At the 2026 Sustainable Global Leaders Conference held in Shanghai, Alexander Döll, Chief Executive Officer of the Methanol Institute, shared his reflections from the event in a LinkedIn post.
The following are his full remarks.
Posting from Shanghai while en route to Singapore, one thought stayed with me: one of the biggest bottlenecks in the energy transition is how we collaborate.
I regularly attend conferences focused on shipping, aviation, road transport, hydrogen, or chemicals. At the Sina Finance Global #Sustainable Development Leaders Conference# in Shanghai, these sectors came together with investors, technology companies, governments, Nobel laureates, academia, entrepreneurs, and people from the creative industries.
Everyone gathered in one place to exchange ideas and challenge existing assumptions. Diversity was clearly part of the design: every panel brought together men and women from different cultures, disciplines, and backgrounds. Compared with the all-male panels we still see far too often, this was a welcome change. We need that mix to challenge our thinking.
As I head to Singapore for our year-end board meeting and to speak at the MMSA Energy Aspects #International Methanol Conference#, I want to share a few reflections.
Artificial intelligence is a tool. Use it. It can help translate engineering language into the language of investors and make unfamiliar topics easier to understand. It can also help us explore the questions we hesitate to ask in a room full of experts. Judgment still matters. So does asking questions.
Look at what already exists. We spend so much time chasing the next breakthrough that we overlook the technologies, infrastructure, and knowledge that can make a difference today. What can we improve right now, or put into use?
Talk more candidly about what works. Engineers, investors, policymakers, and end users often view the same project from different angles. We need to ask each other more often: What have you learned? What worked? What didn't?
And then there is methanol. Despite its many applications in our daily lives, I was reminded again how little people outside the industry know about it. In discussions about urban transport and battery performance challenges in extreme cold, few people know that methanol-powered range extenders can cold-start at temperatures as low as -35°C. Methanol's role in aviation, shipping, and energy storage is also little known. We need to explain these connections better.
We also need to discuss the uncomfortable parts. Conventional energy remains part of the transition. Investment requires credible economics and clear policy. Uncertainty around the IMO net-zero framework is also part of the conversation. Policy shapes economics, and uncertainty makes investment decisions harder.
Shanghai pushed me outside my usual circles. It reminded me how much we miss when we keep talking only to the same people. When was the last time a conversation proved one of your assumptions about another industry wrong?
Sina statement: All conference transcripts are compiled from on-site notes and have not been reviewed by the speakers. Sina.com publishes this article to convey more information and does not mean it agrees with or confirms the views and descriptions expressed.
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