Evidence submitted to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee investigation into energy policy

          Evidence I submitted to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee investigation into energy policy   In justifying its decision to go ahead with Hinkley the Government has emphasised the fact that EDF will bear its construction risk. This is true, albeit with some […]

Hinkley Point – BBC Radio 4 – Today Program

      There is no doubt that we need electricity, we just don’t need the electricity from Hinkley at enormous cost. It’s very unreliable, we are not sure that this type of reactor will actually work. There are much better ways of achieving the security of supply we need […]

Why the EU’s electricity market design proposal actually matters

  By Simon Skillings | E3G   This piece was originally published by EurActiv     The European Commission’s vision of an Energy Union with citizens at its core, where consumers take ownership of the energy transition, is to be applauded but needs to be followed up with genuine policy change, […]

CHANGING THE GAME – A PROGRAMME FOR GOVERNMENT

  E3G is publishing ‘Changing the Game’ a 10 point programme for government that will put the environment to work for the economy.       For too long Britain’s environmentalists have asked British Governments to do more for the environment. It is now time to turn the tables and tell […]

APRES MOI LE DELUGE

                    Louis XV’s mordant phrase aptly captures the legacy of the Coalition government’s electricity policy. The new government, whatever its composition, will inherit a policy that achieved a rare feat. It united investors, generators, customers, commentators and environmentalists on energy policy. […]

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

  This essay argues that the oil industry will lose the battle for the future. The growth it expects will not occur. The key issue is whether the world makes an orderly or disorderly transition to a carbon neutral energy system. An orderly transition preserves both the economy and the […]

OF NIGHTMARES AND PARROTS

  This piece was first published in BusinessGreen       Let me introduce you to the mysterious world of triads. This is not, however, an article about the exotic world of Hong Kong’s ill-famed criminal gangs. This is about the much more prosaic world of managing electricity bills. Triads […]

THE POWER OF DREAMS

    This piece first appeared in The Guardian on Thursday 10th July                 It has always been difficult to see what was attractive about the proposed deal with EDF to build a nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset. To bring this […]

THE FUTURE IS COMING READY OR NOT

  The following speech talks about the looming collision between $6 trillion of investment in oil and gas over the next ten years and the agreement by governments to keep the rise in global temperature below 2°C. This collision will transform the human prospect. It poses a dilemma for governments […]

MAKERS AND TAKERS

  This article first appeared in Business Green.        The public discourse on climate policy is asymmetric. It has been dominated by the climate makers. These are the fossil fuel industries and their customers. This has led to a badly distorted portrayal of climate policy risk. As a […]