<p>The fast-growing online finance community ‘Finimize’ recently brought together a panel of industry insiders to discuss the future of renewable energy in a world still powered predominantly by oil and gas. While the event was aimed primarily at investors, it provided an interesting insight into the feasibility of the energy transition. <br></p><p>Panellists included Forbes Mitchell, a member of Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV) Europe, Rebecca Williams, a Policy Manager at the renewable energy trade association RenewableUK, and Bas Sudmeijer, a partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group. While the latter two share a positive outlook on the ability of renewables to undercut and disrupt the market for traditionally-sourced energy, Forbes Mitchell believes that industry giants such as Saudi Aramco, will remain profitable investments for the foreseeable future.</p><h2>Investing in renewable energy</h2><p>The panellists laid out the current themes influencing energy markets - increases in global demand for energy, growing awareness of the risks associated with warming climates, carbon pricing, and the rapid growth and resulting drop in prices of commercial-scale renewable energy generation – all of which represent underlying risks to the oil and gas industry that are now being priced into its valuation. <br></p><p>Next, barriers to a successful transition to renewable energy were discussed – the huge financial cost of sunk assets, the </p>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
A Waste of Energy? The Big Shift to Renewables.
