My takeaway from this year’s BIEE conference – Gareth Miller (CEO, Cornwall Insight)

Be the change you want to see – my takeaway from this year’s BIEE conference
Gareth Miller (CEO, Cornwall Insight)

We are at the beginnings of a paradigm shift in the focus of regulation and policy. The last two decades have focussed on the liberalisation of markets and the creation of policy and market frameworks to support renewable technologies at (mainly a power) system level. But the next twenty years will need to focus on driving decarbonisation at an actor level, whether that be businesses or citizens, and across the entire economy.

On 13 September, I spoke at the British Institute of Energy Economics (BIEE) Energy for a net zero society conference. The conference considered the legacy of the Covid pandemic and how the means of recovery will influence the pace and direction of the net zero transition. The timing of the event was perfect with the imminency of COP26 in November. The many themes explored by speakers and participants delved deeply into the implementation agenda that will need to accompany the setting of (hopefully) even more ambitious international climate goals.

My job on the first day was to open the conference and set the scene. In my view, we are at the beginnings of a paradigm shift in the focus of regulation and policy. The last two decades have focussed on the liberalisation of markets and the creation of policy and market frameworks to support renewable technologies at (mainly a power) system level. But the next twenty years will need to focus on driving decarbonisation at an actor level, whether that be businesses or citizens, and across the entire economy.