Section 3: Shaping our low carbon future – what are the priorities for the next decade?
In the context of the post COP26 environment what should we prioritise as an industry?
Where can we have most impact on and how do we accelerate?
So whilst COP26 has succeeded in setting the framework for decarbonisation, we’ve seen a lack of specific progress - while governments are setting the strategy, it is now in the hands of private sector to deliver and achieve the goals set.
Our industry must act now, to shape our own low carbon future. We know what the priorities are, we understand the technologies, business models, financing and regulatory frameworks required to drive to 1.5 degrees. We know that journey can be profitable for investors, and we know it can be achieved at lower cost than alternative journeys.
The 2020s are the key decade to close the emissions gap. This is a formative decade, which will dictate the ‘shape of the curve’ in lowering emissions. Therefore, we must go faster in areas we can, not just “follow a curve” – with constraints, we’ve defined ourselves. We must now break conventions and forge new markets to deliver decarbonisation with the ideas, solutions, and mechanisms we have at our disposal today.
How do we achieve this? I believe as a global energy economy, we need to look at this in three parts, as priorities for the next decade.