Tribune News Network
Doha
At the latest Al-Attiyah Foundation CEO Roundtable, top decision makers, internationally renowned experts and captains of industry came together to discuss whether current volatility in the energy markets is slowing or accelerating the race to net-zero by mid-century.
The high-profile event, titled ‘Are Volatile Energy Markets Slowing the Energy Transition?, was held on the 7th of June in Doha and moderated by the acclaimed broadcaster, Stephen Cole.
The discussion featured guest speakers: Stephen Thompson, Global Head of LNG & Natural Gas Consulting at Poten & Partners; Wayne Bryan, Director of European Gas Research at Refinitiv; Dr Valerie Marcel, Associate Fellow at Chatham House and Dr Jan Braun, Head of Hydrogen Cooperation for the MENA Region at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
At the core of the forum, guests discussed how clean energy projects have received unprecedented investment over the past year, despite global uncertainty caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ongoing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring interest rates.
The International Energy Agency, commonly referred to as the IEA, estimated $1.4 trillion poured into “clean energy” projects in 2022, a category that includes solar farms, batteries and electric vehicle charging stations .
That’s more than ever before, and more than the money that was pumped into new oil and gas projects in the same period. BloombergNEF, a research firm, said in a recent report that investments in low-carbon energy “reached parity”with capital aimed at expanding fossil fuels.
Furthermore, oil giant BP - in a paper published earlier this year - said it expected the war in Ukraine would push countries to ramp up renewable energy projects “as countries seek to increase access to domestically produced energy, much of which is likely to come from renewables and other non-fossil fuels.”
Despite substantial growth in renewable energy projects, the world remains deeply reliant on fossil fuels, with demand for oil expected to rise to a record 101.7 million barrels per day in 2023, according to data from the IEA.
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which was reviewed at length by the panel, warned that the “pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change.” In 2018, the IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C and warned five years on, that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
“More than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use has led to global warming of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.
This has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events that have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every region of the world”, the IPCC said .
Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Al-Attiyah Foundation and former Minister of Energy and Industry of the State of Qatar, said the CEO Roundtable topic was timely and highly important as it affects both multinational oil and gas companies and the general public.“It was wonderful to hear expert insights from guest speakers and attendees at the second CEO Roundtable of 2023.
Current volatility in the market is having wide ranging consequences for humanity. For many across the world, the cost of electricity and heating has risen to unsustainable levels.
However, global events such as the war in Ukraine could in the long-term have the unintended consequence of stoking and accelerating investments in renewable energy projects.
More renewable energy projects will result in more affordable and secure sustainable energy for the global population and lower fossil fuel demand,” Al-Attiyah remarked at the event.
