I sat in on some of the exciting sessions of the FPA's annual World Leadership Forum (WLF) this week. If you're interested in the recent developments in the financial industry and the bigger picture of the "geoeconomy," there were two panels of experts discussing some of the ins and outs of those issues which you can view at C-Span.
Spanish President Jose Zapatero gave an address in which he noted a number of critical issues in which Spain is actively engaged. One of these is climate change. He noted his country's leading position on renewable energy. He said that countries which take the lead in developing and deploying new renewable technologies will enjoy huge advantages. (This echoes what I heard recently from a leading writer, editor and consultant on energy who I was interviewing for an article on the "smart grid" movement.) Spain has one of the top wind energy industries in the world. This good little article from "Treehugger" characterizes Spain as an RE "powerhouse." One of the biggest manufacturers worldwide is Gamesa. Not incidentally, I wrote here recently about Spain's push for electric cars. President Zapatero's claims are entirely well founded.
See also this BBC clip on how strongly Spain is pushing renewables.
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There was a particularly stimulating panel on energy at the WLF that was moderated by John D. Hofmeister, a former President of Shell Oil Company.
The first to speak was Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy. She cited the IPCC and other research identifying climate change as an extraordinary threat. She noted that a number of analyses have identified it as a "threat multiplier," so it is a significant security concern as well. She quoted Robert Schuman, one of the visionaries who fostered the creation of the organizations which grew into the European Union: "World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it." (See the entirety of the landmark "Schuman Declaration" here.) Ferrero-Waldner was clearly equating the overall threat of catastrophic climate change with world war. Unfortunately, for my money, she dwelled a little overmuch on the question of pipelines carrying oil and natural gas coming into Europe and not enough on the potential for regional and international cooperation on renewables. (See my references here and here about the extraordinary potential in the Desertec initiative and the "SuperSmart" grid.)
Ashok Gupta is an old hand, having led NRDC's efforts on energy for years. He defined energy security as encompassing not only the availability of the energy supply but also how energy use impacts global climate change and local and regional environmental concerns. He also emphasized the critical importance of energy efficiency.
Phil Sharp is a former Congressman who runs Resources for the Future, an influential policy shop in Washington. He said that oil prices are going to remain high for the foreseeable future, driven by demand, and by the fact that we are in the age of Peak Oil. He thinks energy is going to remain very high on our to-do list because of these factors and because of the threat of climate change. He sees the need to "decarbonize" our societies.
Last, but not least by a long shot, was Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, correspondent for "The Economist." Vaitheeswaran is quite articulate and had a number of salient points to make, among them that there are three pillars of energy instability: poverty, the environment, and geopolitics. On the first of these, he cited the fact that much of the developing world is off the grid and relies on wood, coal, dung and other cheap fuels for energy for heat and cooking. This has a devastating health impact because of the enormous amounts of soot generated. (See my post, Black Carbon and Solar Cookers.) On environmental concerns, he noted the problems of climate change and local pollution. On the matter of geopolitics, he said that because there is so much oil concentrated in so few countries, that this is considerable cause for concern.
On the positive side, Vaitheeswaran and I share the perspective that there are extraordinary developments that are shaping things such that we will see the movement toward clean, reliable distributed energy continue to burgeon. He identified three "megatrends" that are fostering an energy revolution: First, he sees "smarter" government involvement. Governments are market minded, but they are increasingly thoughtful about energy and environmental policy. Secondly, he says there's a bottom-up revolution being driven by NGOs (like NRDC, Environmental Defense Fund, and many others) in which there is a growing confluence in areas like climate policy and business. (See, for instance, my review of EDF's Earth: The Sequel and the work of the US Climate Action Partnership.) Finally, Vaitheeswaran sees a golden age of innovation coming into being. I've referenced his book, ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, a number of times here.
All in all, this was a blockbuster panel and discussion on one of the critical issues of the day. Stay tuned for much more from the FPA in the coming year on Energy and the U.S. Economy.