Carbon challenge drives former oil man

摘要

James Smith, the former chairman of Shell UK, has been appointed chairman of the Carbon Trust. I wanted to interview him because I have heard him speak eloquently and coherently in the past about working at the interface between green aspirations and commercial reality. This is the area where all of us who are passionate about bringing sustainability into the mainstream need to be positioned to be heard and to make progress. Smith brings insights from a career in big oil to apply to the Carbon Trust's challenge of the transition to a low-carbon economy. He explains the dilemma of cutting carbon dioxide emissions in parallel with growing the economy. A strong thread running through the interview is Smith's upbeat assessment that business and market forces can solve the dilemma, provided that government offers strong support for the carbon market, implements energy efficiency regulation and provides launch aid for the key technologies.