The sharp rise in energy prices on the back of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine has accelerated the push to achieve net-zero goals and invest in oil and transition fuels to ensure global energy security.
Although it is an uphill task and governments and private companies from across sectors need to rally around the cause, the world has the resources and the technology and is moving in the right direction, panellists told Bloomberg’s UAE Capital Markets Forum on Thursday.
“We have the tech, we have the capital and we have the skills, we just need to get going,” said Marco Alvera, chief executive of Italian energy infrastructure company Snam.
“The $100 [per barrel] oil and $130 gas is really putting the foot flat down on the accelerator to get to net zero faster.”
However, bottlenecks in the drive to achieve carbon neutrality come from people, materials and the evolution of technology, he said.
The panel also included Tony Douglas, group chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group, Rola Abu Manneh, chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank UAE, and Klaus Froehlich, chief investment officer at Adnoc Group.