Paris Needs Another Revolution

“Another industrial revolution will be required if the world is to meet the climate change goals set out in the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change”. That was the conclusion reached last night at an event hosted by the University of Edinburgh Business School and British Institute of Energy Economics.

Presentations featured the new BP Energy Markets Review for 2019 and were followed by questions to a panel that included BP Lead Economist Jorge Blazquez, Adrian Gault, Chief Economist at the Committee on Climate Change that advises the UK Government and Dr Xi Liang, Senior Lecturer in Energy Finance & Director, Centre for Business and Climate Change at the University of Edinburgh Business School. The panel was chaired by Charles Hendry, former UK government minister for Energy.

There was a very animated debate around the role of energy companies in addressing climate change. Were they the cause or the solution? Is climate change the responsibility of producers or consumers? What is the role of governments? A general consensus emerged that Paris targets would not be met without elimination of coal, normalisation of carbon capture & storage and higher carbon prices – a new Industrial Revolution.