the Olympics of energy, in that CERAWeek is not an evening long affair with a halftime show, but the length and longevity of it stretching across the week compares more to the Olympics.

We bring together the world's best energy athletes, you can call them, CEOs, C-suite executives, global policy makers, and heads of state. And all of these energy athletes are competing, or participating, in a whole flurry of activities or topics, upstream oil and gas, renewables, technologies, hydrogen, critical minerals. So think of us as the Olympics of energy. Although, being in Houston, definitely the comparison of Super Bowl of energy will hit home.

Taylor Kuykendall:

For sure.

Ken Downey:

That sounds great, Naki. Thanks very much. I'd like to just say a little bit about one part of CERAWeek, which is the Innovation Agora, where we really bring, not just the energy incumbents, or that major energy players and executives, but we also bring them together with the energy innovation ecosystem. And we bring those together in a number of different ways, a lot of interactive experiences, a lot of opportunities for exchange of ideas and insights, how we're actually presenting a lot of these different topics, and digging down a little bit further into the technology solutions that are being developed.

In the Innovation Agora, we will feature over 250 startups that are part of that innovation ecosystem. And they do come together with that C-suite group, and executives, and policy makers that are attending from the executive conference, and really bring together those groups to have meaningful dialogue and conversations about these solutions.

Taylor Kuykendall:

Yeah. I want to move into a little bit about what conversations, what topics might be hot this year during CERAWeek. Last year was a big year for elections. I'm wondering, to what degree do you think a lot of the conversations we're going to see next week we'll be focusing on that changing geopolitical landscape?

Naki Mendoza:

So geopolitics and the changing geopolitical landscape will be covered a lot, simply put, at CERAWeek. It's, in fact, what's drawing the greatest buzz, we feel, about CERAWeek this year. Last year, as you say, was a huge year of elections. Half the world's population went to the polls to vote in or renew governments. So massive year, massive implications for the geopolitical front that will be very well covered at CERAWeek.

There, obviously, was a change of administration in the US, and you'll see that right from the top, right from the opening session at CERAWeek. It is, I have to check the records for accuracy, but if not the first time, but the first time in a while, that the US Secretary of Energy will be leading off the conference. So Chris Wright will be the opening keynote speaker at CERAWeek on the Monday, March 10, setting the tone for the policies and the messaging from the Trump administration that will be ripple affecting and flowing to global energy for the world to hear.

Going off of the geopolitics theme, every discussion will in some way even reference, or at least touch on, the idea of supply chains, value chains, and changing trade relationships. CERAWeek is a point in time that brings together global leaders to discuss these important developments in markets. But at the same time, markets are moving at such a flurried frenetic pace. We're trying to keep up with the news, and CERAWeek is a news making buzz worthy event. It's tough to cover exactly every single topic, keeping pace with the news. But at a high level thought leadership piece, all these topics on trade and supply chains, very well covered in the executive conference.

AI will be very well covered as well, for all of the obvious reasons. The way that we're framing it is, AI for energy for AI. So the fuels, the technologies, and the components that are powering the data centers, and building out the data center landscape and complex, many sessions covering that, but also how AI, and its optimization, and its efficiencies, and its computing power is having a tangible impact on energy across all forms, oil, gas, power, tech, and renewables.

There's also a new and exciting community that we've been building out, and will be very present at CERAWeek, the mining and minerals community. There are new players that are getting involved in CERAWeek, because, of course, the important upstream and materials component for the minerals and the metals that are enabling energy transition and decarbonization technologies. These are just some of the topics. Of course, as mentioned, thousands of speakers and several hundred sessions across the whole panoply of energy.

Taylor Kuykendall:

And I'm wondering, from the listeners who have actually been to CERAWeek, is there anything that you can maybe highlight as what you would expect to be some maybe significant differences this year?

Ken Downey:

So for this year, new this year in the Innovation Agora, we actually are building out a new space that is really a new major component at CERAWeek, in this new area called the Nexus, where we will bring together and bring forth programming around the next gen. And what we mean by next gen, really, is the next generation of research and development into technologies that are coming out of academia, and laboratories. And really shining a light on that next generation of research, but also, a focus on the next generation of talent. Who are in those universities? Who are in those development programs? And who are looking to bring their best ideas and solutions to the energy industry?

This is a new initiative. It builds on years of involvement from academia, over many years at CERAWeek. And it's always been an important contribution to the programming overall. This year we are building out a new space, and really shining a light on these groups, and bringing much more of them together, with the industry, and providing a forum for that dialogue to happen, where academia and industry are really joining forces to start to develop a lot more of these solutions.

Naki Mendoza:

On the executive conference side, there's, of course, the topics that we've been discussing will be covered in different forms and fashions, and different levels of depth, AI, mining, noble clean tech power. But also, there's innovative ways in which those messages and those formats can be delivered.

Last year at CERAWeek, we rolled out a new format of discussion, and we will be multiplying it at CERAWeek 2025. And that format is what we call a strategic roundtable. The typical CERAWeek plenary is three to four speakers on stage, giving high-level important messaging. Strategic roundtables, they are a public roundtable, where we will have six to eight executives, with an audience 360 in the round, of about 500 people surrounding them. There's a very dramatic effect, spotlight literally and figuratively.

And these six to eight executives will be dissecting critical energy issues, either on a geographic basis, for example, the energy transition in Latin America, or the energy future in Africa, or scenarios for energy demand in China. But also on a topical basis. We'll have strategic roundtables on climate and emission scenarios, critical minerals, and of course, the all-important AI for energy for AI.

So we like to think of it as a 500-person audience being privy into the construction and the flow of dialogue of executive-level thinking in real time.

Taylor Kuykendall:

Okay, great. I'm looking forward to all the insights I'm able to catch while I'm at the show, and I hope our listeners are as well. I think the last question that I have, are there any tips? Whether that's for any kind of pieces of advice for people that have been coming for a long time? Or maybe tips for a newbie?

Ken Downey:

Sure, thanks. One of the best tips that we give to all CERAWeek attendees is wear comfortable shoes. It's really one of the best things to take in. But really, all kidding aside, there are a lot of topics, there's a lot of sessions, there's a lot of meetings, there's lots of experiences to consume. And to really interact with all of the other attendees, or all of our partners, all of our speakers, it's most beneficial to prepare for that, and really take a look at all of the various different topics and sessions and speakers, everything that we've talked about. And make sure you put a plan together, plan your days, plan your evenings. We have a long show. We start early in the morning and go till late in the evening, so it's best to be prepared.

Naki Mendoza:

Yeah, I would definitely second the idea of wearing some comfortable shoes. I'll definitely bring your step counter if you have one too. You don't want to miss out on all the steps you're going to get in Houston.

Taylor Kuykendall:

Thank you both. I appreciate you being on the show today.

Naki Mendoza:

Thank you, Taylor.

Ken Downey:

Thank you very much.

Taylor Kuykendall:

All right, listeners, thank you so much for listening to the latest episode of Energy Evolution. I want to give a special shout out to our incredible podcast team members. I am once again, Taylor Kuykendall, but other people behind this podcast include Dan Testa, Camilla Nashut, Christopher Coats, Karen Willenbrecht, and our wonderful agency partner, the 199.

To stay up to date with our upcoming episodes, be sure to subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform. If you have any ideas for future themes or guests, we'd love to hear from you. All you have to do is shoot us an email at energyevolution@spglobal.com. And look, if you liked what you heard today, do consider sharing the podcast with others, or leaving a review on your preferred podcast platform. We can't wait to bring you more fascinating discussions in the future. Until next time, take care, and stay tuned for more from Energy Evolution.