Half of the World Population Does Not Have Access to Clean Cooking feat. Dymphna van der Lans ’02

Owl Have You Know

Rice grads end up all over the world, and Dymphna van der Lans is no exception. Dymphna has worked and lived in China, India, and Kenya and engaged with island nations in the Caribbean and the Indian and Pacific Oceans to support their transition away from polluting diesel fuels to renewable sources of energy.

Dymphna brings more than 25 years of experience managing and leading global development, energy, and climate initiatives in the nonprofit and private sectors. She is currently the chief executive officer of the Clean Cooking Alliance, and recently led international corporate engagement with the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate & Energy team.

She sits down with host Scott Gale ’19 to unpack her impressive career, her experience working internationally, developing an early appreciation for the Chinese language and culture, and her passion for the energy transition and climate initiatives.

We Want Your Feedback
Whether you’re a regular listener of Owl Have You Know or just tuning in, we want your feedback. Take our quick survey to let us know what topics and stories you want to hear more of — your input will help shape future episodes just for you. Click here to share your thoughts!

Episode Guide:

00:56 Dymphna's Early Life and Education

04:55 Dymphna's Journey to China

14:24 Career Path and Mentorship

16:38 Focus on Renewables and Alternative Energy

18:42 Dymphna's Role in the Clinton Climate Initiative

20:24 Journey to Working with a Former U.S. President

20:49 The Future of Energy: Opportunities and Challenges

20:49 The Importance of Diverse Energy Solutions

22:01 The Role of Renewable Energy in Corporate Operations

23:28 Addressing Energy Challenges in Island Nations

25:08 The Mission of the Clean Cooking Alliance

27:53 The Future of Clean Cooking and Energy Systems

29:31 Predictions for China's Role in Global Energy

31:12 Advice for Prospective Rice Business Students

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

26:01: My organization [Clean Cooking Alliance], we're about 50 people. We work with a whole bunch of different partners to make sure that countries in the Global South are thinking about how they're transitioning to access to clean cooking. We're already providing these solutions to help them continue to grow. We work with the governments directly. We work with, sort of, adjacent ecosystems to help them think about what it means to have access to clean cooking and how you think about clean cooking projects. It's fantastic work. It gets ignored all too often because for people, it doesn't feel like an energy issue. It's a household issue. It mostly impacts women. So, it often gets overlooked. And my job is to make sure it doesn't and it gets funding.

On being comfortable with different cultures and working in different countries

10:02: I've just realized that I enjoy figuring stuff out and finding myself in new places, just like trying to really quickly understand how the system works, how people work, and how I operate most effectively and efficiently in a different context that is not my own. And I'm very comfortable doing that.

Finding power in peer mentoring conversations

15:43: I found the real true power and honesty to be in those peer mentoring conversations. And when you do those, be explicit about it; this is not just like a friend or friends talking about something over a coffee. It is actually a fundamental question that you're wanting other people to filter back to you or mirror back to you that maybe hindering you in your projection or your ability to execute or balancing your life as a mother has always been a big question for me as well. And for a long time, I was raising my daughter by myself. So those conversations are so important. And I would encourage anybody to seek those out and be really thoughtful about them, ask good questions, and really listen and reflect back on what that means for you and in a position of leadership.

On Dymphna’s Rice experience

13:24: There's a thing about trusting your instincts and your gut, and my ability to sense what's happening in a room and in the system. Like I had the language to apply that to different situations that I didn't have before. I always had the feeling that I was understanding it, but I never had the language to actually articulate what I was seeing or even articulate a vision for how to work through things.

Show Links:

• Transcript

Guest Profile:

• Dymphna van der Lans - UN Foundation//Chief Executive Officer Clean Cooking Alliance
• Dymphna van der Lans | unfoundation.org

Listen to OWL entrepreneurs Hassan Panahi, Taylor Ann Adams, and Delaney Berman in this episode titled "Giving Entrepreneurs the Tools to Change the World" here: https://business.rice.edu/owlhaveyouknow-season-3-episode-19