Paula Doyle, senior vice president of Energy at Cognite, looks back at this month’s big energy industry event.

Like we didn’t have enough to talk about already.

I traveled to Houston earlier this month with high expectations. The stage was set for the first in-person CERAWeek in three years. Big names and even bigger topics: the energy transition, the post-pandemic economic boom, Europe’s energy crisis. All of this and more was on the agenda.

The war in Ukraine changed all of that. Overnight, the war exposed the fragility and instability of our energy system and injected fresh insecurity into global markets. Everything we had planned to talk about in Houston had to be reframed.

Looking back at CERAWeek this year, I see a few key takeaways that stand out:

There’s a lot of naming and shaming going on when it comes to setting ambitious enough climate goals. Big Tech seems to always come out on top, while Big Oil is relegated to worst in class. But is this a fair comparison? Hard-to-abate sectors are exactly that: hard-to-abate. Should we use a different kind of stick to measure them?

Linda Hofstad Helleland, the Norwegian Minister of Regional Development and Digitalization, builds some bridges:

Old and new industries need to cooperate to succeed with climate goals. Cutting emissions in traditional industries is challenging and requires innovations from emerging tech companies. Being fit for a digital future and supporting a green deal for our societies are two targets that complement each other very well. Combining new technologies and new business models in traditional industries is therefore a smart way to achieve ambitious climate goals.

Mike Pollitt of global robotics engineering company Boston Dynamics on amplifying the progress of asset management innovation with more sensors:

Asset management has progressed greatly over the last 20 years, from preventative maintenance, to reliability-centered, and toward predictive maintenance. However, even as improved analytics turn data into actionable insights, the volume and types of capturable data have limited the benefits. The majority of assets in operation today simply lack the necessary sensors, so insufficient data continues to pose a challenge in asset-intensive industries.