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Jackie Forrest BSc’96 (Chemical Engineering)
“Canadian energy nerd” broadcasts about industry
Engineer and podcaster Jackie Forrest champions “realistic” energy transition
When Jackie Forrest (BSc’96) graduated from chemical engineering 30 years ago and started working in engineering software, she couldn’t have imagined she would become an influential podcaster talking about the global energy business. In fact, she couldn’t have imagined podcasts.
“I would've loved it. I probably would've had a university podcast,” says Forrest, executive director of the ARC Energy Research Institute and managing director of ARC Financial Corp. Every week on the ARC Energy Ideas Podcast, Forrest and her co-host and ARC colleague Peter Tertzakian dive into geopolitics, policies and other factors that influence the energy industry.
“We started the podcast in 2018 because we were writing a weekly article for the Globe and Mail and others. The podcast is a lot easier, and we could cover way more topics in a half hour than the hours it took to write something,” she says. While the podcast is a must-listen for people in the industry, it has plenty of laymen listeners wanting an inside look on the energy transition.
When I started doing energy research, I was trying to get more factual information out about the oil sands because there is a huge amount of misinformation.
Jackie Forrest BSc’96 (Chemical Engineering)
“I think there's been some really confusing messages out there about demand for oil,” says Forrest. “It’s not going down as fast as the net-zero by 2050 scenarios forecast. And all these policymakers are planning for something that's impossible as opposed to thinking about what's realistic and then mitigating the impacts of climate change.”
Forrest has been analyzing the energy industry since graduating with an MBA in 2004. It’s never boring—the global financial crisis in 2008, the growth of the oil sands and with it the growth of global opposition to the oil sands, the collapse of oil prices during COVID to a rise in value for clean energy in 2021 (the so-called Biden bump) followed by a down cycle in clean energy, partly because China is flooding the market.
“It's always been a lot of change, and it's always been really interesting,” she says. “When I started doing energy research, I was trying to get more factual information out about the oil sands because there is a huge amount of misinformation, like we're strip mining a quarter of Alberta’s area and things like that.”
A self-confessed “Canadian energy nerd,” Forrest has also enjoyed the changes in her career, from technical work to “nose to the grindstone” research to public speaking. “The engineering degree is like a problem-solving degree,” she says. “You don't necessarily have to stick with the pure engineering jobs, the really technical jobs. My engineering background gave me the tools to be successful as an energy analyst.”
Her alma mater has recognized Forrest in different ways - including the 2018 Schulich Environment and Sustainability Alumni Award and Schulich's 2022 Canadian Engineering Leadership Award - and she now serves on the Schulich Industry Advisory Council. “We give advice to the dean and other professors and department heads on questions around developing new programs and preparing students for what's out there,” she says. “I've really enjoyed it. It's kept me close to the school. Schulich has seen a lot of change since I graduated, and it’s been fun to watch it grow.”