Fight against climate change must be showcased at Cop28, says World Energy Council chief

Angela Wilkinson says the battle against climate change can be showcased

Angela Wilkinson is first woman to ever become chief executive of the World Energy Council. Khushnum Bhandari \ The National

The physical projects built and employed in the fight against climate change should be showcased at Cop28 in November, the head of the World Energy Council, Angela Wilkinson, told The National.

Positive achievements rather than verbal promises should get centre stage, she said.

The first global stocktake by the UN aimed at assessing the collective progress of the Paris Agreement in limiting world temperature rise to 1.5 degrees is predicted to show missed targets when it is unveiled as part of Cop 28 in Dubai in November.

Dr Wilkinson believes disappointment arising from the global stocktake can be mitigated by emphasising the very real progress that's being made towards decarbonisation and the energy transition.

She also views Cop28 as an opportunity for fewer discussions about what could or should happen in the struggle against rising global temperatures and more showcasing of the action that's currently being taken in countries around the world.

“The bad news is we’re off-track,” said Dr Wilkinson. “The question is ‘how do you sweeten a bitter pill?’

“You do that by trying to show that there’s more action available than you think. And I think that should be less about people coming and promising what they’re going to do and (more about) showcasing what’s really going on.

“Let’s showcase all the action. Let’s connect it to the talk-talk at the top. There’s lots of walk-walk from the bottom up and sideways on going on.

“Let’s showcase the fact that we’re not all starting from zero and we’re not painting on a blank canvas.

“There’s a lot of potential.”

Even though the climate targets will likely be overshot by 2030, Dr Wilkinson says that's no reason to bring about an immediate and complete end to the use of fossil fuels but warned that energy transition can only be achieved collaboratively.

“A hundred years ago, it was all about the specification – you could design and engineers would deliver it. Now we’ve got engineers, financiers, activists, householders and consumers all in the mix, and it’s very hard to know whose perspective is the best. In fact, there’s none.

“So, it’s the world’s biggest, complex co-ordination challenge, but we’re still organised on the basis of 19th century problems and mindsets.

'Not fit for purpose'

Dr Wilkinson added that the world's current energy system is not fit for purpose, because it doesn't deliver what it's supposed to and does deliver what it shouldn't.

“The majority of the world’s population lacks sufficient access to reliable, clean and affordable energy resources and the energy system itself is producing a by-product which is actually creating a whole host of other problems, the climate change emergency being one of those, which is not good for the future of humanity,” she told The National.

“If we had a fit-for-purpose system, it wouldn’t be doing either of those things.”

Experts have outlined many different pathways to the energy transition, each involving a mix that suits the specific needs and capabilities of the countries or regions involved, from solar to fusion and from wind power to sustainable fuels and small-scale nuclear reactors.

“These days we have this word – transition,” Dr Wilkinson told The National.

“This word transition is often interpreted by people to mean one thing that’s unique and that’s never happened before and a specific destination. It’s not – transition is the evolutionary process of humanity over time.

“We’re in the middle of an unprecedented challenge, which is ‘how do we do a global energy transition which provides enough energy to 10 billion people without destroying the planet?’

"You can’t solve that by saying ‘I know the answer, everybody follow me’. There’s no silver or green bullet solution and we live in a multipolar geopolitical world.

“This all requires a different way of coming together at the table; it requires a different way of working on problems together and defining them.”