Energy Seminar: Conflicting Projections and Investment

Introduction

The theme for the fourth seminar in this year’s series on “Climate Policy in Crisis”, was be based on discussion of the growing gap that is apparent between the minimum actions deemed necessary to avoid serious risk of disastrous climate change, highlighted inter alia by the recent IEA report, and more conventional projections of the actual likely course of emissions, on the other.  The implications of such an analysis, especially  the growing gap between aspiration and reality, are potentially of major importance in relation to questions of investment, as well as for general questions of policy. The speakers on this occasion were  Adam Whitmore of Rio Tinto,  Angus Gillespie of Shell, and Chris Beauman of the EBRD . You can read the  Seminar 4-Meeting Report and  click on the links in the agenda below to see the presentations.

Adam Whitmore is Chief Advisor on Energy and Climate Change Policy at Rio Tinto, and has more than 15 years experience working in climate change policy and related areas.

Angus Gillespie is VP CO2 for Shell.  He is responsible for oversight of Shell’s overall CO2 emissions and has  a cross-business, global role.  He was previously responsible for strategy development in relation to Future Fuels & CO2, where Shell’s biofuels growth plans were generated, and before that for the Shell Renewables business.

Chris Beauman is a Senior Adviser at EBRD, and  has had a longstanding involvement with this seminar. He has major  concerns both with climate issues and with some of the investment problems associated with energy infrastructure, reflecting  his expertise both in investment banking and in the iron and steel sector.

John Rhys, who is a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, a former Chief Economist for the UK electricity industry, and former MD of a leading energy economics consulting firm,will again be chairing the session.  As this topic is very close to our core theme for the year, we will also be aiming on this occasion to leave a larger proportion of the occasion for open discussion

The first two seminars in this 2013 series dealt in turn with the science and the general economic arguments for action on climate, and on the international and global dimensions of policy; and the third dealt with the subject of policy instruments that attempt to address the objective of reducing emissions of GHG.  All three are reported on in the meeting archive of this site, where later comments on the proceedings can be added.