There is no turning back. The integration of ESG criteria into business, investing and policy making has now reached a tipping point. As the world grapples with historic humanitarian, health and climate challenges, businesses become under pressure to reduce their emissions as investors, regulators, and the broader public are exercising greater scrutiny of corporate sustainability efforts, calling out what they perceive as greenwashing.

The stakes are high. As companies seek to finance their transition to the net zero economy the million-dollar question now is: how to move ESG from a cost centre to a value driver?

In this speech, Roger Ballentine will share his perspectives on what businesses must do to keep up with the fast-growing expectations around their environmental and social impacts, while leveraging and getting the most out of their sustainability investment.

Due to falling costs, advances in technology and the greater need to expand the use of renewables for energy generation, solar photovoltaics (PV) are now the most popular renewable technology in the world, breaking new records every year. 

A greater reliance on this energy source will help mitigate climate change while freeing economies from volatile fossil fuel prices and imports, curbing energy costs and enhancing market resilience.  And going beyond the energy system only, many expect to see innovative PV renewable projects delivering solutions for a wide range of issues such as land use and wildlife protection, project developers’ materials management and circularity, air and water quality, economic development and a just transition.

As the world races to meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement, solar will brighten our future and 2022 marks the year solar energy is turned into a building block of the EU’s transition towards clean energy. But what is the potential for businesses and corporations in our global economy? How can they invest to better harvest the benefits of this technology revolutionizing the energy landscape?

In this panel you will listen to the most recent developments in this rapidly-evolving industry and how companies all over the world are joining the carbon smart, reliable solar movement.

Storage has the potential to revolutionize the energy transition, as we move from conventional thermal power plants that can be dispatched at will to energy systems predominantly supplied by renewables.

Sceptics will tell us that one can't run a country on 100% renewable energy.  Things like wind power and solar PV are dependent on the weather and there will always be some periods in which the meteorological conditions are not on our side and demand for energy use is particularly high.

Paradigm shifters, however, tell us that if the grid of tomorrow comes to be 100% renewable, it won't run in the same way we run the grid of today. As we electrify our economy, from heat to transportation, new technologies are emerging that ensure energy storage and are shifting demand around. 

In this panel renowned experts and innovative players will focus on how energy storage will add the most value to the grid, and how this will be a game changer for companies seeking to take the most out of their investment in a decentralised model of energy production.

The energy ecosystem experiences tectonic shifts as various structural trends rattle its foundation. Thanks to progressing technology and manufacturing at scale, solar turned into one of the technologies of choice, cost-competitive with its fossil fuel counterparts. But the idea of global decarbonization and the move away from fossil fuels toward renewable power generation will only become a reality through rapid acceleration of innovative technologies coupled with some visionary thinking. And a range of actors will need to play a role.

What will the post-transition industrial economy look like? How will digitalisation and software innovation augment future grid systems? How can we deliver deep decarbonisation in hard-to-abate industries? What do successful transition-minded business models really look like? How can we ensure a Just Transition and attract an ever more climate conscious workforce?

An expert on technology trends and innovation, David Rowan will outline how tech disruption is shaping the entire energy ecosystem and transforming business models.