AN URGENT CHALLENGE
“Civil society must not wait for regulation, but lead the transition”
DUBAI (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES)- “We are seeing a surge in renewable energy and the substitution of fossil fuels in the electric system is within our grasp. The capital and technology required are there and available, and the demand and the opportunity in renewable energy is greater than ever.” said José Manuel Entrecanales, chairman and CEO of ACCIONA, during his involvement in the CNBC Sustainable Futures Forum in Dubai as part of COP28. “Civil society must not wait for regulation, but lead the transition”, he added.
“While there are obstacles, like grid infrastructure and achieving the necessary permits, these are tangible, physical problems and can be overcome relatively easily. The real global challenge lies in what comes next, like how do we achieve competitive green hydrogen production,” said Mr. Entrecanales
At the panel, entitled Investing in the Future: How do we bridge the finance gap, ACCIONA’s Chairman went on to say that “the good news is that we have seen, through the [US] Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), how good policy and well-deployed capital can achieve what nobody thought was possible in such a short space of time.
“COP28 will do much to further global awareness and conviction, and regardless of the specific agreements reached, bringing together the thousands of companies here in Dubai will help propel us on the journey we need to take,” he added.
Mr. Entrecanales spoke on the panel in Dubai alongside Hubert Keller, Senior Managing Partner at Lombard Odier, Henry Fernandez, Chairman and CEO, MSCI, and Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO, LanzaTech.