Women in Energy: In Conversation with Melina Taprantzi on Transforming Energy Through Sustainability and ESG

In this interview, Melina shares her insights on why ESG is the new language of trust, how the energy sector can accelerate progress towards Agenda 2030, and why the Middle East’s blend of ambition and agility offers unique opportunities for impact.

Melina Taprantzi is an award-winning sustainability strategist, educator, and advocate for embedding ESG into the core of business decision-making. With experience spanning global institutions and regional programmes, she has worked with leaders and organisations to transform sustainability from a compliance exercise into a source of competitive advantage. In the Middle East and Africa, she is helping to equip professionals with the tools and mindsets needed to navigate a fast-changing energy landscape where innovation, resilience, and inclusivity are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Interviewer: You’ve worked across diverse sectors, advising companies on ESG and sustainability. What are some of the most common challenges organisations face when trying to embed sustainability into their core strategy, and how do you help them overcome these?

Melina Taprantzi: One of the most common challenges I see is the tendency to treat sustainability as a separate function something that sits on the periphery of operations, rather than being embedded in everyday decision-making. This often leads to fragmented efforts, where ESG becomes a checkbox rather than a driver of value.
Another challenge is fear of complexity. A comment I get all the time is “Please, no more KPIs”… Also, many organizations hesitate to act because they feel they need to have everything figured out before taking the first step. But sustainability is a journey it’s a marathon run. Not a sprint. And it requires a mindset shift more than a perfect plan.

What I focus on is helping leadership teams reframe sustainability not as a constraint, but as a lens for opportunity. Whether we’re mapping material ESG risks or designing future-fit strategies, my approach is to connect sustainability goals with business outcomes be it innovation, growth or talent attraction. Once companies see that ESG is not about compliance, but a competitive advantage, they begin to move with more confidence and clarity.

Interviewer: As someone who’s actively shaping the conversation around the Sustainable Development Goals, how do you see the energy sector’s role evolving in achieving Agenda 2030, particularly in emerging markets like the Middle East and Africa?

Melina Taprantzi: The energy sector is the engine room of the SDGs. Without access to reliable, affordable, and clean energy, progress on education, health, water access, and economic growth stalls. In markets like the Middle East and Africa, the opportunity is even more profound. These regions are not just consumers of innovation they’re becoming producers of it.

We’re seeing bold moves: investment in green hydrogen, solar megaprojects, and regional interconnectivity plans that can replace older, more carbon-intensive systems. 

To reach the SDGs, the energy sector must be both agile and inclusive. That means investing in workforce transition, supporting community resilience and just transition and ensuring that innovation serves both people and planet. 

This is exactly the kind of transformation we support through the “Kaplan Sustainability and ESG Program”, where we help leaders and professionals across the GCC and wider MENA region develop the tools to navigate and drive these changes with both insight and impact. Especially in the GCC, where an oil-dominated legacy is giving way to some of the world’s most ambitious and brave moves toward a diversified, low-carbon energy future, education and upskilling are crucial to turning ambition into action.

Interviewer: You’ve played a major role in strengthening corporate culture and stakeholder engagement. What’s the link between strong ESG performance and organisational resilience, especially in sectors like energy and utilities undergoing rapid transformation?

Melina Taprantzi: ESG is the new language of trust. And trust is the currency of resilience.

In sectors like energy and utilities, which are at the frontline of climate risk and technological disruption, resilience isn’t just about hard assets it’s about adaptive cultures and trusted relationships. Companies that perform well on ESG metrics tend to have better stakeholder alignment, more engaged employees, and a stronger social license to operate. These are the exact traits that help organizations weather crises and lead during transitions.

I’ve seen firsthand how engaging stakeholders early and authentically can transform resistance into co-creation. Whether it’s regulators, communities, or investors, the organizations that succeed are the ones that listen, respond, and evolve.

Interviewer: You teach sustainability and leadership at institutions globally, including in the Middle East. What differences do you observe in how sustainability is approached in this region compared to others, and where do you see the greatest potential for impact?

Melina Taprantzi: What excites me most about the Middle East is the speed and ambition of its transformation. There’s a clear top-down mandate in many countries to integrate sustainability into national visions and economic diversification strategies. But what’s even more powerful is the emergence of grassroots energy young professionals, entrepreneurs, and local innovators who are pushing boundaries.

Compared to more mature markets, where sustainability might be slowed down by legacy systems and regulations, the Middle East has the advantage of being able to build new systems from the ground up. That means embedding circularity, digitalisation, and ESG thinking from the start.

Through my work with global institutions, I’ve seen firsthand how professionals in this region are actively seeking education that’s both globally grounded and regionally relevant. There’s a real shift from theory to practice people want to gain the tools, frameworks, and mindset needed to lead sustainability efforts in their industries and communities.

The greatest potential lies in linking sustainability with identity not just seeing it as an obligation, but as a source of pride, relevance, and purpose. And in sectors like energy and utilities, this can take the form of bold infrastructure plays, regional collaboration, and climate-smart innovation that sets a new global benchmark.

Interviewer: As someone who has been recognized globally for her work in sustainability and innovation, how do you define impactful leadership in today’s sustainability-driven world, especially for sectors like energy that are at the heart of the climate conversation?

Melina Taprantzi: Impactful leadership today means being both visionary and vulnerable. It’s about having the courage to challenge old paradigms while being honest about the uncertainties we face. It’s about sharing the setbacks and the challenges openly, as nothing really happens overnight. 

In sectors like energy, leaders are -and should be- stewards of transition and innovation. That requires systems thinking, intergenerational responsibility, and the ability to bring diverse voices to the table. It also means embracing experimentation trying new models, learning fast, and adapting with humility.

Crucially, it also means investing in workforce development and upskilling ensuring that the people driving these transitions have the tools, mindsets, and support to lead change from within.

To me, impactful leaders are those who can translate global goals into local actions. Those who can align sustainability with strategy, and who can inspire others not just by what they say but by what they do.
And most importantly, they’re the ones who create space for others to lead too because the sustainability transformation can not be a solo act. It should be a collective performance.