Multiple award-winning Ghanaian engineer, Justice Ohene-Akoto, has been appointed as a Board Member, Future Energy Leaders (FEL) programme at the World Energy Council.
The appointment comes after his acceptance into the global Future Energy Leaders Programme at the Council over a year ago. In all, there were four new entrants onto the board including Joao Graca Gomes from China/Portugal, Thaddeus Anim-Somuah from The Netherlands and Rachel Melton from the USA.
Out of the four new Board Members, three are currently members of the global FEL community and the other from the partners of the Council. The FEL-100 board oversees and monitors the achievement of programme objectives. The board warrants the alignment of the programme with the Council’s mission and vision and ensures integration with the wider Council community.
Mr. Ohene-Akoto believes being appointed onto the board is a call to duty and is willing to work with everyone in achieving the humanizing energy agenda as well as a successful global energy transition.
He strongly believes if there’s a time to humanize energy, that time is now. If there’s a time to pay attention to the demand-side of energy, that time is now. According to him, “we either adjust quickly to the humanizing energy agenda and create a sense of urgency to make it happen or we will be forced to do that since that will be our only means of survival.”
Looking at the energy trilemma, energy security is equally as important as sustainability and affordability. There should be a balance between these three for survival. According to him, all indicators show that the future of energy is human-centric as predicted by other global scenarios
Ing. Ohene-Akoto is currently one of the leads for the World Energy Council’s Visionario project. The WEC FEL’s visionario project seeks to bridge intergenerational gaps in thinking and incorporating socio-economic perspectives into the technocratic realm of energy and emissions scenarios.
Its objectives include providing insight into latest energy and emissions projections globally. He led the MAP Phase which sought to review energy and emission scenarios globally. This phase identified key drivers, take-outs and the humanizing energy aspects from the scenarios.
Again, he led the GAP phase which sought to identify gaps and uncertainties to achieve projects/desired future. He is currently leading the ZAP Phase which seeks to propose/find solutions to the gaps and disruptors.
On 12th and 13th October, 2022, Ing. Ohene-Akoto joined other global energy professionals and experts at the World Energy Council’s Energy Trilemma Summit in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. He facilitated two peer-to-peer dialogue sessions, that is, New solutions: rebalancing the energy trilemma and achieving breakthrough: involving customers and communities.
Together with three other colleagues, Mr. Ohene-Akoto climbed the big stage to share his visions and ideas on energy transition and climate change during the session dubbed, “Achieving breakthrough: A call to action from the next generation of energy leaders”. This session was moderated by John Defterios, Former Emerging Markets Editor, CNN, Adjunct Professor, NYU Abu Dhabi.
About the World Energy Council and the Future Energy Leaders programme
The World Energy Council is a global forum for thought-leadership and tangible engagement with headquarters in London. Its mission is ‘To promote the sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all people’. The idea for the foundation of the Council came from Daniel Nicol Dunlop in the 1920s. The Council define, enable and accelerate successful energy transitions while maintaining a technology and resource neutral global perspective and through the widespread use of a flexible Transition Leadership Toolkit, insight, interactive events and dynamic platforms to delivery strategic moments of impact.
The FEL-100 programme is one of the key ways that the World Energy Council helps build capabilities to accelerate successful energy transition. The Future Energy Leaders work side-by-side with the world’s most experienced hands, brightest minds, and biggest hearts to forge new shared understanding and sustain new and more effective cooperation in this current era of more energy and climate neutrality.
The objective of the Council’s FEL-100 programme is to convene a community of young energy professionals from around the world who are aligned with the World Energy Council’s enduring mission and its distinct vision of Humanising Energy. The programme is designed for young professionals under the age of 35 that have the ambition to influence and impact whole energy system transition.
Through a three-year development programme, participants broaden their understanding of the global energy industry, whole energy system challenges and energy transition and thereby grow into a generation of responsible global energy leaders, part of a global community of energy leaders, experts and peers. Across geographies, the programme provides an exceptional leadership development experience for its participants.
