| Our focus this time is on the energy transition, the third in our Actions for Business 2023 topics (the report still available here).
Our writers dive into the detail of different pathways and technologies, and plot a way through the complexities. The starting point is recognising there’s a trilemma at the heart of this – or rather, the need is to achieve three difficult and conflicting outcomes in parallel, namely decarbonisation against urgent deadlines, energy security despite growing geo-political stresses, and the so-called just transition of fairness and acceptability of change in and to society.
As I see it, the hardest is the third, and therefore that’s the key to the whole thing. If you start with what works for people, then the right answers become clearer, whether on solar panels or heat pumps, on tax or spend fiscal levers, on national versus international action, and so on.
It’s certainly a lot more complex than in the early years of environmental action by companies. Then, firm-level interventions were possible on such things as energy efficiency, resource use and waste reduction, since ultimately they were underpinned by near-term achievable financial benefits. Now, as our writers point out, a stable regulatory framework is one of the enablers most needed.
Still, action by business in plotting a path forward is possible, even if no-one is saying it’s going to be easy.
Mike Tuffrey | 