Letter from London: Just do the transition

Deployment of clean energy technology is gathering pace, but the transition is way behind where it needs to be

“The oil and gas sector is not part of the solution. The oil and gas sector is slowing down the transition.” That was one of several harsh messages delivered to the industry by Grahame Buss, spokesman for campaign group Just Stop Oil, at the recent International Energy Week (IE Week) conference. Buss, a former principal scientist at European oil major Shell, went on to call the recent COP28 climate talks in Dubai “another failure”. “We have 2,500 oil executives there. Why do they think they are there? To slow down the transition,” he said. Buss shared the podium with David Whitehouse, CEO of North Sea industry group Offshore Energies UK, who responded with a passionate defence of his industr