Reflections on Energy Literacy at the Banff Pipeline Workshop 2021

Thank you to the Banff Pipeline Workshop for inviting YPAC to reflect on the importance of Energy Literacy to achieving our vision.  We invite you to check out the Energy Ecosystem video here: Energy Ecosystem: The Evolution of Energy and its Impact on the World – YPAC (ypacanada.com)

Energy literacy forms the basis of the conversations we have about the future, and for that reason we are passionate about what Energy Ecosystem is delivering, producing compact media to explore perspectives surrounding energy for the next generation of young professionals and beyond. 

Gen Z, the target audience of the Energy Ecosystem project, has just entered the workforce – they are your fresh-faced interns and new grads.  For context, the oldest millennials just turned 40.  By 2025, 60% of the workforce will be Millennial and Gen Z.  By 2030, 75% of the workforce will be Millennial and Gen Z. 

By the numbers, these two generations form our largest stakeholder, voting, and customer group in the coming decade.  Their top priority is mitigating climate change – and this priority is consistent across partisan lines.    

That means that communicating the role that energy, and specifically pipelines, will play in a future which mitigates climate change is vital to ensuring that we can attract and retain top talent and steward pipelines into the hands of the next generation.  For YPAC, that means sharing our vision of the future where pipelines lead the way towards net zero.

It also means ensuring that our strategy meets the expectations of Millennials and Gen Z.  I would ask everyone to challenge themselves and their organizations to answer the question: do our plans reflect what matters most to our future employees?   Are Millennials and Gen Z’s helping us to shape our strategies?  As decision makers, are we actively seeking out the perspectives of the next generation?