Dearbhail McDonald chaired a landmark discussion at the Impact Ireland 2025 Convention on the future of global energy, growth and security. The session brought together Jim Barry (CEO, Green Re; former CIO, BlackRock), Karen Fang (Global Head of Sustainable and Infrastructure Finance, Bank of America), and Lesley O’Connor (Founder & Executive Chair, Trifecta Energy).

Under the theme “Navigating the Intersection of Economic Growth, Energy Security and Affordability,” the panel explored the accelerating clean-energy transition, the challenges of under-investment in infrastructure, and the critical role of insurance and policy frameworks in scaling sustainable projects worldwide.

The Global Energy Landscape

Karen Fang highlighted a record $2 trillion invested globally in clean energy in 2024, growing at an annual rate of 25%. “Ninety per cent of that flow went to mature renewables such as solar, wind and grid transmission,” she said. “Only ten per cent reached emerging technologies like carbon capture or geothermal — and that imbalance must change.”

Jim Barry warned that progress remains too slow to stay within climate boundaries. “We’re not transitioning at the pace required even for two degrees of warming. The cost of not changing is rising every year,” he said. He urged governments and investors to act at a system level, combining public-private capital with long-term policy certainty.

The Investor Perspective

Lesley O’Connor described the current phase as “the greatest industrial transformation of our time,” but one constrained by grid capacity, price volatility and slow innovation. She argued that investors must shift from project-by-project thinking to system design — creating super-grids and anticipatory infrastructure that connects renewable supply with industrial demand.

“You can’t transform through incrementalism,” O’Connor said. “We need to design for the future we want, not retrofit the past.”

Policy, Insurance and Innovation

Both Barry and Fang emphasised the growing strain on insurance capacity. Without new models to underwrite technology-performance and delivery risk, banks and investors cannot deploy at scale. Fang confirmed that Bank of America is working with partners such as Green Re to integrate insurance into project-finance structures and to blend private credit with sovereign guarantees.

AI and the Next Energy Frontier

The panel agreed that artificial intelligence will reshape the energy system — from grid optimisation and predictive maintenance to long-duration storage. Fang noted that AI-enabled grid analytics could cut emissions by 1.5 billion tonnes by 2035 through efficiency gains alone.

Watch the full session in the Impact Ireland 2025 Playlist or explore all highlights in Impact Must Be Measured — The Global Advisory Council 2025 Recap.

Tags: Impact Investing, GAC 2025, Energy Transition, Jim Barry, Karen Fang, Lesley O’Connor, Bank of America, Trifecta Energy, Green Re, Renewable Infrastructure, Venturewave Capital