How Can We Embrace Sustainability If Society Isn’t Stable?: Mungo Park, Chairman, Innovator Capital
On 8th March, at the quaint principality of Monaco, the world’s largest clean technology conference took place. The CleanEquity Monaco 2018 conference, organized by Innovator Capital and the Monaco Economic Board saw a range of corporates, academicians and stalwarts of the industry convene at the Fairmont Monte Carlo hotel, to discuss their ideas about a cleaner, and greener future.
Being held on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Mungo Park, Chairman of Innovator Capital, quoting Madeleine Albright, admitted that societies are more stable if women are politically and economically empowered. “Inclusive sustainable development can only take place when there is a stable society with empowered women and all human rights including gender equality are protected, respected and fulfilled. How can we even hope to embrace sustainability seriously and expect optimum outcomes if society is not stable”, said Park.
He also went on to add, “The Climate Change Accord was signed in 2015, and the Paris Agreement promotes gender equality as well, and all parties committed to taking decisive action to arrest global warming, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to respect, promote and consider their obligations on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls when addressing climate change.”
Justin Highman, Monaco Economic Board and Monaco Invest, said, “We at Monaco Economic Board believe that there can be many potential synergies with CleanEquity and Monaco Tech in the years to come, it is the final piece of the innovation jigsaw. Monaco is very conducive to economic progress because of its tax structure.”
John Miles, Professor of Transitional Energy Strategies, University of Cambridge, gave a keynote address, saying, “The word transitional is fundamental to my position. Wherever there is an excess of intellectual horsepower, there is an inclination for people to think strategically. The transition pathway from where we are today to that perfect place in the future is difficult to design. When we want to plot a move forward, we have to take into account imperfections. If we depend just on coal, we can live for another 20 years with everyone having access to the energy they need. We have to worry about all the energy in the ground because of its negative effects.” Miles also went on to add, “We have to harvest just 0.1% of the energy from the sun, to live at the level of Western forms of development. The Topaz Solar Farm in California is 6000 acres and generates over 550 MW of energy. The Shepherd’s Flat, Oregon, represents 11,000 acres of wind energy. London has 8 million people and to provide power for London, 4.5 GW, we would need 160,000 acres of wind farm, or 54,000 acres of solar power farm, which is 40% of London’s area or 100% of London’s area if we go electric for heating and transport.”
“After the Fukushima disaster, the entire world looked at nuclear energy with scrutiny, even though many more people died in the Chernobyl or Bhopal. There needs to be a complete re-think of how nuclear energy is provided. Nuclear energy has more total capital expenditure than for its fuels. Gas and nuclear are real credible energy sources compared to solar and wind farms”, said Miles.
