Réflexions en provenance de Davos : Avons-nous les moyens d’avoir des sources d’énergie renouvelable
L’auteur a assisté à un débat fort intéressant sur les changements climatiques lors du Forum sur le développement économique de Davos, présidé par Christine Lagarde, directrice du Fonds monétaire international, pour qui l’auteur avoue avoir un profond respect. Une leader forte et respectée sur le sujet et autres sujets clés comme la croissance du nationalisme. Malgré son évidence, le changement climatique est réel et préoccupant, ses effets sont maintenant reniés seulement par quelques personnes. Toutefois, dans le cadre des débats sur le changement climatique, plusieurs personnes, dont des dirigeants d’importantes entreprises et certains politiciens croient que les sources d’énergie renouvelable ne sont pas économiquement accessibles.
A very interesting debate on climate change I attended at Davos World Economic Forum. It was chaired by Christine Lagarde (Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund), whom I have huge respect for. She is an incredibly strong leader on this topic and on other key topics like the danger of rising nationalism.
The evidence for climate change being real and very concerning is now denied by only a very small minority. Yet this debate had to admit that we still have many people, including business leaders and politicians, who view renewable technologies as not affordable. In the U.K., for example, we often hear the view that we can’t afford renewable energy sources such as wind power. I’m very clear on this, that we will make these energy sources very affordable, but only if nations set a very clear direction to invest in renewable technologies that provides the confidence for the private sector to invest in R&D and Innovation.
The same goes for infrastructure and technologies consuming energy. Wobbling on the commitment for investing in renewable energy and green technologies, or sending mixed messages, will do the opposite and lead to the worst outcome. An inefficient and high carbon energy economy – something I wouldn’t be proud to pass on to our next generation.
Later on in the day I sat in on a speech by President Hollande and as part of this, he made a very passionate plea for the audience of business leaders and politicians to step up investments in green technologies and create a more balanced energy mix. Interestingly,Hollande saw the reduced oil price as an opportunity and not a threat to do this, by using the increased margins from short-term lower energy prices to drive up investments. Let’s hope we see evidence of this happening.
Juergen Maier isthe Managing Director of Siemens UK and Ireland Industry Sector, a leading global supplier of industrial plant and software, manufacturing automation and drive technologies to industrial customers across the UK. In the UK this activity represents a business volume of around £600 million and employs around 2,000 people. This article first appeared as a blog: https://plus.google.com/+JuergenMaieruk/posts/PvdrLjh5KxB.
