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The post-Paris scene, part 3: Renewables industry: in festive mood

As you can imagine, there was still quite a lot of post-Paris pixie-dust being sprinkled around in Abu Dhabi. At the first World Future Energy Summit, nine years ago, conventional oil-drenched thinking about renewables was still dominant: it would remain a slow-growing, uncompetitive niche player…

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The post-Paris scene, part 4: Oil and gas: still hanging in

So where does all that upbeat, excitable buzz around renewables leave the oil and gas companies? Well, they’re still hanging in there, with exhibition stands as bullish and brazen as ever, continuing to take the line that their mainstream market positions remain unchallengeable. And, to be honest,…

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The post-Paris scene, part 5: Same old dreams, same old lies

So much for the fossil fuel lobbies. What of our dearly beloved friends in the nuclear industry? The industry has had a constant presence at the World Future Energy Summit since the start ten years ago, but this year (with the interesting exception of the South Koreans), I felt they weren’t really…

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The post-Paris scene, part 1: the Zayed Future Energy Prize

Back in Abu Dhabi for the ninth World Future Energy Summit, and the eighth Award Ceremony for the Zayed Future Energy Prize, which I’ve been involved in from the start as a member of the Selection Committee. As ever, despite all the inevitable ambiguities in celebrating the world of sustainable…

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If Volkswagen Built Homes …

The Scandal of the Performance Gap in the Housing Industry Many people driving a new car have long suspected that the fuel consumption demonstrated in the manufacture’s brochure is significantly out of line with the reality of the day to day running of the vehicle. And then, just a few weeks ago,…

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Latest Chapter in the Palm Oil and Deforestation Saga

Today (Tuesday 15th December) in London, we’ll be launching our Report on High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests, and the role of the palm oil industry in helping both to identify them and then to protect them. It’s a bit of a blockbuster, made up of three different elements: the Overview Report (which…

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