High oil prices might help drive the search for alternative energy sources, but the environmental and social impacts for developing countries could be disastrous, says WWF Climate Change Program Director Hans Verolme.
 | Hans Verolme, Director WWF Global Climate Change Program"It happens to be that clean technology is good for energy security" (Photo: WWF) |
How important is clean energy to containing climate change?
Climate change and energy are so intrinsically linked that its almost one and the same discussion. On the mitigation side, there are some who want to create the impression that a cap-and-trade system – an absolute reduction target for emissions – is incompatible or has nothing to do with introducing clean technology. I’m always very puzzled by that, but it shows that there are different ways to approach the issue.
A recent WWF report says the next five years will be crucial in determining how the energy mix looks in 2050. What needs to happen in the next five years?
There’s probably a couple of things. The most important one in my mind is political leadership, because changing the energy system is like changing the course of a super-tanker – it only happens when the captain makes that decision. This year is remarkable because this shift in leadership is really happening now.
 | Massive construction work at the beach in Dubai, United Arab Emirates shows the country’s effort to diversify its economy as it wants to wean itself off dwindling crude oil reserves (Photo: Reuters) |
At this stage, CEOs of large businesses are coming forward and saying that climate change is such a serious issue that they have looked into it personally and are committed to making the necessary political steps to make a difference. At the same time, if I as a CEO address this issue in a proactive manner and innovate my business in light of climate change, I could actually create a competitive advantage.
So these things coming together is really quite remarkable. Without this kind of leadership, which is partly self-interested but also benevolent or enlightened, we will not jump. What we need to do now is jump. We cannot continue to make incremental change; we need the decision to change. That’s what we are seeing this year: the captain is making the decision to change course.
Is energy an issue that will bring countries – particularly rapidly developing countries – to the negotiating table for a post-2012 international climate agreement?
Energy security is a huge concern for countries like India and China, but it’s also a huge concern for Europe and the United States. And it happens to be that clean technology is good for energy security. It’s also good for climate change; it’s good for jobs; it’s good for economic innovation and competitiveness. So there is no conflict between aggressive emissions policies and technology innovation policies.
And you might say there is no conflict with prosperity either.
Yes, exactly. If you get this audience that is interested in technology investment, the message is go deeper and go faster. It will turn into a competitive advantage.
Is “peak oil” –the peak and decline of global oil production - an issue that WWF is looking at, perhaps as something that could converge with climate concerns to drive clean energy development?
Some people think the high price of oil is good for containing climate change. From a narrow perspective, that may be true. But – and there are two important “buts” – the extremely high cost of energy is not necessarily good for sustainable development. In a poor community, the cost of energy disproportionately burdens those less-well-off. There’s an equity issue there. I have a development background, and have spent much of my career in East Africa, so that’s something that I still care about.
The second thing is that the price of oil drives some people to explore other energy sources that are highly unsustainable. They are even worse from a climate change perspective that your ordinary barrel of oil! What I’m thinking of is the race for oil in the Arctic or the exploration of tar sands, which have huge environmental consequences even beyond carbon.
But from a climate perspective, these are the worst possible alternatives. But I am not an expert on peak oil. My colleague who is sometimes reminds me that the stone age did not end because we ran out of stones. The whaling industry did not slow down because they ran out of whales. The price of oil clearly has a big impact, but it’s a far more complicated issue.
Hundreds of governments and NGOs will meet next month in Bali to discuss a post-2012 international climate protection pact. You will be there, too. Are you optimistic?
Yes, absolutely. I think the world cannot afford not to come to an agreement. We are in a political space right now where politicians cannot come home from the Bali climate talks and say “well, all we did was talk.” What the public is asking for, what the science is telling us is that we need to take real action now.
That doesn’t mean we will strike an agreement in Bali, sign on the dotted line, and everybody goes home and implements the agreement, because it is more complicated than that. But what we will need to outline the scope of that agreement, and seriously commit to negotiate in the next two years with a certain environmental ambition. And that environmental ambition is very clearly outlined in the IPCC report.
That is the most important thing about this year: with all the attention that is being paid to climate change, you now have a heads of state and CEOs recognizing that this is one of the greatest challenges that we as a society face in this century. It has repercussions across society – not just for the energy system, but also for agriculture, health, infrastructure, you name it. This is indeed a question of leadership and decisiveness. So, Bali is about showing leadership and taking decisions that are necessary and speeding up the process.
editor: Valdis Wish
Publishing date: November 12, 2007
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