Background:

I think we all get it now: the days of our dependence on fossil fuels are numbered. But just how big is that number? Incumbent fossil fuel companies are massively powerful players in today’s global economy – and geo-politics – and they will stay dug in defending shareholder's interests until they’re killed off by far better technological solutions to today’s energy, transport and manufacturing challenges.

Part of their die-in-a-ditch campaign is Predatory Delay: advocating fiercely for false solutions that keep the hydrocarbons-first business model ticking over for a little bit longer. Blue hydrogen is the classic predatory delay phenomenon. But what about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)? And Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) in particular? Sorting out true green from faux-green is proving a big challenge for politicians today – especially those whose loyalties still lie in the world of fossil fuels.

Speaker:

Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer and campaigner on sustainable development. For the last 30 years, Jonathon has provided strategic advice to leading UK and international companies to deepen their understanding of today’s converging environmental and climate crises. He is also focused on intergenerational justice, supporting young people in their activities around sustainable development issues as they face a future defined by the twin crises of the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity Emergency.

He is President of The Conservation Volunteers and is involved in the work of many other NGOs and groups. In 1996, he co-founded Forum for the Future, a leading international sustainable development charity, working with business and civil society to accelerate the shift toward a sustainable future. Jonathon was formerly Co-Chair of the Green Party (1980-83) and Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90). He stood down as Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in 2009, after nine years providing high-level advice to Government Ministers, and served a ten-year term as Chancellor of Keele University (2012-2022).

Jonathon was awarded a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection. His latest book, Hope in Hell (Simon & Schuster, 2020, revised 2021) is a powerful ‘call to action’ on the Climate Emergency.