Executive Vice President of Public Policy, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, Exelon
Search every verified Colette Honorable interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a September 2020 appearance at Stanford's Global Energy Dialogues, Colette Honorable discussed grid innovation, climate change, and social justice. She described climate change as a "real" driver of energy sector transformation and expressed support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Honorable emphasized the importance of access to energy for developing economies and the need to balance affordability with climate goals, stating that "consumers who pay for so much of this work must be able to afford it." She advocated for streamlining transmission permitting through a "one-stop infrastructure bureau" and continued support for wholesale electricity markets, while noting that nuclear power is "expensive and less flexible" and that market operations should align with policy objectives. Honorable also addressed racial justice, stating that "Black Lives Matter is about systemic inequities and inequalities that span hundreds of years and impact every one of us." She urged individuals to educate themselves on the history of racial inequality, take action when witnessing inappropriate behavior, and support diversity in their workplaces and sectors. Reflecting on her experience as a state regulator in Arkansas, she highlighted work on net metering, energy efficiency, smart meter integration, and cybersecurity. Honorable described energy efficiency as "the cheapest kilowatt of energy" and called for continued focus on it, particularly as more people work from home.
“I think the greatest driver and I'm so excited about this is this focus on the environment and climate change. It's real; we are major contributors to it and I'm really excited about the many ways in which we are working together around the world to impact it and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“We absolutely need to focus more about the act on access to energy for so many places around the world that are still developing. That's critical; we can't leave anyone behind because in as much as there are places around the world that lack access to energy, their economies aren't able to develop as robustly as they s...”
“When I was a state regulator in Arkansas, we focused on net metering, energy efficiency, and the integration of smart meters. We had to ensure that the technology was secure, addressing privacy concerns and protecting data from cyber threats, while also educating consumers to help them use energy more efficiently.”
“Markets are not perfect, but I continue to strongly support the operation of wholesale electricity markets in the U.S. because they support the dispatch of lowest cost resources to consumers. However, nuclear power is quite expensive and less flexible, so we need to align market operations with policy objectives to sup...”
“If I had a magic wand, I would create a one-stop infrastructure bureau to streamline the permitting and evaluation process for transmission line build-out, which currently involves multiple federal and local agencies and takes an unnecessarily long time.”
“We have to focus on affordability as much as we need to limit the rise of global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Consumers who pay for so much of this work must be able to afford it, especially in the midst of this pandemic and economic crisis.”
“Lawyers play a critical and unmatched role in the energy sector by informing, persuading, and advocating for policies and regulations. We need more lawyers interested in this area working at every level—from city to international—to be motivated change agents in the climate and energy space.”
“Regulators absolutely have to lean into cybersecurity. It's important work that requires robust plans for planning threats to the grid, inter-agency cooperation, and sharing lessons learned to minimize impacts and reduce risks to the bulk electric system.”
“Black Lives Matter is about systemic inequities and inequalities that span hundreds of years and impact every one of us. We all have to take action to make our workplaces and sectors more inclusive and diverse, ensuring they reflect the people they serve across all ethnicities and genders.”
“Energy efficiency is the cheapest kilowatt of energy because it's the one never used. We cannot stop focusing on it, especially as many of us are working from home more and need to be efficient in our consumption of energy.”
Stanford's Precourt Institute for Energy co-directors, Prof. Sally Benson and Prof. Arun Majumdar, will lead a conversation on the ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Colette Honorable.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →