CGTN Europe interviewed Roberto Bocca, Head, Centre for Energy and Materials; Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum
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00:00Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord may not be such a setback.
00:05That's according to the World Economic Forum's expert on clean energy.
00:10Roberto Bocca told Juliet Man that the energy transition has a business dimension as well as an environmental one.
00:17He said he was encouraged by what he heard President Trump tell the forum in Davos earlier this week.
00:23If you look at energy transition, we shouldn't look at it only from a perspective of an environmental dimension,
00:30but really a business dimension, an opportunity also to bring prosperity and growing the economy.
00:36And so when you think of the business and economic case, it's very clear that there is a strong economic case for an energy transition,
00:44but sometimes the business case is weaker because some of the benefits go somewhere else.
00:48So that's where we have to bridge the two, the economic case, environmental case and so on, together with the business case.
00:55The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, used his platform here in Davos to scold the business community for backsliding on green commitments.
01:05How do you think the conversation has maybe moved the dial here at the World Economic Forum?
01:11I think the conversation when it comes to energy transition has been very mature.
01:14And I would say very encouraging from that perspective, because we are talking about energy transition through the three dimensions of the energy system.
01:21That is sustainability, security and affordability and equity, as opposite to only the green transition.
01:27So I also think that the energy transition can progress faster if we really take into account the three.
01:33So I personally think there are still a lot of things happening in the energy transition when you look at it broadly.
01:40And commitment on things, but action are still happening.
01:44And we have seen in some of our reports, we have seen, for example,
01:47that the hard to abate sector has diminished or reduced their emission in the last couple of years.
01:53It can't help that President Donald Trump, in the first few days of office, pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accords.
02:02We were all just thinking, oh, my goodness, now what?
02:07You talk about infrastructure more.
02:09You know, in the energy emergency mention he made, there was this element of infrastructure.
02:14Infrastructure is a fundamental point.
02:16We need more transmission light and grids if we want to deploy energy.
02:21So I think you can look at this in different way.
02:25You know, energy has always been part of geopolitical challenges and tension.
02:29I think we are just in another phase and the world will face it.