Abstract

Energy and climate policy is fast-moving and involves many interlocking elements. The term ‘Transformation’ is often overused, but even before COVID and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the energy market was already undergoing a once-in-a-century transformation in both supply and demand: (i) dramatically falling costs of renewables such as wind and solar; (ii) tectonic shifts in energy markets such as the US shale oil and gas revolutions; (iii) digitalisation meeting century-old wires and networks; (iv) unprecedented interest in electric vehicles; (v) growing public concerns over and (v) the urgency of climate action as agreed as translated into net-zero commitments by many countries and companies, which has pushed climate and energy issues front and centre. There is no single view of how (and whether) net zero gets implemented and so we will explore different sides of these issues. The high-level overview of the drivers and barriers to climate action can hopefully provide insights into future directions and key trade-offs regarding the major decisions that will be needed on the pathway forward.