Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, energy has been one of the largest sectors in the U.S. economy. Therefore, it is not surprising that energy policy is one of the most critical issues at the international, national, state and local levels.
For decades, public policy in the United States was largely focused on the need to find more diverse sources of energy as the country was a net energy importer and trends indicated that U.S. dependence on foreign energy would only increase in the future. However, in a major turnabout, over the past ten years those trends have reversed. Today, the shale revolution, along with offshore production and advances in renewable energy technologies and gains in energy efficiency, is enabling the U.S. to meet most of its own energy needs while exporting energy such as oil, natural gas, refined products, chemicals and petrochemicals to the world.
In tandem with this transformation, the debate over energy policy has changed as well. It is now focused on how and where we find and produce energy, what types of energy sources we use and how we address environmental issues, including air pollution and climate change. The energy sector is vast and includes oil and gas exploration and production, midstream pipeline and transportation, fuels manufacturing/refining and marketing, chemicals and petrochemicals, renewable energy, power generation, energy delivery and energy efficiency. The needs and issues across these sectors can be both very similar and very unique. They can also be very dynamic with changing political and regulatory headwinds, economic cycles and volatile commodity prices. Regardless of the specific sector, the goal for everyone in the energy business today is profitability and sustainability.
In January 2019, Cornerstone Government Affairs announced its new energy business line, Cornerstone Energy Solutions, expanding its federal and state government affairs and public affairs client services to include strategic advisory services and business consulting. Cornerstone Energy Solutions’ suite of services, which includes an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) advisory focus, are designed to help companies and organizations in the energy sector better achieve their goals of profitability and sustainability.
The full slate of service offerings includes:
- Policy and Technical
- Upstream
- Midstream
- Downstream
- Power generation and transmission
- Federal and State Government Relations
- Strategic Communications
- Issues Management
- ESG Compliance, Sustainability & Risk Management
- Stakeholder & Change Management
- Financial Advisory/ Asset Valuation
- Energy Markets
- Trade Policy
- Ocean Policy
In recent years, ESG has become a critical component for how companies across industry verticals incorporate and value sustainability factors into their enterprise risk management strategies. ESG metrics are empirically proven to have significant financial and market value. For this reason, Cornerstone is now well equipped to support client business goals in the energy space and across all sectors of the economy.
Whether a company is navigating the regulatory world in search of a permit or approval to operate, seeking legislative or regulatory solutions to further operational goals, looking ahead to ensure internal policies that support long-term and sustainable growth or seeking to improve or maintain a strong and effective voice in communicating with stakeholders and the broader public, Cornerstone Energy Solutions is uniquely positioned to help energy companies and organizations meet and exceed their goals.