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The interpretation of the world’s energy future that Harrie Vredenburg will present to the thousands of officials at COP28 in Dubai doesn’t come with a fit-for-a-headline conclusion — something that came up several times in the editing room.
“There was a lot of time in the studio,” said the University of Calgary professor at the Haskayne School of Business.
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“We’ve had conversations where (co-producer Sylvester Ndumbi) would show me it and it’s beautiful — I love it — but it’s not scientifically correct … we refer to that as the creative tension between some of the science and economics and the drama of filmmaking.”
The documentary film Without Leaving Anyone Behind, set around the world from Trinidad and Tobago to Harvard University to Calgary, sets out to answer how the energy transition fits into climate change policy — particularly for countries in the Global South who’ve built their economies on fossil fuels. It’s written by Vredenburg and co-produced with Ndumbi, a Calgary-based producer who directed the film.
“We need both to address climate change and we need to make sure … people can continue to make a living a decent living wherever they are,” Vredenburg said.
Vrendenburg’s documentary will be screened twice during the annual climate summit: once at a side event in the accredited United Nations area, and another at the Government of Canada pavilion, which will be open to a broader number of people.
After submitting it for consideration to the UN and Canadian government, the federal government selected the film “quite enthusiastically,” Vredenburg said. He’ll be patched in via Zoom for Q&As after both showings.
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In the film Vredenburg takes The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago as an example, whose economy heavily relies on exporting liquefied natural gas. “The reality is, those countries need to continue doing what they’re doing and raise themselves from the poverty that they have,” he said, adding he believes there will be continued demand for petrochemicals in the future.
But his solution to climate change also largely rests on significant uptake of renewables, referencing Hawaii, which will require 100 per cent of its electricity grid to be powered by renewables by 2045.
Vredenburg’s background also meets at several unique cross sections. As a student he attended the first Greenpeace protest in the early 1970s, and later pursued an MBA in finance and international business along with a PhD in business economics.
Outside his academic roles, he sits on the board of Touchstone Exploration Inc., a Calgary-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company, and is an executive board member of the Thunderbird First Nation in Saskatchewan. Vredenburg was until recently the founding board chairman of Calgary-based Teric Power, a battery energy storage company.
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“Climate change really is, in my view, the biggest problem facing humanity at this point in time,” he said. “But we have to address it though multiple different technologies depending on where we are.”
The film has so far screened in a stark range of forums including the recent World Petroleum Congress in Calgary and the Calgary International Film Festival, and recently held a in-house screening at Enbridge. There will be showings this week at Mount Royal University and the Schulich School of Engineering at U of C.
The Calgary professor hopes the film adds a different message to the mix at COP28.
“This is the 28th year we’ve been having these meetings and we’re not moving forward. We need to move forward by looking at all these technologies.”
mscace@postmedia.comX: @mattscace67
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