Dialogues: A New Interface with Corporations

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a Dialogue hosted by Shell concerning Sustainable Transport. This is the first time I have participated in one of these web chats where the audience is given the opportunity to propose questions to a panel of senior Shell representatives covering a range of different sectors in the corporation. The website hosting these Dialogues can be found here and the transcript for the discussion should be available shortly.

I initially had reservations about the usefulness of this form of corporation-public interface. I feared that questions would be either asked in advance so that polished responses could be prepared or that only a handful of selected questions will be responded to. This fear was quickly dispelled when it became apparent that the panel were answering all varieties of questions posed to them. Some of the answers were short and lacking the detail I would have liked to see, but for a question and answer session it certainly exceeded my expectations.

I had the opportunity to ask two questions to the panel. The first one was to do with how Shell planned to remain competitive if the market was to undergo a substantial shift towards electric vehicles over the next 25 years. This was answered briefly by Jose Bravo, chief scientist in physical separations, stating that the company was looking at diversifying into gas supply which I imagine referred to the need for electricity generation to power these vehicles. This is definitely a possibility and I believe gas will provide a cleaner transition energy source before we can make a significant push into ultra low carbon energy generation.

My second question related directly to the topic I am researching in my PhD. The questions so far in the discussion had mostly related to technology, with a high proportion around electric vehicles and the potential of hydrogen. This is an underlying theme in the market to date and the role consumers will play in moving our society towards a more sustainable transport future is often overlooked. I asked Nick Allen, vice president of downstream management consultancy and CO2, what Shell was doing to include consumer interests in their sustainability plan. He provided me with a well detailed answer highlighting Shell’s belief that consumer inclusion and education will play a critical role in moving us forward.

I must admit that I was very impressed with the Dialogue that Shell hosted. I went into it with perhaps some baggage thinking that there was little worth I was going to derive from participating. I’m glad that I was wrong, I will definitively be attending future Dialogues and suggest other people consider them also.