Equinor Strategy Summit, Norway, 2019 – Executives of Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) were holed up in a room drinking hot chocolate after a day of skiing. Strategy staff members presented them with a list of unidentified companies (“Company 1,” “Company 2,” “Company 3”) along with historical and projected returns. One had 10% return ambitions; another roughly the same, etc. The executives were asked: Which companies do you think these are? Shell? Ørsted? Exxon? What happened next remains a mystery; but, according to Michael Wheeler, Equinor’s Principal of Corporate Strategy, who told the tale at a conference last year, the...
Demonstrators (from the days of crowds) raise the flag for fossil-free Germany. Raising the capital may prove lonelier.
Germany set forth the Energiewende, an aspirational and detailed strategy for quitting fossil fuel, before Covid-19 interfered. Germany drew high marks for its handling of the Covid crisis, and many of its leaders have insisted that recovering its economy means reinforcing the Energiewende's goals. However, the way forward looks rockier. Some politicians have questioned the strategy, calling it a luxury in a time of urgent unemployment. Others call it more essential than ever. In this story, our writer looks through the strategy's evolution to find lessons for how big ideas can survive and even grow more robust in the months...
Although China’s conventional auto industry has never matched that of nations like Germany, Japan or the United States, the nation has managed to outpace rivals in the production and adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Last year, the majority of all the world’s electric cars were sold in China. China’s electric vehicle purchases exceeded U.S. sales by 2015 and in 2018, over 1.1 million electric cars were sold in the country.
Green Aggregation Tech Enterprise, a risk-pooling initiative aimed at removing barriers to private investment in mini-grids, looks to prepare off-grid energy financing for a self-sustaining future in Africa that involves all types of funding, including commercial lending.
In May 2018, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) launched its online Technology Catalogue. If successful, this online marketplace for climate-friendly technologies can help close the climate finance gap.
