80 Percent Of Greenhouse Emissions Come From G20 Countries: Miriam Maes, Founder & Co-Chairman, Energy Transition Forum 2.0
At the CleanEquity Monaco 2018 conference, various companies, academicians, and stalwarts of the sustainability sector convened to discuss how clean energy can be promoted through strategic goals and the transitional pathways towards clean energy.
Mungo Park, Chairman, Innovator Capital, who was chairing the plenary session, said, “I would like to touch upon the topic of policy, legislation, and enforcement. Legislation is often not enforced. President Macron got elected on a no-nuclear ticket, and then he flipped and said that we need to have nuclear.”
Miriam Maes, Founder & Co-Chairman, Energy Transition Forum 2.0 also was one of the panellists. Regarding John Miles optimism towards the value of nuclear power, she said, “I am slightly more skeptical on the nuclear future. We are working on a uranium type of battery to provide heat and electricity. 2/3rd of greenhouse gases are from energy sources, 80% of greenhouse emissions are coming from the G20 countries." She also added, “Majority of developing nations are on pathways to reducing emissions. If you look at where oil is being used, it’s largely in transportation. We have to ideally tackle transportation and move to electrification. Coal has to be reduced too, with strong policy measures and regulation. The topic as you can observe, is about clean energy through strategic goals and transitional pathways.”
Maes also added, “We have an operational system which doesn’t induce the use of nuclear. We have seen big strides in terms of the price of renewable energy. I think renewables are the biggest competitor to nuclear. Nuclear does have a role to play, but we have to look at significantly lower capital cost. To address climate change, we need speed, scale, and shift. Policies that will incentivize new and emerging technologies will be needed. We need to find alternative ways of heating.”
Seth Grae, President and CEO, Lightbridge, said, “I think there was a bit of confirmation bias with respect to what John had said. What needs to be mentioned more is climate change. We are unlikely to meet the 2 degree C goal by 2020. We need to devalue carbon to make sure it is not burnt to emit greenhouses gases. Be it subsidies or support for new technologies, that’s all we can do to get more support for nuclear and renewables. In the UAE, there are about 10 million people, with 2 large cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It was planning to be a zero-emissions city, and it’s a little behind schedule and over budget. One thing which works as a policy is taxation, like a tax on carbon. People seem to be waiting around for new technology to change the energy picture. The new technological breakthroughs which change the fossil fuel segment is what is needed.” Grae also added, “There is a moral imperative to provide those who lack electricity to get access to electricity.”
“One thing of fracking is that fracking never makes the money. Another thing which I think is part of the story is that we need to have a much better distribution mechanism. You have to find a series of ways to mobilize capital to actually get things done. Solar and wind are classic examples of a large diverse group of people being involved, which is increasingly decreasing the cost," said Alex Brooks, Energy Analyst, Canaccord Genuity.
John Miles, Professor of Transitional Energy Strategies, University of Cambridge, said, “In terms of actual transitional pathways to clean energy, nuclear and gas are very likely to be effective solutions, in terms of the numbers."
