The bigger picture life without oil full#

However, it is important to not just talk about goals, but the fact that we already have a reasonable way of achieving them. Rainer Seele agrees that “climate change is real and experienced by everybody on a daily basis, there is also a general consensus that we have to do something here”. I can only hope that climate change allows us the time we need.” Realistic targets are key, talking in extremes is not productive “While the energy market was a steady and conservative market in the past, a faster pace of change will propel innovation to become a key asset of an energy company so in order to secure competitiveness, investments into in-house and external R&D as well as future technologies will be important to remain at the forefront of innovation.” Nevertheless, Wagner acknowledges that “we will likely not abandon fossil fuels in the short term, since such major changes unfortunately take time. But change also always means a chance to redefine where the journey of the future will go,” grins Wagner. “Some of the new technologies and markets will ask for a different set of expertise than what a current oil and gas company has to offer, so a drastic change will likely be necessary. The oil and gas companies of the future will most likely be energy and chemicals companies. Because one of the advantages compared to new players on the market is the financial power of oil and gas companies”, says Wagner. This is not an easy task, but necessary – I believe that oil and gas companies need to strategically evaluate how their business model will develop in the next years and make large investments now towards sustainable innovations for the future. “Changing the complete fossil fuel system as we have it today is where the biggest impact lies and where business and politics are key to deliver. We were curious as to whether he saw potential in anything that could already be done now? Furthermore, Wagner suggested that more research and investment into the development of cost-competitive technologies is necessary – both rather medium to long-term endeavors. So we need to step up our game.” He briefly touched on how sustainable carbon recycling will be needed in future. In his keynote, Wagner mentioned that “with the current efforts and commitments, we are on track to 3☌ warming with tremendous effects on all of us.

The bigger picture life without oil full#

Nevertheless, he is certain, “solar and wind will be two major sources that will provide us with sustainable energy in the future.” Both technologies have been developed in full and are being rolled out more and more. Yet, the picture we are confronted with is different: demand for fossil fuels keeps growing. The oil and gas companies of the future will most likely be chemicals companiesĪndreas Wagner poetically termed the tackling of challenges related to climate change as “our generation’s moon landing”, saying that we need “enormous efforts globally to build a future beyond fossil fuels and prevent a climate change disaster”. They were all asked the intriguing question: “A World without Oil?”. Rainer Seele, Alfred Stern, Gerhard Schröder, Elisabeth Köstinger, Adam Pawloff, and Andreas Wagner, PhD student at the University of Cambridge, participated in a panel during the so-called 4gamechangers festival in Vienna in mid-April 2019. What could the CEOs of an oil & gas company and a petrochemical company, a former German chancellor, a minister for sustainability and tourism and a Greenpeace campaigner possibly be discussing? You guessed it – they're talking about energy, more specifically oil as one of the world’s major energy sources. And so the question is not without merit: is a world without oil even conceivable in the future?

Oil is part and parcel of so much that revolves around us – from fuels to petrochemical products, which themselves form the basis for mobile phones, cables, creams and even clothing. Tags: Petrochemicals Plastics recycling Strategy Sustainability A World without Oil?