Young Global Leaders

People don’t remember if you lost the “ game; people remember if you destroyed the planet.”

–Amit Mehra, a member of the winning team who works as a sustainability executive at the global technology firm, Accenture.

Young Global Leaders collaborate on advancing the energy transition

In June 2022, participants from 20 countries gathered at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment for a four-day executive education program titled “Advancing the Global Energy Transition.” The course was hosted by the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and the Andlinger Center and was attended by executives, entrepreneurs, government officials, academics, and journalists.

The centerpiece of the event was a role-playing game that tasked participants with ramping up energy production to serve a growing population by 2050 without increasing net carbon emissions. The goal was to propose an energy mix to balance national and world clean energy goals with power reliability and affordability. Jesse Jenkins led the session and used as its reference point the Net-Zero America study he co-authored, which envisioned what it would take for the U.S. to achieve an economy-wide target of net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. In addition to the game, the program featured panel discussions and substantive talks. Keynote speaker Martin Parkinson, chancellor of Macquarie University in Australia, noted the importance of building coalitions and partnerships across diverse sectors and communities, and of allowing firms to work more closely together. Wind energy is a key example. Madeline Urbish, head of government affairs and market strategy in New Jersey for Ørsted, the world’s largest developer of offshore wind power, stated that public policy will play a vital role in moving new technology forward. She emphasized that policymakers and industry must work together to meet the needs of the state.

The program was funded with a generous gift by Howard E. Cox, Jr. ʼ64, special limited partner of Greylock Partners.

Participants engaged in team-building activities including playing an energy planning game. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)