In Houston, all resources are welcome
This city is where the future transition will be worked out
We’ve just finished CERAWeek in Houston, the World Cup of energy conferences. Each year, the most influential leaders, investors and policymakers of the world’s energy industry come together in the undisputed energy capital of the world to discuss the challenges and opportunities this industry faces.
And make no mistake, this industry is facing monumental and historic challenges, and opportunities.
Our world has never needed more energy than it does today — from all energy sources, including oil and natural gas. And tomorrow, it will need even more.
As our global population grows and developing nations elevate people from poverty to prosperity, they will need more energy.
We should not deny the world the United States’ abundant energy resources. It is important that we all appreciate that we live in a global energy system. If one producing region decides not to develop a given resource, another region will need to step up to meet that demand. Oil and natural gas produced in the U.S. is cleaner than that from Russia, Venezuela and many other large producers. U.S. production of crude oil and natural gas has increased over the last 40 years, while at the same time pollution and most emissions have steadily declined across sources. This is progress that we should continue to build upon.
Producing more energy with less emissions isn’t a simple problem to solve, and the technologies needed to do it are still emerging. It is the most challenging issue of our time, and no city other than Houston is more keenly aware of this challenge, nor in a better position to solve it. We have more talent, expertise, infrastructure, R&D capacity and proximity to capital than any other single market in the world.
Put simply, Houston is where the future of energy — to address energy poverty and climate — will get worked out.
In 2021, the Greater Houston Partnership launched the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) in acknowledgment of the challenge and the opportunity the energy industry faces.
HETI is a coalition of industry, academic, government and community organizations committed to the longterm economic competitiveness of the Houston region through the transition to an energy-abundant, low carbon future.
If Houston is to retain its position as a leader in the energy industry in the long term, it must leverage the talent, assets and capabilities that have made Houston the energy capital, while also
growing new businesses, industries and solutions for the energy transition.
Over the last three years, HETI has worked to grow Houston’s reputation as an all-of-the-above energy city.
Today, in addition to the 4,500-plus incumbent energy companies that call Houston home, this region boasts more than 150 renewable energy companies, 220 clean tech and climate tech startups, 35-plus incubators and accelerators, and over 600 energy investment firms that are driving innovative solutions to create more energy with less emissions.
The world very much needs the oil and gas that is found, produced, transported and processed by Houston’s energy companies — and it will need it for many decades to come.
The U.S. and economies around the world cannot afford to replace entire energy systems built over the last century.
We know that energy transitions take a long time, which may frustrate some and is why it is important that we all work together to build an energy-abundant, low-carbon future.
To successfully address this challenge, we need to find a way to integrate all energy solutions into the mix. That is what creates such a unique opportunity for Houston.
Only in this part of the country, and the world, can every available energy technology be deployed efficiently and effectively and at scale. Whether it’s oil or gas, LNG, carbon capture, clean hydrogen, wind, solar, geothermal or battery storage, Houston is the place where energy innovation and opportunity can scale.
This is why Greentown Labs, Activate and others have expanded to this region. It’s why Houston is the U.S. home to so many new energy companies, including Drax, Fervo, Cemvita, Syzygy, Carbon Clean and Solugen. It is why the Department of Energy’s top leadership have visited Houston more than a half dozen times in the last 12 months. And it’s why Argonne National Lab just last week signed a memorandum of understanding with the Greater Houston Partnership to work collaboratively with industry to accelerate the commercial deployment of industrial decarbonization technologies.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm recently said that this transition is being led by the private sector.
We won’t make progress by throwing stones at each other.
The only way we can tackle this global challenge is by leveraging the skills, capability, talent and ability to deliver at scale the incumbent energy industry brings to bear.
Houston is leading the way in the creation of partnerships and collaborations that will enable us to develop and deploy critical solutions for the energy transition — across all energy pathways.
No region is more keenly aware of the economic challenge and opportunity the energy transition creates, and no region is better positioned to take advantage of the opportunities and solve the challenges than Houston.
In a world of increasing division and discord, Houston is still a place where people come together to create new opportunity.
We can’t regulate, tax and protest our way through this. We must discover, invent, innovate and deploy solutions like never before.
Bobby Tudor is the chair of the Greater Houston Partnership’s Houston Energy Transition Initiative and founder and CEO of Artemis Energy Partners. Steve Kean is the president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership.