Page 6 - MEOG Week 10 2021

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

Fossil fuels’ future

role in the spotlight

The future role of fossil fuels in a

decarbonising world was being examined at

the CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference.

GLOBAL THE future of fossil fuels was up for debate as
the CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference was
hosted virtually last week for the first time. The
WHAT: event normally takes place in Houston, and was
The future role of fossil cancelled last year as the coronavirus (COVID-
fuels was being examined 19) spread globally, having been set to take place
at CERAWeek. at the same time that the outbreak was declared
to be a pandemic in March 2020.
WHY: Much has therefore changed since the last
The energy transition CERAWeek took place, in 2019. Not only is the
is picking up pace, and world trying to overcome the pandemic – with
there is some debate post-pandemic recovery a major topic at this
over the role oil and gas year’s conference – but there is also a new US “There just isn’t yet enough renewable energy CERAWeek was held
will play. President with different priorities as far as energy to fuel all of the energy that people need. That’s virtually this year.
goes. in developed countries,” Amazon Web Services’
WHAT NEXT: US President Joe Biden wasted no time in CEO, Andy Jassy, who will succeed Jeff Bezos as
Some players appear taking steps to show that tackling climate change CEO of the entire company this summer, told the
set to make a more would be one of his major goals, in marked con- conference.
concerted shift away from trast with his predecessor, Donald Trump, whose Jassy said his company had announced its
fossil fuels than others. priorities were US energy independence – and goal for net-zero emissions at a time when it had
indeed energy dominance. not entirely figured out how to achieve this target
Changing geopolitics were discussed by – which can also be said of other companies and
panels and individual speakers, with various countries adopting similar goals.
challenges outlined. However, US Special Presi- And if there cannot be enough renewable
dential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said on the energy to meet all demand, that brings fossil
second day of the event that he believed the US fuels back into play, at least for a number of years
could compartmentalise its geopolitical tensions to come.
with China to work together climate plans aimed
at limiting global temperature increases. Piece of the puzzle
Some differences of opinion emerged at this
Centre stage year’s CERAWeek about what sort of future oil
This was one of numerous discussions about the and gas will have in this context. Some, such as
energy transition and combating climate change the CEOs of BP and Royal Dutch Shell, talked
– topics which took centre stage during this up their efforts to move away from oil and gas.
year’s CERAWeek, having been gaining promi- “We’ve been an oil and gas company for 112
nence in recent years. years, and I think this is a moment where we
In 2021, though, after so many countries, do have to reinvent the company,” BP’s CEO,
companies and regions have adopted decarboni- Bernard Looney, said. “We decided to really
sation targets since the last CERAWeek was held, embrace that energy transition, more as a mas-
it was seen as more important than ever. How- sive opportunity and not look at it as some sort
ever, even as they acknowledged the importance of threat to our core business.”
of decarbonisation, many speakers stressed that Shell’s CEO, Ben van Beurden, for his part,
the path to net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emis- said he believed his company’s oil output had
sions would be a difficult one, and maintained peaked in 2019 and that targeting customers
that there would be a need for investment in fos- seeking to reduce their own emissions presented
sil fuels for years to come. a business opportunity.

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