By Sean Mallen
Sean Mallen Communications
December 10, 2020
The impact of the pandemic on the workplace was on display in a panel of CEOs at the APPrO 2020 virtual conference. Joined together by Zoom from across the country, Sophie Brochu of Hydro-Québec, Ken Hartwick of Ontario Power Generation and Dawn Farrell of TransAlta Corp all appeared to be in living rooms or home offices, while Brian Vaasjo of Capital Power had a virtual backdrop. Appearing in boxes on computer screens, in various gradations of casual dress, they were asked for their observations on how life has changed and how much of that change will persist.
“It’s important that we recognize the implications of the pandemic on people,” said Vaasjo.
He said that like so many others, his firm moved relatively quickly to adopt anti-infection protocols in power plants and to ask office employees to work remotely. He expects that even after the pandemic eases that half of Capital Power’s office staff will continue to work remotely at least part of the time, but he foresees a challenge for all industries.
“(With a national system of carbon pricing) we might be able to achieve Paris in a very cost effective way.”
- Dawn Farrell, CEO of TransAlta
“The problem with that is the culture that got us through the pandemic will erode and it’s going to be difficult for all of us to figure out how we can keep the engagement in light of people working more remotely, away from the corporate core,” said Vaasjo.
He quoted a colleague’s vivid image to illustrate the problem.
“We’ve all been able to get through this pandemic because we’re utilizing body fat. Once that body fat is gone, we’ll see our culture and engagement eroding.”
OPG’s Ken Hartwick noted how generators rose to the challenge of 2020, while also touching on the mental health issues created by the stresses of the pandemic.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the impact that has on people. Both in our companies and in the community. We need to be part of the answer to that,” he said.
Sophie Brochu, CEO of Hydro-Québec, speaking at APPrO 2020
Sophie Brochu, who joined Hydro-Québec just as the pandemic began, spoke about how Quebeckers’ traditional love-hate relationship with the utility shifted during the public health crisis.
“The level of appreciation for HQ has never been higher. The citizen was asking for proximity, for understanding, for relief. And they wanted resilience from the power supplier,” she said.
“It’s one word: communication. And that communication, that understanding, that empathy is what needs to persist.”
Brochu said ratepayers were naturally concerned about paying power bills during such uncertain times and utilities have to recognize that reality.
“It is the duty of society and utilities to focus on energy efficiency. We have to help each of our customers use less.”
Dawn Farrell, CEO of TransAlta, speaking at APPrO 2020
TransAlta Corp CEO Dawn Farrell echoed the necessity to be sensitive to the cost of power for consumers, as well as the biggest environmental challenge facing the planet.
“We have to be thinking about how we provide electricity. It needs to be provided with as low GHG footprint as we can do,” said Farrell.
Power producers have been leading the way nationally in reducing their carbon footprint, while Farrell recognized that the prairie provinces still have work to do, given their reliance on natural gas, although Alberta is in the process of phasing out coal.
She suggested that if the provinces and the federal government could work out long term carbon pricing agreements, providing revenue certainty over 20 years for projects that cut carbon, it could have a dramatic benefit, given that power producers plan developments in timeframes that last decades.
“You would unleash hundreds and hundreds and thousands of projects across this country…and we might be able to achieve Paris in a very cost effective way.”
In a discussion titled “The Transformation Panel,” delegates got a glimpse of some of the astonishing technological advances that will help drive the fight against climate change.
Grace Quan, CEO of the Vancouver-based firm Hydrogen in Motion spoke about her firm’s development of a process to store hydrogen under low pressure at high density. She likened it to a battery and said it has multiple applications, including in transportation.
“It’s going to be a real game changer if we can implement hydrogen in a clean, sustainable way,” said Quan, adding: “It’s technology that changes the world. We didn’t get out of the stone age because we ran out of stones.”
The Chair of the Energy Advisory Board at the MaRS Discovery District, Paul Murphy, gave glimpses into several intriguing technologies. One, created by a Toronto startup called Solistra, is a process that transforms carbon dioxide or methane from industrial activities into hydrogen—in effect, turning greenhouse gases into zero emission fuel.
“Investors and companies that use energy are increasingly looking for economic solutions that also have an environmental or social value,” said Murphy. “And this is only likely to increase into the future.”
His comment highlighted another phenomenon that we have seen in the pandemic: a growing international conversation about the importance of ESG (environmental, social, governance). The stresses of 2020 have supercharged the movement, with consumers, shareholders and employees all demanding that corporations demonstrate concrete commitments to improving society, and not only the bottom line.
“Shareholders are a huge driver of this trend,” said Emily Damon, who specializes in the field for Guidehouse.
Speaking in a panel on ESG leadership, she gave a sense of the magnitude of the movement.
“There are trillions of dollars in assets under management attributed to ESG funds and tied to the UN principles for responsible investment,” said Damon.
She shared the panel with Mike Crawley, President and CEO of Northland Power, who said ESG is a major preoccupation for his firm. He felt that Northland was already well positioned on the environmental side, given its focus on developing green power, but added that it had to do better in reporting on its progress.
“That’s our priority over the next two years, to significant ramp up our reporting to make it easier for investors to select Northland…because everything we’re doing from the “E” standpoint is good for the world,” said Crawley.
He said Northland is also emphasizing the importance of health and safety, particularly given that many of its workers operate in potentially hazardous offshore environments. And his company is sensitive to issues of diversity and inclusion.
“I believe that the most productive employee is somebody who feels that when they show up to work they can be who they are and be comfortable in who they are, and they can feel valued…and they know their voice will be heard.”
Along with earth-shaking changes in the economy and public health, 2020 also featured a tumultuous election in the United States, where the voters chose to end Donald Trump’s presidency after a single term.
In a discussion of the political outlook, Crestview Strategy’s Maryscott Greenwood (who is also CEO of the Canadian American Business Council), predicted that President-elect Joe Biden will face Republican roadblocks in bringing in transformative change, particularly on the climate file. Democrats had hoped to sweep both houses of congress, but instead their majority was cut in the House of Representatives and control of a closely-divided Senate rests on two senatorial elections in Georgia.
“The big, ambitious, visionary climate policies that you’ve read about will be moderated quite a lot by the reality of the politics,” said Greenwood.
In Ontario, energy policy dropped down on the priority list in 2020 (aside from relief measures on power bills) for a government preoccupied with the pandemic. Panellists Dan Moulton of Crestview and Matthew Gibson of Sussex Strategy Group said they did not expect to see anything dramatic on the file from the Ford government between now and the next scheduled provincial election in 2022.
The point was reinforced by the Minister of Energy, Greg Rickford, who told the conference that the government was not anticipating any major new procurements over the next few years and instead is focused on keeping rates down for consumers.