Stavanger GLTE highlights

25/06/2010

Twice a year the companies that make up the Global Leadership & Technology Exchange meet to share views and experiences of low-carbon growth. On 9-10 June representatives of the 16 partners met in Stavanger, Norway to evaluate the role of the oil and gas industry in efforts to build a low-carbon economy. The meeting was hosted by Statoil.

The discussions were incisive and hard-hitting, summed up by Dr Gabrielle Walker, Xyntéo’s Chief Scientist, as a "reality check". A set of briefings on the key themes will be available shortly. In the meantime, here are some highlights:

• John Hess, Chairman and CEO of Hess Corporation, threw some cold water on the conversation by pointing out what it would actually take to achieve an 80% cut in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. He argued that we may need to recalibrate our expectations, focusing our efforts on the achievable.
  
  A robust carbon price, radically higher automotive and building efficiency and the displacement of coal with natural gas – these were some of the areas Mr Hess said we should be concentrating on. 
• Statoil’s CEO, Helge Lund, reminded us that the world would remain dependent on oil and gas for some decades to come. "We are underestimating the transformation," he said.
  
  For him, the lack of a clear policy framework was holding business back from unleashing their energies. 
• "The 800-pound gorilla came to the meeting with no political mandate." This was Peter Darbee’s diagnosis of what went wrong at Copenhagen.
  
  Mr Darbee, the CEO of PG&E and US co-chair of GLTE, described what his company was doing in the US to shore up the mandate for climate action, including by contributing its own proposals on market mechanisms to cut carbon emissions.
  
  He also recounted how PG&E’s decision to pursue lower-carbon growth had had serendipitous results: it had proved incredibly "energising" for his employees, with knock-on effects on productivity and performance.  
• Malcolm Brinded of Shell and Rune Bjørnson at Statoil spoke convincingly about the urgent need to exploit the advantages of natural gas – its relative abundance, affordability and cleanliness – to move the world closer to the low-carbon future. This became, for many if not all participants, the main take-away of the exchange. One of the briefings will be dedicated to this issue.

Many of the presentations given in Stavanger have been made available by the speakers.
Click here.

Also available: video footage of speeches and interviews. Click here.