SYNOPSIS

The volatile and cyclical nature of business is a common phenomenon that plagues the oil and gas industry. The recent drastic economic downturn where at the middle of 2014 saw oil prices falling more than 70 percent has caused many oil and gas companies which in recent years had made record profits, to see their earnings plummeted leading them to decommission many of their oil rigs and gas plants while sharply cutting investments in both exploration and production. Several of these companies have now consequently become insolvent resulting in a global wide retrenchment of oil and gas workers. This crisis has prompted policy makers, governmental organizations and investors to rethink and reconsider investing in renewable energy as investment in fossil fuels such as oil and gas are now being viewed as an increasingly risky proposition. As such, renewable energy is seen as the energy solution for the future and also as a strategy to solve the issues of global warming and climate change. However is renewable energy really in line with the concept of sustainable development? Does renewable energy help to achieve sustainable development in a coherent and holistic manner? This presentation discusses the relationship between renewable energy and sustainable development, and explores to what extent renewable energy is sustainable.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir.  Dr. Aidil Chee Tahir has more than 14 years of experience working in the corporate sector of Malaysian GLCs focusing on areas of corporate sustainability and corporate strategy. He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in the field of sustainability metrics from the Engineering Science Department at the University of Oxford and read a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. He is a certified Professional Engineer by the Board of Engineers Malaysia and a corporate member with the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM). He also serves as the secretary and treasurer on the Mechanical Engineering Technical Division of IEM.