Perfect timing: Rewriting the geopolitical playbook

For the seventh annual PETRONAS International Energy Speaker Series on February 6, it was perfect. As celebrated speaker Anne Applebaum’s plane touched down in Calgary, organizers were at the TELUS Convention Centre, ready to welcome a sold-out crowd of more than 500 local industry leaders for an illuminating conversation between the Pulitzer Prize-winning Applebaum and Jackie Forrest, Executive Director at ARC Energy Research Institute. 

While guests finished their lunch, Haskayne’s Dean Gina Grandy introduced the day’s theme of geopolitics, energy, and sustainability, while noting, “the timing could not be better for this very important conversation.” 

Shannon Young, General Counsel and Vice President of External Affairs at PETRONAS Canada, added the day’s event "allows us to reflect on how our energy industry measures against, and fits within, the complex global landscape,” recognizing the day's event comes at a crucial time when, “the realization that our largest energy trading partner may no longer be a stable ally is forcing a long-resisted awakening in Canada." 

Over the next hour, guests remained riveted as Applebaum and Forrest discussed the rapid—and often incomprehensible—actions taken by the U.S. administration, how long-held frameworks no longer apply, and what that means for the future of sustainability. 

While the on-again-off-again tariff threats from our neighbours to the south loomed large in the day’s news, Applebaum looked back in time to her experiences in Poland, then even farther back, to provide crucial context and a broader perspective to make sense of today’s headlines. 

For over 50 years, our understanding of geopolitics has fit neatly, if sometimes uncomfortably, into classifications like east and west, left wing or right wing, Democrat or Republican. According to Applebaum, these labels no longer fit. The concept of “The West” is a holdover from the Cold War and discounts allies like South Korea and Australia, while the new U.S. administration exists outside our traditional understanding of the Left/Right divide and is more akin to an entirely new and radical transformation. 

At the same time, autocratic countries are no longer acting in isolation. North Korean soldiers fighting on the front lines of Russia’s war with Ukraine illustrate how they are finding ways “to collaborate and work together and co-operate transactionally or ideologically,” suggests Applebaum. 

What does this mean for the future of sustainability and Canada’s energy industry?

In the face of shifting global dynamics and ideologies, Applebaum and Forrest agreed Canadians need to re-think who their potential partners are. Europe, Asia, and Latin America all hold promise as Applebaum suggested, “diversification and coalitions are the way to begin thinking about the world.” 

As the event wrapped up, attendees left with new perspectives on current affairs, and a deeper understanding of how to interpret the complex dramas unfolding on the world’s political stage. 

Generously sponsored by PETRONAS Canada and presented by the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, the annual PETRONAS International Energy Speaker Series provides opportunities to see world-renowned and respected international experts and learn their unique perspectives on the global energy landscape. Despite airline delays and frigid literal and political temperatures, Applebaum’s flight—and her message—landed at the perfect time. 

To hear highlights from the conversation, you can catch Forrest and Applebaum in the ARC Energy Institute podcast. 

Interested in more timely and insightful thought leadership from Haskayne School of Business and industry leaders? 

Join us for the Haskayne Business Exchange on March 4 for a dynamic evening exploring Healthy Workplaces: The Human Cost of Systemic Failure. Tickets available here: Haskayne Business Exchange. 

The BMO Professorship in Sustainable and Transition Finance - How to scale up cleantech firms on April 9 features breakfast and an engaging conversation featuring John Redfern, President & CEO at Eavor Technologies Inc., and Yrjo Koskinen, BMO Professor of Sustainable and Transition Finance at the University of Calgary. Register today.