Name: Duke Energy's CEO ignores the political noise around climate change
Uploaded: 2023-05-11
Duration: 5 min 16 s
Description: CEO Lynn Good believes renewable energy is key to her company's future and remains committed to reducing carbon emissions.

CEO Lynn Good believes renewable energy is key to her company's future and remains committed to reducing carbon emissions.

Duke Energy's CEO ignores the political noise around climate change

Leadership

Duke Energy CEO ignores politics around climate change

So why don't we start with the, you know, you've been CEO for a decade now. What's the biggest difference in the energy sector now? Versus when you started? I think the conversation around climate change and carbon reduction has just escalated over my tenure. And the good news about that is I feel like there's a lot of alignment about the future strategy on how we're gonna get there and a lot of work toward a common goal in the industry. But that single issue is so uh significant to our company and to the industry that it's the entire business strategy is focused around how to achieve carbon reduction, all the capital planning, all the talent management uh considerations are focused on that. Probably the single biggest change. Let's talk a little bit about uh politics because, you know, unfortunately everything gets politicized in the US. From your point of view, does the politicization of of everything including energy, does that bring on more renewable energy harder or is it just, you know, blah, blah, blah from politicians and and behind the scenes, companies and utilities and people are on board with it. Well, in my world, I'm running a company that and making investment decisions that I want to be proud of. Not only this year, but 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now. So we have developed a clear eyed view that we want to reduce carbon emissions and we want to reduce it in an affordable way and a reliable way so our customers can count on it. And so the political wins will change. There will be different points of view, there will be different voices at the state level, at the federal level, the US does not have a comprehensive energy policy. So you're working to find compromise bipartisan solutions when you can and working to navigate the politics in a way that still works for your policy makers, but also remains on track for what you believe is the long term sustainable solution for the company. Uh I don't think there will ever be a moment when energy isn't part of the conversation because it affects all of us, our lives, our industries, our livelihood, our economy. And so we can't plan for a day when we all agree, we just have to keep a clear idea on where we're going and take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of us. Can you hit your um your, your carbon emission goals without government subsidies or, or is that all part of the, you know, when you talk about building plants and places that will replace coal facilities, for example, I mean, can you uh can you get these goals without the help of the government? I think the combination of goals with reliability and affordability is the way I think about it and where the tax incentives, Inflation Reduction Act are helpful, is it works on that affordability. So for duke energy, every dollar of tax incentives that we receive goes directly to lower cost of electricity to customers. Is it essential? I don't know if it's essential. It's certainly helpful, particularly in this inflationary environment, high interest rates, high commodity prices, it creates an incredibly valuable tool for us in lowering price to customers. But that transition always has to find balance between those three things. Our aspirations around the environment, reliability for what our customers count on and then affordability not only for vulnerable customers but our industrials as well. So what do you make of the pushback on E S G? I mean, there's a lot of again, you know, this goes back to the political discussion but a lot of people say E S G is a lot of hot air and virtue signaling, et cetera. So do you think this is for real or you know, what do you think of the pushback against or is it, you know, you've made these commitments? And it's an interesting conversation because I think a topic like E S G, we can all agree we ought to take care of the environment. We need to take care of customers and employees and we want to have outstanding governance so that our investors know they can count on Duke Energy and their board. But sometimes those conversations get pulled politically really far left, really far, right. And some of it gets distorted over time, you know, in my world, we continue to look for ways we can run, manage and deliver a Duke energy in a sustainable way. And I think that means taking care of the environment. I think that means having a diverse and inclusive workforce caring for our customers, being responsible in our communities, using our foundation in ways that can help and we will always hold ourselves to a very high standard around governance. And so uh that's the way I think about it. Um Again, running Duke energy for the future, when, when, when there's a power outage, what's your first reaction? Oh my. You think for yourself like how my phones charge or you like? Oh damn. It's a work uh It's a work emergency, you know, uh if I'm ever anywhere that we serve and there's a power outage, outage, there's immediate, you know, what's going on, how do we get it back? Um Because you have a conviction around the importance of your product to customers. I mean, there's no question. I mean, we are safety, we are warmth, uh we are entertainment, uh all of those things and so understanding quickly why and how are we going to get it back is always top of mind.