Rikard Scoufias

Great to see again former Italian Prime Minister and Delors Institute President Enrico Letta in Athens at the Greek Prime Minister’s Opening Gala Dinner after a panel discussion with Kyriakos Mitsotakis focusing on European politics, and #EnergyTransition & security, including Trans-Atlantic relations. The former Italian premier said Europe needs to have all 27 onboard, adding that the single market is the biggest achievement of the EU highlighting the importance of #Innovation. Letta also called for the creation of a strong #EU structure to implement the #GreenDeal in order to accompany these financial changes, proposing to the EU leaders to combine private and public market to support the most vulnerable citizens and small businesses with the green transition.

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To achieve the ambitious Paris climate targets, the global demand for clean #hydrogen is projected to reach around 100 million tons by 2030. Therefore, it is imperative to establish robust production capacity on a global scale. However, five significant barriers hinder the development of clean hydrogen production to the required level. Find out more:

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ICYMI: Our Secretary General and CEO Dr Angela Wilkinson sat down with Stephen Sedgwick of CNBC at our 26th World Energy Congress in Rotterdam last week to discuss the multiple pathways towards energy transitions, the critical role of managing the World Energy Trilemma, and how energy leadership needs to do a better job promoting energy literacy. 👉 Watch the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eUM89A_5

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Against the backdrop of the ongoing debate and conflicting data surrounding various aspects of #energytransition, the overarching trend towards new and sustainable energy system continues to gain momentum. It's important to remember that different sectors and regions are undergoing their own #energytransitions, each with its own timelines, ambitions, policy support, and economic factors at play. And it has been clear that we will need a broad and diverse set of solutions – and perhaps even all of them – not only to address the #energytransition but also to meet the growing global #energydemand. Just few topics where differing perspectives shape the discussion: 🌬️☀️ #Renewables and #Intermittency : While renewable energy adoption continues to rise, concerns regarding #solar and #wind intermittency persist, with one side of the argument is that it hampers #gridstability, while others highlight advancements in #storage and #gridmanagement solutions addressing these challenges. 🌽 🍴 #Biofuels: The debate over the sustainability and environmental impact of #biofuels has increased, with conflicting studies assessing their carbon footprint and land use implications. ☢️ #Nuclearpower: Despite recent resurgence in conversations about #nuclearpower, it remains a divisive topic, with proponents highlighting its #lowcarbon base load power, while opponents raise concerns about safety, waste disposal, and the potential for proliferation. 💧 #Hydrogen: Conflicting viewpoints surround the potential of #hydrogen as a #cleanenergy solution at scale, with debates over its production methods, cost-effectiveness, and infrastructure requirements. 🏭 #CarbonCapture: #CCUS scalability, cost-effectiveness, and long-term environmental impacts continue to be debated.

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Great panel talking about the challenges involved in driving the energy transition including views from Professor Jim Skea of the IPCC, Ross Bruton of The Carbon Trust, Shannon Smith of Chestnut Carbon, Emin Batur Dizdar of Ratio Energy and Øistein Jensen of Odfjell SE moderated by Mike Hemsley of the Energy Transitions Commission. In order to get to the energy transition then you need to significantly scale up renewables, battery storage, biofuels, hydrogen, CCUS and sidecar carbon capture.This brings with it several challenges: 1. We have been enormously successful in building renewables but concentrated in developed world - Europe, US and Asia - what is now required is the globalisation of that. 2. Energy demand is going to be extremely important - transportation, buildings. 3. The “net” in net zero - won’t get to net zero without taking carbon out of the atmosphere. Approximately 50-70% of technology required to meet the challenge is still in early stage of development. Another element discussed was nature-based solutions - a scalable carbon removal solution, trees. So how does the hard to abate sector such as shipping? At the moment the focus is on alternative fuels which has itself several factors that prove challenging. Other sectors where difficulties exist in the areas such as steel and cement which will still be required and are open to global competition. While there is a lot going into innovators, the challenge comes during the de-risking scale up stage. Policy still needs to catch up and value chains still need to be setup to scale and commercialise these technologies. Therefore one key challenge is the systems-level thinking. One of the issues is that there is no set price of carbon across the globe and hence there is uncertainty meaning each company is working on its own plans at its own pace. The dynamic of a voluntary carbon market is making it challenging to get the progress required and hence the question is raised around the role of regulation. So what else is holding the uptake back? The scale to decarbonise even a single hard-to-abate sector would require such an off-take of non-fossil fuel energy that there would be none left to decarbonise any other. That competition requires greater central coordination. In order to regulate global shipping it goes that the IMO as part of the UN construct. This provides an opportunity and challenge. There are also bilateral opportunities for creating changes such as a green corridor but this still requires a price on carbon that allows the carbon pricing to create a CfD to support investment in the additional cost of fuel. The difficulty is that if such carbon taxes go into general government spending rather than directly back into the transition. There needs to be a greater cooperation and engagement between the public and private sector all the way through the innovation cycle including governments, VCs, institutional investors and corporates. CEN-ESG #innovation

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In our latest report ( 🙏 Daniel Sacco for the great collaboration) on the #EnergyTransition, we explore the #cleanenergy space and investment opportunities towards a #netzero world. Global annual renewable capacity additions surged by almost 50% in 2023, driven largely by China. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) will become the leading sources of electricity by 2025 and 2026, respectively. Within this broad positive trend, however, some individual renewables sectors face major challenges. The solar PV industry, for example, faces significant price pressures due to oversupply, particularly from Chinese manufacturers who are now globally dominant. ❗ Lower prices for renewables technology cuts both ways, of course: they threaten (non-Chinese) domestic production, but also should encourage further adoption of renewables technologies worldwide. 🌱 Despite these challenges, the long-term outlook remains positive, with technological advancements, cost reductions, and government support driving growth. 👉 My impression is that investors (and thus markets) still don’t see the energy transition as an integrated whole – they may not fully link up the implications of change across sectors. Market valuations for utilities, for example, still seem more influenced by the past than by the essential role they will play in delivering a clean energy transition. And we are also likely to see further growth in new areas – e.g. in energy storage. As we know, battery storage capacity has already quadrupled between 2020 and 2023, but there will be other energy storage developments too. Energy transition should therefore be seen as an opportunity, not a problem for markets. But we do need to work out how best to use #markets and governments to do it. The key takeaway: The renewable energy sector's trajectory is strong. While the sector faces short-term uncertainties, the long term outlook remains robust, fuelled by positive capacity growth and continued government support. Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank Private Bank #macroeconomics #ESG #sustainablefinance #financialmarkets (When investing your capital may be at risk)

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COLUMN: Six months since BP appointed a new CEO with the promise of "growing the value", its market cap has slumped to a 2-year low of ~£75 billion. BP’s market value this week fell to a two-year low of roughly £75 billion ($96 billion). Worse, the company is worth today about the same as it was 25 years ago, when oil changed hands at $10 a barrel, rather than today's price of more than $80 a barrel. BP is a shadow of the mighty oil behemoth it once was. It would be unfair to blame Auchincloss — who celebrates six months on the job next Wednesday — for all the problems. Some predate him, particularly the cost of cleaning up 2010’s US Gulf of Mexico spill. Yet the Canadian executive isn’t new to BP’s upper echelon. He was chief financial officer from mid-2020 until his promotion in January, and as such, key to the green strategy that the company adopted four years ago. What’s not unfair is to highlight that Auchincloss’ business-as-usual attitude, his insistence that “our destination is unchanged,” is unnerving many investors. BP’s shares have underperformed all its rivals, in some cases by a large margin. Profit is weak, and the debt load remains high. By now, there should be an all-hands-on-deck emergency at BP’s St James’s Square headquarters. If there is, shareholders haven't heard about it. More below | Bloomberg Opinion #energy #oil #energytransition

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'By taxing GHG emissions, the CBAM will effectively give EU trading partners that export carbon-intensive goods a powerful incentive to establish carbon-pricing mechanisms and CBAMs of their own. This would enable participating governments to collect revenue that would otherwise be collected by European governments, which they could then use to invest in domestic priorities, finance green-development projects, and cover fiscal gaps. As more countries join, the economic pressure on holdouts to follow suit is expected to increase.'

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A good perspective from a team that understands global commodities from copper, uranium to oil. A bit bearish on oil demand while bullish on China growth. China prioritizing energy security and making pivot away from oil and natural gas? While energy transition is a driver, energy security may be a higher priority. Their transformation to a consumer and service economy not a sure thing yet. Keeping a close eye on their technological progress and some real innovation on the battery side. One thing is certain, more volatility is assured! Veriten keeps challenging the narrative. Gabriel Collins love to get your take on this podcast. Great insights from Max Layton

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Rising energy costs and pre-election climate policy debates have shifted voter attitudes and narratives in Brussels, leading to potential losses for climate-focused political blocs while right-wing groups gaining traction

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Kicking off the OECD - OCDE Minerals Forum 2024 The 17th edition of the Forum will reflect longstanding and emerging priorities in fostering responsible mineral supply chains, with sessions spanning often overlooked conflict risks, development minerals, policy cohesion in an evolving regulatory landscape and the role for responsible business conduct in government-to-government agreements on transition minerals. A key theme will be bridging longstanding focus areas like conflict financing risks with the opportunities for enhancing the sector’s contribution to sustainable development through the increasing strategic profile of transition minerals. If you're around, I look forward to seeing you ! If you're not in Paris, check out the agenda, many sessions are live-streamed: https://lnkd.in/eA-5FwaG Starting off with a session on Investment for sustainable minerals value chains with insights shared by IPIS - International Peace Information Service, Premicongo, Congo's Chamber of Mines and LSE IDEAS: https://lnkd.in/eyxZjWF2 #responsiblemining #responsibleinvestment #responsiblesourcing

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📢 The Council of the European Union has approved two critical parts of the #EUGreenDeal, consisting of two regulations and two directives: 🔸The Hydrogen and Gas Decarbonisation Package: This package includes a regulation and a directive that set unified internal market rules for renewable and natural gases and hydrogen, updating the current EU gas legislation. 🔹The Electricity Market Regulation: This regulation updates the existing electricity regulation and introduces specific changes to the ACER regulation. 👉 The regulations and directives will now proceed to signing and will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. 🔸 The Hydrogen and Gas Regulation will take effect 6 months after publication. 🔹 The Electricity Market Regulation will come into force 20 days after publication. 📃 Read more: https://lnkd.in/d4rm3JAg #Hydrogen #Decarbonization #Gas #CounciloftheEuropeanUnion #electricity

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Recent years have seen governments taking an increasingly interventionist approach to oil and gas markets, but from deglobalisation to potential shortages, policymakers must be mindful of the law of unintended consequences, writes Adi Imsirovic #energy #energyindustry #oilandgas https://lnkd.in/eK9Bb3Jb

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Sobering analysis from Wood Mackenzie on the impact of high interest rates on the #energytransition to #netzero 2050, and the required investment of $75 trillion to do so. #sustainability #alternativeenergy #greentech #finance #renewableenergy #privateequity #climatechange #IRA #decarbonization #decarbonisation #infrastructure

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I read today's article in the The Guardian (see link in comments below) with interest. The dawning realisation and indeed policy endorsement to promoting the continued usage of #naturalgas in the #UK's power system, demonstrates a level of common sense from the incoming #Labour administration - though let's not pick bones about the fact that the previous administration's decision to extend usage of #CCGTs met with widespread criticism from across the chamber at the time.  The idea that greater penetration of renewables in the system requires greater #flexiblepower provided by natural gas #powergeneration, is clear - at least until and unless it is displaced by #nuclear, or indeed #longdurationstorage, which can recycle green #electrons. The jury's currently out on the latter from a commercialisation perspective, and new nuclear build is years ahead. So natural gas continues to be the #decarbonised transition fuel of choice. But here's the kicker, with #carboncapture #technology attached to gas generators, we can deliver #netzero flexible power into the #grid. And why only #sequester the #CO2? Why not create a further revenue opportunity by scrubbing or reusing the CO2 in products such as food grade #industrialgases or #carbonblack products, or indeed #methanol? In doing so, a real opportunity exists to invest without the dependence on #subsidy. At Victory Hill Capital Partners LLP, our thematic approach to investing in the #energytransition foresaw such an #evolution, hence our investment in a UK programme which provides #gasfired flexible power combined with carbon capture technology which scrubs the CO2 into #foodgrade CO2 to be sold into the industrial gases market where there is a structural short in the UK, creating a #sustainable value chain, with our partners, Landmark Power Holdings. Moving forward, we believe the picture of the #demandsidedynamics are likely to be further skewed by the emergence of generational #AI technology in #datacentres. With the amount of energy required for AI technology tasks being 10x more than the equivalent Google tasks, the demand for dependable energy is expected to spike to historically higher levels in the next 10 years in #Europe, the #US and beyond. And within this context, the conversation will likely be, is natural gas a #transitionfuel? Or will it be here to stay? In which case the question arises of: who understood ahead of time the benefits of carbon capture technology, and is there sufficient policy initiatives and #privatecapital to support this? Interested? #letstalk #sustainableinvesting #unsdgs #victoryhill #gseo Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Fiona Harvey #victoryhill Emily Revess #sustainableenergy Louis Taylor John Flint Emma Floyd Valerie Hamill Victoria Seabrook Rt Hon Rachel Reeves Peter Kyle Lord Philip Hunt

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Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects have seen a significant increase in momentum in recent years, with over 500 projects in development as of April 2024. In 2022, the total capacity of CCS projects in development increased by 44% to 244 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. However, this is still only 0.1% of the world's total CO2 capture in 2022. This growth arises from the private sector's response to the rising expectations of civil society to move to a net-zero emissions future and the evolution of government policy and regulation that is strengthening the business case for investment in CCS. The business risks and opportunities created by climate change are receiving closer analysis. Private businesses are increasingly funding carbon capture schemes to offset their emissions. According to the World Economic Forum, carbon capture technologies need to expand 120 times by 2050 to meet net-zero targets. India is still in the early stages of carbon capture and storage (CCS) development. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is working on the same. The climate crisis has surely set the stage for very interesting times ahead in terms of technology evolution and revolution. Avitosh Barnwal Transaction Square #ESG #TransactionSquareGreen #carboncapture #carbonsequestering #CCUS

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New insights briefing from the Energy Transitions Commission focused on the importance of not only raising ambition in the next round of NDCs under the Paris Agreement, but also making stronger links to national policies and increased government and industry collaboration on implementation. The ETC recommends that “NDCs 3.0” define: - Clear and detailed roadmaps for implementation of accelerated climate action backed by strong government policy (e.g., quantitative targets for GW of renewables, phase out dates for bans on the sale of gasoline or diesel engine vehicles). - Measurable, comprehensive (covering all sectors and GHGs) and granular targets for emissions reductions. - Investable plans, especially for emerging markets, clearly stating the investment and international climate finance required to deliver stated targets. https://lnkd.in/erxp23YN

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This week, Energy Ministers from the 27 EU Member States came together in Brussels for an informal meeting hosted by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The European Commission was represented by its Executive Vice President Maroš Šefčovič, who is in charge of coordinating the implementation of the #EUGreenDeal. The Energy Ministers discussed challenges relating to Europe's energy infrastructure, including: the need for a better coordinated and integrated European electricity grid; the financial and risk-reduction aspects of cross-border investments in electricity infrastructure; and how to ensure grid resilience during the transition to an energy system with a greater reliance on #renewables and #netzero greenhouse gas emissions. "We are very pleased to see that Energy Ministers are focusing their attention on the need to develop and improve Europe's energy infrastructure," says COGEN Europe's Managing Director Hans Korteweg. "In order to meet its energy and climate ambitions, the EU must take an integrated approach to energy systems, fostering energy efficiency and renewable energy across electricity, heat and gas grids." "Smart #cogeneration solutions are embedded in Europe’s cities and industries, efficiently linking energy grids at local level. Delivering the cost-effective potential for cogeneration must be prioritised in order to foster energy efficiency and resilience, whilst enabling a greater integration of renewables and supporting electrification."

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After two successive years of growth, the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Europe has stalled: 5,694 FDI projects were announced in Europe in 2023, reveals the 23rd EY Europe Attractiveness Survey.

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