Energy industry experts and insiders will converge in the Bismarck Civic Center on June 29 and 30 to discuss renewable energy production, carbon capture technologies and policies governments are considering to help curb climate change.

The International Climate Stewardship Solutions Conference, which is open to the public, will feature 13 speakers, ranging from scientists who study climate change to leaders in the coal, fossil fuel and renewable energy industries, said Jason Schaefer, project manager for Prairie Climate Stewardship Network.

This is the second conference of its kind in Bismarck.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Gov. John Hoeven are expected to give speeches that will address climate change legislation and its impact on the environment and economy.

On June 29, Preston Chiaro, the CEO of the global mining company Rio Tinto, will deliver a keynote address on climate change legislation and how it could impact energy consumption around the globe.

In a phone interview with the Bismarck Tribune on Thursday, Chiaro said from his London office that the world is facing a growing problem: energy consumption is expected to double by 2050 if current trends continue.

"So we need to find additional sources of energy," he said. "We can't afford to block off other alternatives."

That means the global menu of energy options will diversify rather than shrink, which is likely to include coal, nuclear, fossil fuels and renewable energies, Chiaro said.

Congress' current version of cap-and-trade legislation, a policy that also will be addressed by the international community this December at a climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, also could help spur market-based solutions to energy consumption and its impact on the environment, Chiaro said.

He said his company - a leading producer of coal as well as uranium, diamonds and other minerals - is making investments in carbon capture technologies, which stores carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants in underground cavities. He said the stored carbon has economic benefits, such as using it to extract oil.

"We're taking action not because of altruism, but for a very good business reason," Chiaro said. "Because we want to protect one of our key commodities."

He said cap-and-trade policies will work as long as they are market-based and environmentally effective. And while they should be globally enforced, Chiaro adds that, "Someone has to go first."

"The countries with the highest emissions should take the first steps, but that doesn't mean the developing countries should be let off the hook," he said. "Eventually everybody's going to have to make a contribution."

Chiaro also notes that progress in the coal industry, one of the world's cheapest and most abundant sources of energy, has come to something of a standstill while Congress mulls cap and trade legislation.

"Unless we get some resolution to that uncertainty � I think the likelihood of more being built is minimal," he said. "That pushes up against the demand for more energy, and that's going to set us up for a train wreck."

He adds whatever policies emerge out of Washington should prepare energy producers for a new set of circumstances when the global economy begins to recover from the recession.

"We need to retool them for a new world, instead of yesterday's world," Chiaro said.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@bismarcktribune.com.)