Meet the 10 execs shaping the future of the energy industry

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Let's jump right in.

California fires: A tipping point in talking about climate change

I often hear that it's tough to communicate about climate change because it's not concrete like, say, poaching.

More than three million acres have burned in California. Six of the 20 largest fires in the state's history have taken place this year. More than a dozen people have died throughout the West Coast.

That's pretty dang concrete.

And I think it's fair to say that linking events like these to climate change is finally becoming mainstream. It's just unfortunate that it takes so much death and devastation to get there.

The link: Global warming is sapping moisture from California, which means vegetation is drier and more likely to ignite.

• California is among a handful of Western states that had its warmest August on record, according to NOAA.
• Heatwaves in the state are now also 3-4 degrees warmer due to climate change, CBS reports.
• Death Valley, California reached 130 degrees in August, possibly the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth that month.

Other side effects include: The fires in California could spark a financial crisis, Reuters reported. At least we know what that's like.

• "Wildfires across the US West are among the sparks from climate change that could ignite a US financial crisis by damaging home values, state tourism, and local government budgets."

Energy implications: The wildfires are likely to ramp up pressure on utilities and oil companies to decarbonize.

• There's likely to be a surge in home-battery and rooftop solar sales in the months to come, giving companies like Sunrun and Tesla a boost.
• That's because heatwaves and dry conditions hike up the risk of power outages, either as a preventive measure to avoid sparking wildfires or — as we saw in August — to lower demand on the grid from people running their ACs.
• The advantage of solar and batteries is that they can provide people with energy independence. They can also prevent heat-related blackouts from occurring in the first place by offsetting overall electricity demand.

The 10 execs you should know who are transforming the future of the energy industry

Needless to say, the energy industry faces a reckoning, and it has for a while. We profiled ten executives helming its transformation — from the head of New Energies at Shell to LG Chem's EV battery czar Denise Gray, who's pictured above.

You can see all the profiles here. (No paywall.)

What stood out to me: Oil giants will look a lot more like utilities in the coming decades, providing all kinds of power and products. Analysts say that could mean lower returns relative to what oil booms offer.

• Despite early fears, the pandemic is doing little to thwart the clean energy transition. Facebook, for example, is still on track to meet its goal of powering its operations with 100% clean energy by the end of the year.
• Managing the constellation of small sources of energy across the grid, such as electric cars, solar panels, and home batteries, is big business and growing fast.
• The industry faces major challenges around diversity and inclusion. Overseas, it's especially complicated for LGBTQ employees.

Read more: Big oil companies say they support gay rights, but operate in more than 40 countries that criminalize same-sex behavior. It leaves some LGBTQ workers caught between 2 worlds.

Oil markets have recovered little ground in the last three months. Here's what a recovery timeline could look like.

Oil prices were inching up for months since bottoming out in April. Now they've slid back to where they were in June, weighed down by a stalled recovery in fuel demand.

• Brent, the international benchmark price, is at about $40 a barrel, down 40% since the start of the year.
• It's not great news for oil companies. Here's how 20 of the top firms are responding, from cutting staff to writing down assets.

In a recent report, analysts at Bank of America provided their best guesses about how oil demand and prices will recover.

2020-2023: Demand for gasoline recovers, jet fuel lags behind

• Jet fuel demand, down 50% today, will likely show only modest gains ahead of a coronavirus vaccine or other effective cure.

2025-2030: Oil demand is up, and on the ascent

• By 2025, it will be up 4 million barrels per day (bpd), compared to 2019, settling at around 104 million bpd.

2030-2050: Electric cars kill oil growth

• Bank of America estimates that by 2030, more than a third of all light-duty cars sold, such as sedans, will be electric.

See details of their forecasts here.

Fun fact!

Big Oil also might be ... Big Coffee?

Both Shell and BP have said they sell a ton of coffee. It's easy to forget that they operate massive chains of gas stations around the world, and all of them sell coffee.

• Shell, for example, sells 250 million cups a year, my daily intake. 250 million!
• (Relative to the big chains, it's actually not that much. Dunkin says it sold about 2 billion cups in 2017.)

4 top stories we didn't cover

1. Trump announced a 10-year ban on oil drilling in waters off the coast of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. His administration originally had proposed opening up offshore waters to drilling.
2. BP is betting on offshore wind with a new $1.1 billion investment, or 50% stake, in Equinor's US projects Empire Wind and Beacon Wind.
3. Mandatory power shut-offs related to wildfire risk are no longer just a thing in California, Bloomberg reports.
4. "Uber plans to offer rides exclusively in electric vehicles by 2030 in US, Canadian and European cities, and be entirely free of emissions by 2040," CNN reports.

That's it! Have a great weekend.

- Benji

Ps. I'm a basic so obviously I made this little wall arrangement for my room that I'm excited to share. That's moss, not a bunch of air plants, which makes me at least a little edgy.