International Energy Forum calls for investment in hydrocarbons during energy transition
Joseph McMonigle, Secretary General of the International Energy Forum, led this meeting on the Main Stage.
The Secretary General of the International Energy Forum (IEF), Joseph McMonigle, called on Tuesday in Madrid for investment in hydrocarbons not to end while the transition to cleaner energies takes place, so as not to bring the economy to a halt.
In an interview during the first day of the Global Mobility Call, an event organised by IFEMA Madrid and Smobhub, the American asked that "until we can have 50% clean energy we must continue to invest in hydrocarbons, because, in the meantime, we have to continue to make the economy work".
"I would tell politicians, CEOs, entrepreneurs, businessmen... not to take on the energy transition at any cost," warned the forum's secretary general.
In his opinion, reducing investment in hydrocarbons "could harm the energy transition", since, without reducing demand, this form of energy would face higher prices and volatility, and this situation is prior to 2022: "Many people believe that the energy crisis started with the war in Ukraine and no, it has exacerbated it", especially regarding natural gas.
Even so, he pointed out that, although there is a lot of private capital investment in solar energy, "we should not wait for companies to take risks", but that governments can also do so in this field.
About oil-producing countries, he said that "they give energy to the economy" but at the same time "they have to be pioneers in the energy transition" with the use, or development, of new technologies.
McMonigle's interviewer was the president of Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness, Iván Martén, who defined the current energy situation as very "worrying" due to the increase in population, the type of quality of life ("new standards that require more energy and therefore more emissions") and the demand for data centres and AI to function.
"There is a big gap [between emissions generated and those to be reduced] and we need to act. We have to decarbonise the world at the lowest possible social cost," he said.
"We need an orderly transition, clear, fair and simple energy for the whole of society," Martén concluded. Content provided by Agencia EFE