Thought Leadership: Anna Bazley
In her latest post for us, Head of Government & Regulatory Affairs, Anna Bazley, discusses Ed Miliband’s latest speech on how to resolve the energy trilemma.
Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, said last week, in a speech to the Energy UK conference, that ‘back in 2008, debates were shaped by the energy trilemma – the trade-offs between affordability, security and sustainability…today is shaped by the reality that, for Britain, this old paradigm has disintegrated.’ He went on to suggest that the trilemma has been replaced by a clean energy imperative.
I’m inclined to agree with the Secretary of State, and the Climate Change Committee that he cited, that: ‘British-based renewable energy is the cheapest and fastest way to reduce vulnerability to volatile global fossil fuel markets’. However, despite the potential for resolving the energy security and affordability aspects, as well as the decarbonisation piece we all associate with renewables, the reality is that the age of the trilemma is not yet over. Not for Britons who are still experiencing significantly higher energy bills, nor for Europeans who are all too aware of the threats posed to ongoing security by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
There are a variety of reasons for this. From grid capacity issues, and system stability needs, to the electrification of other systems such as heat, (which is progressing slower than we might have hoped), too many households have been left bound to gas as well as electricity. But you can’t tell people things are true, that they know to be untrue, and expect them to believe you. The trilemma will not be resolved through force of will; but rather through the application of technology and good policy to resolve the underlying challenges of scaling renewable energy, while allowing consumers to benefit from its falling cost.
As I outlined during the live Wicked Problems podcast recording at Labour Party conference, Miliband’s speech last week, represents a failure of climate storytelling and communications. The use of the word ‘imperative’ especially, frames clean energy as something that must be achieved at any cost. It is uncomfortably close to imposition; an unhelpful allusion in a discussion that includes strong local opposition to clean energy infrastructure.
Speaking to the home crowd of Labour Conference yesterday, Miliband was much more engaging, persuasive and inspiring. The repeated motif of ‘economic justice, social justice, climate justice’ and the promise to ‘use the skills of our North Sea workforce’, signalled Labour’s commitment to a just transition, although the GB Energy reference again provided no further details about how this institution would operate and help to resolve the trilemma.
Yesterday’s speech was significantly stronger on climate storytelling, in part because it looked forward to the future possibilities of a Labour government, as opposed to seeming grounded in the past. The challenge now is ensuring the future lives up to the hype.
