How energy diversification can drive development | Special pre-ADIPEC preview episode
Energy Gang
Wood Mackenzie
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 October 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As global energy systems evolve, emerging economies face a defining challenge: how to secure affordable power for today while investing in the low-carbon solutions that will drive tomorrow’s growth. Can energy diversification unlock a new era of industrial development, resilience, and inclusive prosperity?
In the third and final episode of our special series ahead of ADIPEC 2025, host Ed Crooks is joined by Charlotte Wolff-Bye, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at PETRONAS, and Andrew Smart, Senior Managing Director at Accenture. Together, they explore how countries in Asia, the Middle East and beyond are using integrated energy strategies to build stronger, fairer economies.
Charlotte explains how PETRONAS is redefining its role as a national energy company: supporting Malaysia’s growth through lower-carbon development, capacity-building, and nature-based solutions. She outlines how the company’s investments in renewables, hydrogen, and carbon capture are creating skilled jobs, building local supply chains, and delivering a “just transition” that lifts communities.
Andrew shares Accenture’s perspective from the Middle East, where nations are emerging as pivotal connectors between the Global North and South-linking capital, technology, and opportunity. He discusses how digital innovation, AI, and regional interconnection are reshaping resilience and competitiveness, while new financing and regulatory models aim to make clean-energy investment bankable at scale.
The message from emerging economies is clear: energy transition and economic development can must advance hand-in-hand. Finally, the group considers what a decade of progress might bring us, including more collaborations across borders and across sectors. They explain why new connections such as regional power grids, diversified supplies, and joined-up policies and corporate strategies point to brighter futures for energy and human development.
This is the third and final special episode sponsored by ADIPEC 2025, where the theme is Energy Intelligence Impact. The event brings together 205,000+ attendees and 1,800+ speakers in Abu Dhabi from 3–6 November 2025. The Energy Gang will be recording live at the event. Join us there to be part of the conversation.
Learn more and register at adipec.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Adepec 2025, the world's largest energy event, returns to Abu Dhabi this November under the theme Energy Intelligence Impact. |
| 0:08.0 | More than 1,800 speakers and 205,000 attendees come together to address a dual imperative, |
| 0:15.0 | strengthening today's energy systems and scaling intelligent solutions. |
| 0:19.0 | Join us in Abu Dhabi from the 3rd to the 6th of November |
| 0:21.6 | to explore how the convergence of energy, AI, investment and emerging economies |
| 0:26.6 | is advancing global progress. |
| 0:28.6 | Register now at adipek.com. |
| 0:34.6 | Hello and welcome to The Energy Gang, a discussion show from Wood McKenzie about the fast-changing |
| 0:41.0 | world of energy. |
| 0:42.1 | I'm Ed Crooks. |
| 0:43.8 | And this is the third and last in a short series of special episodes looking ahead to the |
| 0:48.3 | Adipik Energy Conference in November. |
| 0:50.9 | And in this show we're going to be talking about energy and economic development, and in particular about the role of diversification into low carbon energy and other new technologies in supporting economic growth and rising living standards. |
| 1:02.2 | Now, to talk about those issues, I'm joined by Charlotte Wolf Bai, who is the group chief sustainability officer at Petronas, which is the National Energy Company of Malaysia. |
| 1:10.9 | Hello, Charlotte. Welcome to the show. Hello. Hello. Hello to you, Ed. Great to have you here. Thanks very much for joining us. And it's also a pleasure to welcome Andrew Smart, who's the Senior Managing Director and Resources Client Group Lead for the Middle East at Accenture. Hi, Andrew. Thanks for joining us. Ed, thank you. Wonderful to be here. Yeah, thank you very much for joining us. |
| 1:28.9 | Now, before we get into the heart of this discussion, I think it would be useful for our listeners, |
| 1:33.4 | perhaps to just get a bit of an idea of where you're coming from in this whole debate about |
| 1:37.3 | energy, diversification and development. Charlotte, start with you. Tell us about your role at Petronast. |
| 1:43.2 | What do you work on there? |
| 1:44.9 | Certainly. |
| 1:47.5 | So I'm the Group Chief Sustainability Officer. |
| 1:51.8 | Me and my team, we set the strategy for net zero carbon emission. |
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