‘Partnerships are needed now to unlock the industry’s potential’

Experts discuss how to mobilise finance and drive innovation at ADIPEC

Day two of ADIPEC 2023 emphasised the importance of mobilising capital and partnerships while balancing competing priorities in the pursuit of net-zero ambitions.
Sessions focused on the importance of forging cross industry partnerships to mobilise finance and drive innovation; uniting people, policy, technology & capital in the pursuit of net-zero.
Second day featured a ministerial panel on the road to COP28, where representatives from the Global South called for a change in the narrative around climate finance. “It is often seen as aid, or help. This needs to be changed, it needs to be seen as partnership”.

The second day of ADIPEC - the world’s largest energy exhibition and conference - focused on the importance of uniting industries, through people, policy, technology, and capital, to ensure a just and efficient energy transition.

Addressing the importance of building this shared ecosystem, Lucian Boldea, President and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials & Technologies said: "When you look at the energy transition and decarbonisation, there haven’t been any breakthroughs in the past year. The tools, the technology, and the willpower are there. Looking ahead, it’s partnerships that are needed now to unlock the industry’s potential."

ADIPEC 2023 opened in Abu Dhabi on Monday under the theme ‘Decarbonising. Faster. Together.’ Bringing together stakeholders from across business, finance, technology, government, academia, and wider society, the second day of ADIPEC demonstrated the importance of rallying diverse voices and industries to ensure an inclusive and effective decarbonisation of the global energy system.

This complex balance between society, industry and government was a theme of the ministerial panel, The road to COP28: climate, sustainability and an equitable transition. In this panel, ministers operating at the frontline of policy decisions around climate shared their views on the opportunities and compromises the energy transition presents.

Discussions focused on the importance of enabling commercially viable climate solutions and accelerating investment. Osama Mobarez, Secretary General, East Mediterranean Gas Forum emphasised the need to align security and energy ahead of the event in November: “It is important we strike a balance between energy security and the energy transition. People see energy security as short term, and the energy transition as long term. I think both should be long term objectives.”

The inaugural Hydrogen Strategic Conference brought together energy leaders from across the world to chart a course for the commercial-viability and mainstream use of hydrogen. With a crucial role to play in enabling a low-carbon future, achieving scale for hydrogen solutions is essential, as highlighted by Astrid Poupart-Lafarge, Global Segment President Energies and Chemicals, Schneider Electric: “This industry is an old and new industry that needs to reinvent itself. It is old because we re-invented a decades old process...but we need to mature into a new industry at an extremely fast pace".

Accelerating commercialisation was a key point of discussion during a panel on the role of sustainable fuels in driving decarbonisation. Scale was identified as a key challenge, Phil Caldwell, CEO of Ceres Power, said: "The technology has come a long way - it still needs to be scaled and the doubts that exist now are about the pace of scale. I think that is where the industries in this room can help. The faster we adopt these technologies the quicker we can scale”.

The role of finance in mobilising the energy transition and the challenges associated with it was summarised by Niall Hannigan, Chief Financial Officer of Masdar, during the panel on fast tracking finance and prioritising investments for the energy transition: “Investors need scale. They want to see a clear policy framework within a geography, underpinned by a stable, transparent regulatory regime. Governments won’t attract investors alone – we need regulators, developers, development banks and commercial banks in the room together to create a programme. That collaborative conversation is essential.”

ADIPEC affirmed its position as an international platform to forge the partnerships necessary to drive forward a just and effective energy transition. By bringing together leaders in energy, finance and policy, ADIPEC provides the only globally recognised forum for competing interests to unite in prioritise decarbonisation, reduce emissions and foster economic growth.