55. Net Zero Festival London 31 October 2023

 

This was different.  I joined over 2000 senior executives, investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and campaigners, all participants at the Business Design Centre in Islington, to navigate through economic, political, and technological issues and to work together to accelerate the net zero transition.  As well as bringing a wide range of different groups together to tackle the climate crisis, it was also about finding examples of action that are already making a difference.

It felt more like a political conference with a stand outside the centre from Extinction Rebellion to object to what they perceived as green-washing.  In the introduction we heard about the very different national commitments to achieving net zero.

I was encouraged to hear what was being and could be achieved by the transition to solar and wind energy and the use of electric cars.  93% of car sales in Norway are of electric vehicles.  In 10 years the cost of solar energy has reduced by 89% and of wind energy by 60%.  The cost of a heat pump can be less than a gas boiler.  The past successes in the UK in reducing carbon dioxide emissions were also encouraging.  However, globally, current policies still give us a trajectory towards a 2.5 C temperature increase.

A session on the circular economy was interrupted by a protest against Coca Cola, which reflected the tensions between the idealism and the practicalities of achieving greater waste prevention and reduction.

We heard from Innovate UK that agriculture needs to change faster than ever before from highly productive, high input monoculture-based, linear systems producing a single product category to highly productive, diverse, low input, resilient, circular systems producing multiple product categories.

The UK’s commitments included

·         homes to be EPC C by 2023

·         commercial buildings to be EPC B by 2030

·         no new gas boilers from 2035

·         heat pumps 50% cheaper by 2025

·         600k heat pumps installed each year by 2028

The benefits of net zero in buildings in 15 years included

·         100Mt CO2 avoided

·         £500bn added to GDP

·         200k new jobs

·         national energy costs down by £7.5bn

We also heard of the transitions in power generation and transportation if current UK commitments are maintained.

We then heard how the cost of the transition to net zero is misrepresented in parts of the media including

·         pretending fossil fuel technology is free

·         Ignoring the saving of buying less fossil fuel

·         confusing MW and MWh and saying wind costs £1,300,000/MWh rather than the actual £50-70/MWh

In a panel session Chris Skidmore, MP for Kingswood, spoke powerfully and independently of the need to retain the commitments to net zero.

The cross business and NGO support and sponsorship of the transition to net zero was very encouraging.  This is despite what may be said in the current political environment.  I was heartened that organisations were willing to raise their heads and admit that it is not always easy to make changes but they are working on them.  I was inspired by the profile of the participants, across all age ranges but predominantly young and very diverse.  With their commitment, there is a good hope for a sustainable future.