Innovation, cooperation keys in striking balance between rising energy demand and reducing carbon footprint
Policies, innovations and collaborations are keys for maintaining future growth and preserving the planet, speakers at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) CEO Summit said on Friday.
During the session "Powering Future Growth and Preserving the Planet", Exxon Mobil low carbon solutions president of Asia Pacific, Irtiza H Sayyed, said enabling policies, innovations and cross-border collaborations are needed to help spur carbon capture and sequestration across the Asia Pacific.
Given the disparity in economic development across the Asia-Pacific, he said flexible agreements are needed to support the supply chain between advanced economies with high emissions of carbon dioxide and developing economies with carbon dioxide storage capacity.
"While advanced economies are able to absorb costs, emerging markets face greater challenges given the impact on economic growth," he told delegates at Bangkok’s Athenee Hotel.
"We need to strike a balance between growing energy demand and the need to lower carbon footprint.”
Meanwhile, B.Grimm Power president Harald Link said collaboration and partnership are critical to achieve meaningful change in addressing the climate crisis.
"Policy support is also needed to encourage the transition to clean energy," he said. “We want to reduce greenhouse gas, let’s cooperate.”
PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) executive vice president of domestic asset group Nirandorn Rojanasomsith said PTTEP would begin to capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions in 2025 or 2026, starting with reservoirs in the Gulf of Thailand.
He said fossil fuels are expected to remain the most reliable source of energy for the next 20 years, but would gradually shift as renewable technologies evolve.
“Fossil fuel and natural gas will be with us for another 20 years, in my opinion, because those are the most reliable energy sources," he said, "But sooner or later, fossil fuel will dry out.”
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