International Energy Week kicks off in London (25-27 February 2025). This event echoes the global urgency to move beyond hydrocarbons and build a more reliable, diversified renewable energy future.
While it may not command the same media attention as the Conference of the Parties (COP), it remains a crucial gathering of industry leaders, scientists, policymakers, and government officials.
Rather than merely funneling funds into the energy transition or crafting ambitious legislation, the event seeks to redefine practical pathways forward. Many countries have discovered that their decarbonisation goals, once set in motion, proved economically unfeasible, requiring a shift in strategy.
Moving Beyond Ambition
Over three days, experts will dissect the complex realities hindering the adoption of renewable energy. According to the event programme, discussions will revolve around workforce readiness, resilience, LNG, hydrogen, and emerging clean molecular fuels.
While technological and logistical limitations slow the transition, political factors often pose even greater obstacles. The panelists are also set to discuss the more intricate dynamics of how business leaders in the industry may deal with pressures and incentives that tend to drive them away from investments in green energy.
Observers argue that lobbying efforts—whether to maintain hydrocarbon dominance or to push renewables prematurely—complicate the transition.
Many attendees of the International Energy Week have, at various points, been accused of lobbying against renewables. Yet, their participation reveals an unavoidable reality: the transition must involve those with the most at stake. Despite resistance, the momentum towards renewables continues to grow.
Moreover, energy transitions must be tailored to each country’s unique circumstances. A one-size-fits-all approach is unrealistic. Brazil, for instance, must balance economic growth with preserving the Amazon, while Norway builds upon its existing hydroelectric infrastructure.
The Global South: Between Growth and Green Policies
For developing economies in the Global South, decarbonisation presents a significant challenge. Many are still undergoing industrialisation, where energy consumption directly correlates with improving quality of life. Abruptly cutting hydrocarbons could trigger financial collapse, unemployment, and political instability.
Take India as an example: it imports over 80% of its oil, fuelling a $3.5 trillion economy. The country’s sheer size and challenging terrain make renewable energy infrastructure costly and complex. Yet, it has committed to ambitious greening targets for 2030, 2050, and 2070.
Timing will be of the essence. If policies are adopted and implemented too rapidly, they risk triggering public backlashes, such as that which occurred in France and Germany, although in the case of Germany, geopolitical pressures had played a key role. It is a dilemma though, since if the decarbonisation drives are not stringent or sustained enough, half-hearted efforts will render the energy transition ineffective.
How developing economies can navigate the energy transition will be the focus on the final day of the conference as experts discuss the insights that they have gathered from Asia, the MENA region, and Latin America.
MENA’s Role in the Energy Transition
Some of the most proactive decarbonisation efforts are emerging from the MENA region, particularly Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Oman. These nations possess the financial resources and political clout to drive large-scale renewable projects, yet they face significant challenges in shifting away from hydrocarbon-based economies.
As major energy suppliers to the world, their transition carries global ramifications. Their efforts, dating back to the early 2010s, highlight a gradual but determined shift towards renewables. The UAE and Saudi Arabia lead the way, leveraging their wealth to fund green initiatives. GCC states have also launched economic diversification programmes to reduce dependence on oil revenue—a model that could be instructive for other nations.
However, financial resources alone do not guarantee success. Each country must tackle its own unique dependency on hydrocarbons, whether through technological innovation, policy reforms, or economic restructuring.
Broader MENA perspectives, such as those of Egypt and Lebanon—where geopolitical turmoil compounds the energy transition challenge—will also be discussed at the event, particularly in the context of Ukraine and natural gas supply chains.
Gradual, Realistic, and Balanced
The global shift away from hydrocarbons is a formidable task. It is easy to envision a world free of oil, but much harder to outline a practical, economically viable alternative. Multi-billion-dollar industries rely on hydrocarbons, from manufacturing to logistics.
The challenge lies not just in adopting renewables but in ensuring the economic system can sustain itself through the transition. The recent slowdown in the electric vehicle push serves as a reality check: the energy transition cannot be rushed.
It must be gradual, incorporating a balanced mix of systems and sources. All the renewable energy in the world will be meaningless without a robust economic framework to sustain it. International Energy Week will serve as a critical platform for these discussions, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities in crafting a future beyond hydrocarbons.
By: Omar Ahmed