Thursday 16 April 2020

Coping with Corona – Louise Kingham, CEO of the Energy Institute

One word can be used to sum up the global energy sector in the face of the ongoing coronavirus crisis - resilience.

That's the verdict from Louise Kingham OBE FEI, Chief Executive of the Energy Institute, who stressed the importance of recognising the vital work being carried out by the sector's workers every day.

She noted the industry was enabling economies to continue to function, keeping lights on around the world, allowing fuel to stay flowing and meaning vital services can be kept running in the face of the pandemic sweeping the planet.

She added the energy sector was not just proving successful in terms of keeping critical operations running but also in terms of using existing skills to help tackle the crisis in novel and innovative ways.

Ms Kingham said: "Energy companies and people within them, who have got some tremendous capabilities, are thinking what is what we do, how can that be helpful, whether that's PPE equipment that could be useful in certain situations...

"....whether that is putting more money into mental health support for communities or just for the general public to access, whether that is doing more for vulnerable energy customers... so I've seen a lot of that."