On Saturday 5th March, we held the first Ditchley Climate and Energy Summit. 40 leaders working transatlantically across government, industry and civil society gathered to push forward on thinking around the energy transition, education in the context of climate change, and adaptation and resilience. Here is a summary of some of the main points:
Overlapping democratic challenges. We face multiple challenges to a democratic world order that must be addressed in parallel; these are: external geopolitical competition from effective authoritarian regimes, internal democratic challenges related to adaptation, technology, and equity, and thirdly the issue of climate change. For the latter, a focus around adaptation, innovation, and mitigation is at the crux of this. Finding the space for political will for long term strategic interests related to this is fundamental to progress around climate issues.
Energy security. The topic of energy is centre stage due to the Ukraine crisis and has created tension around political breakthroughs linked to climate change. The futurist versus pragmatist arguments around navigating the risk of an energy war are apparent now more than ever, with the divide between long term thinking and immediate need at the heart of this.
Addressing the paradox around energy. The current geopolitical context means we have never needed fossil fuels so much, yet simultaneously we need to get away from them as fast as possible. The window to act is closing rapidly and this requires collaboration within and between governments. Calls for tariffs on Russian energy to promote energy efficiency (akin to the tax increases on gasoline and diesel that Western Europe and Japan introduced in response to the oil price crises of the 1970s) with tariff receipts used to invest in renewables or alleviate household bills.
The risks of inaction. Promises made on climate action must be viable; false and overreaching claims undermine narratives around climate strategy. However, a failure to address climate issues will see significant increases in costs, which create financial and systemic risks. Political commitments are lagging; combined with an era of information and disinformation, this hurts our ability to control narratives. There are opportunities for action with Africa, providing a chance to explore new technologies and a shared mutual benefit in renewable investments.
We cannot solve global problems without global solutions. The ability to abate or remove carbon is not necessarily distributed in the same way as the ability to produce it. We should think about where to put our energy assets, to get the highest return on energy investment.E.g. You will obtain double the output of a solar panel if you put on a roof in Kenya instead of Germany.
An all-of-the-above approach. Addressing climate change and energy security concerns does not require a singular approach. Instead, investments into renewables, nuclear, and natural gas simultaneously would provide stability whilst tangibly supporting a transition away from fossil fuels. A cost-effective approach, whilst maintaining caution over sources of technology, must be doubly underlined so that we do not risk creating dependency on other nations.
Can we create infrastructure and a filtering tool outside of classroom learning? Learning outside the classroom has a fast trajectory, but there is a need to be sure how to deal with unregulated information out there. For example, conflicts within climate change work, such as between local biodiversity and overall climate change impact, is something that needs deeper understanding. This is also an important tool to mitigate the bias caused by the fact that most of those involved with climate change come from privileged backgrounds.
Climate change is viewed too often with a political and economic lens, but it should be seen as a societal and planetary challenge. Climate gets boxed into a certain party or political leaning, but if we approached with a values-based view, or one where people were able to see the effect that climate change will have on their lives and communities, there would be more alarm bells.
An adaptation deficit. Not only have governments, society and businesses left it very late to adapt, the learning and resilience-building is not taking place. For example, flood repairs often return properties to their previous state and do not include further measures to cope with future floods, sometimes even causing maladaptation, i.e. opening up new risks rather than preventing them. Government’s role is to enable industry to adapt by providing the information and decision support resources, but there has to be an acceptance of responsibility at all levels. When people work together, they learn and get better at it.
Systemic adaptation means addressing wider business risk including supply chains and surrounding communities. But a wider framework can mean more conflict as well as more complementary working. There are real differences and competing interests at stake. As risk registers mature and go through more iterations to include social and political risks, this becomes a process of continuous adaptation - we are well-adapting. Transformational adaptation will inevitably mean dealing with value and conflicts.
The antidote to anxiety is action. This is a productive response to climate change and a way to focus on action rather than the problem.
Summary of actionable recommendations
Participants raised a number of actionable recommendations over the course of the Summit. A selection of these is listed below.
Policymakers
● To look into establishing carbon labelling, and work through the complexities of such an initiative.
● To establish carbon disclosure regulations, and support small businesses through the ensuing changes.
● To establish the right incentives and disincentives for climate-friendly behaviours (e.g. introducing carbon taxes, removing fossil fuel subsidies). Using data and digital tools to achieve this.
● To establish a set of standards for ESG and green tech.
Industry Leaders
● To survey civic and community leaders to investigate their resilience plans.
Innovators
● To establish a ‘sharing infrastructure’ for sharing best practices on climate change interventions.
● To develop a mechanism for filtering information related to climate change, to make this more accessible to the public.
● To provide actionable solutions to climate change causes and impacts through children’s media.
Brokers
● To connect engineers with policymakers, so there is a link between those who have a deep understanding of what is possible, and those who are setting policies.