This entry is part 8 in the series Decarbonization

Today’s guest is Capital Power’s Kate Chisholm, who maintains that we need to come to terms with the fact that the goal of powering the world with 100 per cent renewables is an impossible pipe dream.

The series was produced by KEI Network for Troy Media.

We welcome your comments below.


Bios of today’s guest:

James Carter

James Carter

James Carter

James Carter retired from Syncrude Canada Ltd. in 2007 after 28 years, including 10 years as President and 18 years as Operations Chief. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Irving Oil Limited (Lead Independent Director), Brand Industrial Services and EllisDon Construction Services Inc. James is a Corporate Director of Finning International and serves as board chair for Careers: The Next Generation, a not-for-profit organization. He is a former Chair of the Mining Association of Canada. James was awarded the Order of Canada. In June 2019, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors and has also been awarded honorary doctorates by three Canadian universities. He is a registered professional engineer in the Province of Alberta and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie Engineering) and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. James is a Troy Media Thought Leader. For interview requests, click here.

Kate Chisholm

Kate Chisholm

Kate Chisholm

Kate Chisholm has been a member of the senior executive team since July 2009 and played an instrumental role in Capital Power’s restructuring and Initial Public Offering that led to the company’s creation. Kate leads Capital Power’s strategic and sustainability planning and reporting, market forecasting and analytics, regulatory, government relations, stakeholder engagement, community investment, communications, internal audit, ethics and compliance functions. She has personally led significant and successful commercial negotiations, managed high-stakes litigation and overseen important public policy influence strategies for Capital Power. Previously, Kate served as Capital Power’s Chief Legal Officer.

Prior to Capital Power, Kate served as EPCOR’s Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2004 to 2009, and Vice President, Legal and Commercial for Alberta’s Transmission Administrator (now the Alberta Electric System Operator) from 1999 to 2003.

Kate has provided counsel and expert witness testimony in numerous electric utility hearings, including those arising from the restructuring of the Alberta electricity industry.

She was awarded the prestigious “Robert V.A. Jones” Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association in 2008, appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010, named one of Canada’s Top 50 Diversity Champions by Women of Influence Magazine in 2013, named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, was given a Leadership in the Profession Award by WILL/Counsel Network/Association of Women Lawyers in 2014, and named one of Canada’s Top 50 General Counsels in 2016.

Kate currently serves on a number of boards and governing bodies, including Chair of the University of Alberta Board of Governors. She created the MORE mentoring program for high potential young professional women in Edmonton and was one of the founding members of Legal Leaders for Diversity, an association of Canadian general counsels who support and promote diversity and inclusion within the legal profession.

About KEI Network

The company began when founder Perry Kinkaide immigrated to Canada from the United States to study the brain and behaviour. Over the next 50 years his careers in academia and government and corporate and non-profit sectors have led to the development of an extraordinary network of over 20,000 contacts: experts and entrepreneurs, academics and government leaders, corporate giants, professionals and non-profit associations. His experience and contacts constitute the KEI Network, giving it the extraordinary capability of organizing and referring, informing and advising, mentoring and investing – always with his clients’ success in mind.


The opinions expressed by our columnists and contributors are theirs alone and do not inherently or expressly reflect the views of our publication.

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