Expert Roundtable Discusses A Carbon-Free Future

cop 21 logo paris 2015 transparent

The UN Conference on Climate Change begins in Paris this week, with a global agreement for combatting climate change a realistic possibility. After failing to come to an agreement at the last several international climate change conferences, there are high expectations that Paris will succeed with attendance from the US, China, India, the EU and over 100 other countries.

Recently, The Guardian hosted a roundtable focused on what the energy sector can do to hurry along the transition from greenhouse gases to more renewable forms of energy. Here’s what they had to say.

Joan MacNaughton
MacNaughton, executive chair of the WEC’s Energy Trilemma study outlined the fact that democracy relies on delivering energy security. With over 100 years of fossil fuel investment it would be impossible to “just turn that [around] overnight.”

John Sauven
John Sauven of Greenpeace, a longstanding force in climate change campaigning, said that “fossil fuels are brilliant.. except for the downsides,” explaining that in terms of “bang for your buck” it’s hard to beat fossil fuels. However, war, pollution and climate change remain the ugly flip-side of the coin. Sauven went on to explain that the only way to get fossil fuel addicted governments off the stuff was to focus on “politics and policy, because [renewable] technology is increasingly coming in at scale and cost.”

Daniel Zeichner
Zeichner, a labour MP in Cambridge said that the political cycle simply isn’t long enough for a lot of these issues. “The only thing that matters to the current government is their notion of ‘balancing the financial books’, and [we have] a weak climate change secretary who’s getting knocked about.” He went on to add that the Climate Change Act of 2008 shouldn’t be taken for granted as it legally binded any and every UK government to work on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “Without it,” he said, “we would be completely lost.”

Tom Delay
The chief executive of Carbon Trust said that many things need to be faced by the energy sector. The first being that any form of new clean energy will require a large upfront investment. This scares off institutional investors according to Clare Heirons, COO of ShareAction.

Simone Mori
When it comes to investing in renewable energy, Simone Mori, Enel’s head of European affiars said that companies have two options: “Trying to resist [the transition to renewables] to defend the existing picture; or trying to be an agent of the change.” He added that some of the best examples of rapid change occur in developing countries. “Renewables are becoming the best option in the larger geographies… not just for the environment but for answering energy demand in emerging economies.” For example, solar energy in African countries can deliver more reliable energy that is 10 times more affordable than what many rural Africans currently pay for kerosene-based energy.

Helene Molin Valdes
Simon Hill, vice president of EMEA, argues that consumers are disengaged because energy efficiency is simply “a dull, boring subject… people think about energy use for nine minutes a year.” That could be changed according to Helene Molin Valdes, head of the Secretariat, Climate and Clean Air Coalition, by warning the public of some of the less obvious consequences. “You will have a heart attack by 59 because of pollution.” She said. “We might think about energy for nine minutes, but health is every day.”

A mix of optimism and pessimism is to be expected when you get climate experts in a room together. However, the mood at this roundtable seemed overwhelmingly solution-based. Ideas are one thing, but solutions, with their minutia of practicality issues, are where progress is made. Working out what government sectors need to do specifically is a key step in fighting for change.