If ever there was a word to use at today’s Future Energy Summit it is the word VITAL.  It is an enormous pleasure to have been invited to address you this morning on such a vital issue especially following my brother, or rather a Holographic image of my brother.

My brother has for some time been advocating that we should, at least attempt, to live in harmony with our environment.  We have evolved into an animal that can shape our surroundings and especially in the last 200 years bend our environment to our will.  He has been raising awareness of the importance of protecting our fragile Planet and exploring how to counter the damage that we are doing to our precious, and irreplaceable, World; or small, insignificant rock in the Universe.

I am very excited by the concepts and vision shown by the Government of Abu Dhabi, and in particular the team at Al Masdar. I am certain that the establishment of Al Masdar’s long term aims and objectives will have a huge influence on the future of our planet, and our ability to stabilise the level of emissions that are so damaging.

It is quite clear from all the evidence that we as a species are having an effect on our planetary systems.  We did not intend for this to happen, that is quite certain, but we have had and are having the effect of changing vital systems that have regulated our planet’s health for millions of years enabling our species to become the dominant one.  We are at a crossroads of evolution; we fail to confront these issues and our species will become extinct.  Earth as a planet will survive and over thousands or millions of years will reverse the effects of our folly.  But we are an intelligent life form we can discern for ourselves our own demise and extinction and importantly we have the intelligence and science to first stabilise the effects we are having and from there we can begin to work in harmony with our planet to reverse the effects.

So from everyone’s point of view and particularly of both Governments and businesses around the World, it is in all our interests to develop and promote future energy technologies.  They will provide us with a means of furthering our fight to tackle our planet’s regulatory changes. In my role as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, I am clear that industry worldwide, and UK industry in particular as a leader in this field, must and will play a vital part in achieving what must be Worldwide goals both to reduce emissions – and to reduce them by as much as half in the foreseeable future. The UK Government is committed to supporting the development and use of new energy technologies worldwide and in the UK.

This conference is therefore VITAL, important and a global event.  The significance of Abu Dhabi’s position on alternative and renewable energy sources should be recognised as a major step in the worldwide efforts to protect our environment.  Abu Dhabi has been a world leader in energy production for half a century. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed and his  Government is to be applauded for choosing to direct significant resources towards the development and implementation of alternative sources of energy to provide alternative and sustainable energy into the 22nd Century and beyond.   This is more about moving to a ‘low carbon economy or future rather than a NO carbon economy’, which demonstrates the scale of the challenge.  It doesn’t mean an end to use of oil etc, but, we need to be smarter about how we use it and better at capturing the emissions.  It’s less that the oil will run out (or that climate change will make less available).  Instead that we cannot rely on it if we are to stabilise global emissions at a safe level and then face the longer term fight to reverse any damage to the planets regulatory systems. 

Security of energy supply is also a truly global issue. Reliable supplies of energy are vital for every nation’s economic growth. Abu Dhabi is playing a vital part in supplying us all, and importantly not just Europe and the USA, with the oil and gas we have needed to sustain our economies.  But, as the global economy continues to grow, particularly in developing nations, so too does the relentless demand for energy; this energy demand is expected to increase on current trends by 50% by 2030. Already we have seen the price of oil rise from $35 a barrel three years ago to around $100 a barrel now; and as demand increases, we should expect the cost per barrel to rise further.

It is clear that we will continue to need hydrocarbons for the foreseeable future.  The energy conundrum is that all nations will need diversity in the types of energy and their supply of energy in order to attain their energy security. It is both about mitigating the risks of disruption – which could happen for many reasons, including climate change – and about finding a way to satisfy growing future demand for developing economies, but with the minimum environmental impact. The future energy technologies that we are discussing will play an increasingly important role in fulfilling this diversity requirement.

One of the principal man-made contributors to climate change is our greenhouse gas emissions, especially from carbon dioxide but there are others that contribute to the cocktail of emissions which it is also vital we stabilise.  The latest World Energy Outlook Report from the International Energy Agency predicts that, if we do nothing under current policies and trends, global CO2 emissions will rise by nearly 60% by 2030.  This figure is a cause of great concern for all of us – because it will affect all of us.  No country, no company and no individual will be exempt. Climate change is both global and personal. 

The UNFCCC process has made great strides towards tackling this issue, but we still need to go further.  Hydrocarbon energy is a major contributing factor, so as yet undiscovered future energy technologies must become part of the solution. It is clear that climate change and energy supply are inter-dependent so the decisions we make now about how to move to low carbon economies are crucial.

In innovation and technology the UK has an enviable track record in key areas.  We have launched the UK Energy Excellence Strategy. This Strategy examines UK expertise in meeting future global energy demand and identifies challenges and opportunities over the next 20 years.  It will be a business-led initiative and will create a working partnership between UK energy companies and government to develop real practical solutions to some of the global challenges arising from climate change.

UK business capability has the potential to provide these real solutions to the challenge of climate change and ensuring a secure and diverse energy mix.  The solutions will further position the UK as the No 1 international partner of choice for nations and companies wanting to play a part in this vital area.

The UK is investing several hundred million pounds in a New Energy Technologies Institute, a joint venture between public and private sectors, working to accelerate the development of secure, reliable and cost-effective low-carbon energy technologies towards commercial deployment. The Institute will play a major role in technology developments internationally, in support of the UK’s energy policy and climate change goals.

The UK has recently launched a competition to support one of the first commercial-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in the world. The project selected through the competition will be operational by 2014. Key objectives of the demonstration competition in the UK are: to deliver a successful demonstration of the full chain of CCS technologies in a power plant at a commercial scale; and to demonstrate technology that is relevant and importantly transferable to key global markets.  Carbon capture is a very important technology because of its potential to allow hydrocarbons fuels to be burned more cleanly.  And the transfer of this technology will be a key way to reduce emissions in these fast developing economies, such as China and India.

The UK is also a member of the wider European Union. We, together with the 26 other members, are committed to the ambition to provide 20% of our energy from renewable sources by 2020. This is not just power, but also fuel and the energy for both heating and cooling.  This is a hugely ambitious target, and of course the UK will play our full part in achieving this target, but to reach that target we will probably need to deploy some of the future technology that is as yet undiscovered or has yet to be invented.  By setting this target we are signalling to the wider world that there is an increasing role for renewable technologies and an increasing need for global discovery and application of research in new energy technologies and innovative ideas in the EU’s fuel and energy mix.

I have had the chance to visit Masdar on a previous visits and my brother has taken a strong interest in this area as you have seen and heard from his message, and he is delighted to be the patron of Masdar.  In the UK, his Foundation for the Built Environment aims to improve the quality of people’s lives by teaching and practicing timeless and ecological ways of planning, designing and building. I am sure that the outcomes from this summit and the ideas being brokered by Masdar can be used to follow up his ideas at home.

It is very encouraging to see so much UK involvement in this Masdar initiative and, indeed, in this summit. I congratulate Sir Norman Foster and Partners, the UK based architectural company, who are designing the innovative Masdar City. I know too, that other British or British related companies such as BP, a leader in solar technology; Rolls Royce, a world leader in innovative and technologically advanced industrial solutions; as well as Shell, International Power and Standard Chartered Bank to name but a few, are either Masdar partners or supporters of this event, today.

We live in an increasingly global society and as citizens of the world, it is important that we all work together to ensure we can stabilise emissions in order that the health of our planet remains capable of sustaining our lifeform otherwise it will mean the extinction of the Human Species rather than the end of the world. It is also vital that we work in partnership – since it is in all our interests to ensure we get this right. Future Energy Technologies, particularly renewable energies, will play a key role in assuring our future and this Summit provides an excellent opportunity for all of us to plan future actions.

The agreement reached in Bali is a step forward.  It gives the world a roadmap for the next stage in the global low carbon revolution, including the need to speed up the transfer of low carbon technologies to developing countries. The agenda for the negotiations – while challenging – is now clear and the clock is already ticking as we look towards a global agreement in Copenhagen in 2009. 

I began with the word VITAL but this is really a vitally important global event; this is reflected in the vast array of distinguished guests, speakers and exhibitors from all around the world. Each will bring their expertise and skills to share at this summit – for the common good.  I hope your deliberations are successful, innovative and above all focused on the fact that now is the time to act and Abu Dhabi are leading the action. 

Thank you.