Bobby Tudor says Houston’s energy industry has to find ways to deal with growing concerns about climate change.

Houston has to be a leader in the global energy transition if it wants to keep its title as the world's energy capital, Bobby Tudor, chairman of energy investment firm Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. told his audience at the Greater Houston Partnership's annual meeting.

"The traditional oil and gas business, in the way that it's been done for the last several decades in Houston is unlikely to be the same engine for Houston's growth in the next 25 years," Tudor told Houston Public Media in an interview after the event.

Growing concerns about climate change among not just the general population but also investors means Houston's energy industry needs to find ways to adjust, he said.

Capital investment in the energy industry has fallen every year since 2016.

But energy can continue to be an engine for growth, Tudor said, albeit in different forms.

"Houston has such a fantastic concentration of chemists and physicists and geo-physicists and energy economists, it's an embedded advantage for us," he said.

Without Houston, Tudor said, the energy industry is unlikely to solve its problems.

He is asking oil and gas companies to lower their own emissions and invest in new technologies that make their operations cleaner.

"We need to support and build this ecosystem of innovation around energy technology in Houston," Tudor said. "And a lot is happening in that regard, actually a lot more than most people know and appreciate."

It would be helpful, he said, for companies to be on record and committed to addressing the issues. That includes planning for a long-term change in the industry, Tudor said, "and not just for the next price cycle."

Click on the audio above to listen to the interview with Bobby Tudor.

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