Innovation to Transform the Energy Future

ABB. In 2016 the World Energy Council captured the energy transition challenge when it coined its “energy trilemma”, which involves balancing three seemingly conflicting, yet intertwined objectives: Energy security – ensuring the reliability of energy supply to meet current and future demand; Energy equity – ensuring the world has access to energy at an affordable cost; Environmental sustainability – ensuring that global warming calls for improved energy efficiency and the development of renewable low-greenhouse energy sources are met. The realization that fossil fuels are a limited resource, however long supplies might last, and the growing awareness of the negative impact that their emissions have on the planet, has impacted every oil and gas major. Extreme weather conditions, such as those experienced during the summer of 2018, leading to heat waves, forest fires and torrential rainfall, all contribute to the urgency to improve the energy ecosystem. These companies have now issued their own “energy transition” strategies that outline plans to migrate their core business to new energy sources between now and 2040.