Green.org sat down with M. Trinidad Castro Crichton, Executive Director – World Energy Council WEC CHILE, to learn how she has built a career that is focused on the needs of the beneficiary and her communities.
Thank you for being here today. Tell us a little bit about your background.
I am a woman, married with a family of 2 wonderful children. My professional career has been surrounded by great learning linked to the social field in different organizations and also in the academy through teaching. I have a degree in Economics and Administration, a master’s degree in Innovation, studies in Public Policy and other interests. I am mobilized by communities of people with a shared purpose where through management and collaborative work, develop initiatives that improve the quality of life of people or at least a certain group of them. I am passionate about music, classical dance and evenings of conversation with friends. I am convinced that challenges will always be easier if you take them together with others.
What would you do with $1 billion dollars?
This is a very good question… I don’t often think about what I would do with this amount of money but if I stop to evaluate it there are several possible scenarios. If this billion dollars were the fruit of my efforts, I think the use would have to do with the future of me and my family. With a space for leisure and travel around the world and another for future savings. If it were a billion dollars that comes from something like a raffle or a casino, I think I would use an important portion for donation to a charity institution with a cause that mobilizes me, on the other hand, I would invite my parents, siblings and nuclear family to a nice trip and the rest if there is something left, I would leave it for some need. But if this billion dollars were part of the budget that I dream of having in the institution where I work, I would put all my effort and abilities in a program that I hope will be one that reaches all corners of my country and the world. Its name is Kids in Energy & Sustainability and what we seek with it is to deliver a project-based learning experience (with APP methodology) so that children at an early age fall in love with energy and see it as an alternative and infinite source of development opportunities for them and their communities.
Why do you think sustainability is such an important topic today?
I think that sustainability is not only an important issue today, but I think that there is no turning back in this matter. The business models and the ways in which productive systems are implemented must include all the components of sustainability because otherwise they will not be viable. Our humanity presents great future challenges and in order to project it, we must consider that social, environmental and economic aspects are key to the construction of a future that will last over time. Cycles are increasingly shorter and changes are faster. In this context, we need vision, courage and conviction about how we want our lives and those of future generations to be.
What do you envision your industry looking like in ten years?
Our energy industry has multiple challenges and above all, in terms of the current energy transition that we are experiencing, this is a sector that acts quickly and that in the next 10 years must be adapted to the redesign required to guide its purpose on the planet and people. The people-centered model will change everything we do in a system such as energy, which is at the heart of everyone’s life. I firmly believe that in the next 10 years we will see a system where competitive renewable energy sources are embedded in the operations and energy systems of each country, where digitalization technologies have advanced and penetrated people’s daily lives, where there is greater access to distributed energy and above all where people are aware that this system requires everyone’s commitment.
In particular, what I hope or dream for my country in the next 10 years is a country that advances decisively in its decabonization plan accompanied by agreements, regulatory framework and institutional framework as strong as it has characterized us in recent decades. The energy system faces the same uncertain and vulnerable world and therefore, we must offer and promote elements of certainty to facilitate decision-making that impact the lives of millions of human beings.
