Financial Times Guide: The Energy Transition -- Part 2/6: Citizens and consumers

A Financial Times reader survey found most see climate change as important, but are conservative on how fast the global energy mix can shift.

The Financial Times recently published a survey of 565 readers, mostly from the UK (40%), the United States and Europe (almost 25% each), on their views about the world’s energy predicament in the light of climate change.

Questions ranged from the general role of climate policy in transforming the global energy system and hence geopolitics, to specific policy tools.

First, the good news:  climate change is taken to be one of the major drivers of world affairs by about 90% of respondents, while almost all of them think that no solution can be achieved without political collective action at the collective level.

Other results, however, show that even the FT’s educated and informed readership are missing the huge potential of clean energy. 
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To date, 140 companies have made the commitment to go 100% renewable under the “RE100” initiative.  These companies are now creating demand of up to 170 TWh of renewable electricity annually – more than Poland or Malaysia.

Investors are also a significant driver in accelerating the uptake of renewable energy and of less polluting alternatives:  private sources provide the bulk of renewable energy investment globally – over 90% in 2016 and what is more, investors representing $26 trillion in assets under management, are exerting pressure on the world’s largest emitters to curb emissions via the “Climate Action 100+” platform for the first time in a very public way.

Financial Times Guide:  The Energy Transition -- Part 2/6:  Citizens and consumers