WEF2008.1.2 Progress on Climate Change
January 23, 2008 by Chris | permalink
Yip De Boer -
James Rogers - CEO Duke Energy USA
Rajendra Pachauri - IPCC
Christian Mumenthaler - Chief Risk Officer, Swiss RE
Bruno Lescoeur - SR Exec VP EDF
Tulsi Tanti - Chair and MD Suzlon Energy
business as usual - IEA says, emissions up 50%. IPCC states we need to drop 50%. looming recession. challenge to reconcile both near-term commitments and log-term goals. so the quesiton is to the panel 'where do you think we will be in 50 years time?'
JR - cautiosly optomistic that the reduction will happen. over the next 25 years we see a rise. i believe that technology is the key. funding is key.
RP - i agree that technology is the key, but it is essential to provide a policy framework to price carbon appropriately.
CM - some positive trends today, but from all the evidence, we do not believe that the 50% target will be met. the big question mark is the opportunity for technology to close the gap. the mindset change in the past six months has been huge. there has been alot of money moving into new technologies on the back of this
BL - our company uses mostly nuclear, thus we are not a great emitters of greenhouse gasses. he did not give an opinion
TT - he also believed that technology will save the day.developed countries must focus on energy efficiency due to the inequality of consumptive patterns. everyone must focus on the average global consumption targets.
JR - what we really need is an arms race to become the most energy efficient. the bottom line is, we are beyond mitigation alone.
YDB - coal is a great lobbying force and we see coal-fired plants being built everywhere. do we have an alternative? china and india will double their energy need over the next 20 years.
TT - coal is clearly the easiest option. other resources must be considered. nuclear should be the base load provider and then the alternatives. india is the 4th largest producer of wind energy today and this is growing rapidly. renewable energy is growing rapidly in India
JR - as far as emissions....Duke is 3rd in the USA, 12th , 41st in the World. Duke is the largest consumer of coal for energy. now building two, the only two, in the US. Duke is building the largest coal gasification plant in the US. he stated that there are only five options to create energy:
coal, gas, oil, renewables, energy efficiency.
PP - lighting a billion lives
YDB - should we not be heading back home on monday, as we face a recession,
unless the US and China get into the game, there will be no game as far as climate change is concerned.
we need to get away from oil running cars. - look up Project Better Place
YDB - one of my jobs is to create a global framework over the next two years a way to achieve the goals that PP sets forward. not an easy task
what should a politician do?
TT - think globally first and then react locally.
BL - they need to listen to the other politicians first
JM - need to agree on a carbon target and get on with it
PP - equity and culture must be considered. moral imperative
JR - the time is now. cap and trade important.
