Technology, Partnerships Driving Renewable Energy

Vivienne Cox Executive Vice President and CEO of BP Alternative Energy speaking at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi said there is a fundamental challenge for the industry to meet the growing demand for more energy in a reliable, affordable and clean way.

She said there was a demand for energy that can be depended upon and that is sustainable for future generations.

Vivienne Cox

"New technologies can be developed. Renewable and alternative energies can be deployed at scale. Policy-makers can take the bold decisions needed to support low-carbon energy," said Ms Cox.

"There are many different ways to create sustainable energy.

"And different countries are approaching the issue in different ways. "And that is good, because there is no one single, obvious answer. To meet the challenges of the future we will need a whole range of approaches and technologies.

"But what is absolutely clear is that the new possibilities require new partnerships.

"We need to bring together people with different skills and different experiences to work together in new ways and come up with new solutions."

Ms Cox said it was essential for future energy needs to be fulfilled to have a mixture of renewable energy and hydrocarbons.

"Business-as-usual scenarios tend to show a very small share of renewables and a very large share of hydrocarbons, with annual carbon dioxide emissions rising by over 50 per cent by 2030," she said.

"Other projections, such as the International Energy Agency's Alternative Policy Scenario, show what is expected to happen if existing environmental policies are implemented - and even they suggest that around three quarters of primary energy will come from hydrocarbons in 2030, with carbon dioxide emissions rising by 27 per cent.

"But I believe we can do better than that in reducing emissions."

She said that if renewables are pushed forward backed by supportive policies and technology breakthroughs, then emission reduction can be much greater.

She said that wind power is growing at up to 30 per cent a year, solar PV at up to 50 per cent and biofuels at up to 20 per cent and it has been been calculated that around $70 billion was invested in sustainable energy last year and more than 50 countries have adopted targets for future shares of renewable energy.

She said that technologies have the potential to provide energy more efficiently and sustainably in the future and through partnerships, BP is building the scale of its low-carbon businesses.

"Our biofuels business is developing fast, not only blending ethanol and biodiesel today, but investing in tomorrow's advanced biofuels," she said.

And she called on the policy makers and governments around the world to provide incentives for companies such as BP to continue supporting the industry's initiatives.

Further Reading

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You can view the full text of the speech by clicking here.

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