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  • energy
  1. Our focus
  2. Energy

Energy

How we think about, produce, consume and value energy is changing. The energy system is in transition, but will we go far enough and act fast enough? 

It’s hard to imagine the way we live and work without energy. For most people, it’s an essential part of everyday life we can often take for granted. 

But right now, our energy system continues to rely on the burning of fossil fuels, emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gases that are radically warming and destabilising our climate. We’re seeing more extreme weather events. Previously reliable rains are failing and sea levels are rising.

Beyond these impacts on our climate, millions of people around the world are denied affordable access to sufficient and sustainable energy. The global energy market is increasingly reeling from shocks, with huge societal and economic consequences. And as old sectors make way for new, not least the shift from coal, oil and gas to renewables, we run the risk of millions being left behind.

Simply put, we need to rapidly transition from an energy system that served us well in the last century to one that is fit for purpose in the 21st century. 

Promisingly, the world is responding - from the large-scale deployment of renewables like wind and solar and exciting innovations in battery storage and grid flexibility to the emergence of new business models that are fair to consumers and communities. 

All are reasons to hope, but are the changes we’re seeing today really enough?





We’re at a crossroads 

The energy system is at a pivotal crossroads. Its transition will either be deep, deliberate and urgent, tackling the root causes of the challenges we face today in producing and using energy.

Or it will fall short, with ‘solutions’ addressing specific problems in isolation, going neither far enough or fast enough, while simultaneously risking unintended consequences. We cannot retain a concerted focus on deploying renewable technologies while failing to tackle human rights abuses in supply chains; nor should we simply tweak regulatory, market and business models that regularly fail to deliver affordable, sustainable energy to many people around the world.

Which way we go is up to all of us. 



A vision for the future of energy

Forum’s vision is an energy system that is: radically decarbonised and resilient in a rapidly changing world; depends wholly on renewables and/or other carbon-neutral sources; actively engages those who produce, trade and consume energy in the sector’s development; and prioritises universal energy access by providing affordable, reliable, ecologically safe and human-rights respecting energy.



So where is Forum focusing?

By 2030, we want to have enabled a socially just and ecologically safe transition to a renewable energy system that works for people and the planet.

To do this, we are focused on three areas where we believe our skills, expertise and experience can make a real difference:

 

  • Working with people across a spectrum of markets and sectors (including developers, financiers and civil society) on more sustainable ways to produce and deploy renewable energy
  • Reimagining the purpose of a future-fit energy system. If the energy industry is to genuinely reflect and serve the needs and expectations of citizens and communities, what needs to change? 
  • Enabling energy actors to shape transition pathways. Where should key actors in and beyond the energy value chain focus their attention to ensure we secure the energy transition we need? Which technologies, models, behaviours will really drive the transformation of our energy system? 
The High Level Panel on BECCS Done Well: Conditions for Success

The High Level Panel on BECCS Done Well: Conditions for Success

Jonathon Porritt, Co-Founder of Forum for the Future, has been invited by Will Gardiner, the CEO of Drax Group, to convene a High Level Panel of independent experts to conduct an inquiry into Bioenergy, Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). Read more

Published: 26th September, 2022

Updated: 20th February, 2023

Author: Ulrike Stein

Responsible Energy Initiative

Responsible Energy Initiative

Harnessing the power of investors and buyers to ensure the scaling of the RE sector is ecologically safe, rights-respecting, and socially just. Read more

Published: 25th March, 2021

Updated: 22nd February, 2023

Author: Lucinda Thurmer

PowerPaired

PowerPaired

PowerPaired is a new, free online platform which provides a matchmaking service to bring together community energy groups and the owners of sites with potential for renewable energy generation. Read more

Published: 9th October, 2019

Updated: 22nd February, 2023

Author: Lucinda Thurmer

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Showing 10 of 3

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  • Creating an Enabling Context

    Creating an Enabling Context

    Change is possible if businesses step up to help influence, rethink and reshape our economic structures. This includes intellectual property rights, corporate tax regimes, limited liability legal entities, the global financial structure and more. Forum is collaborating with key stakeholders throughout the market ecosystem, such as financial institutions, regulators and civil society organisations, who influence the actions, goals and incentives of businesses.

  • Transforming Consumption

    Transforming Consumption

    The true cost of our purchases goes beyond the price tag and can have significant social and environmental consequences. Transforming Consumption aims to engage influencers, media, brands, consumers, and other actors in envisioning and exploring more sustainable ways of consuming and living that are aspirational, affordable, and actionable.

  • Rethinking Value Chains

    Rethinking Value Chains

    Right now, people all over the world are taking action to make value chains better for the communities and environment. By bringing people together around a shared challenge, Forum acts as a catalyst for change. We work with companies at all levels, from executives to frontline operations, to help them reassess and redefine their roles in creating positive change.

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    The Five Capitals - a framework for sustainability

    The Five Capitals Model provides a basis for understanding sustainability in terms of the economic concept of wealth creation or ‘capital’. Any organisation will use five types of capital to deliver its products or services. A sustainable organisation will maintain and where possible enhance these stocks of capital assets, rather than deplete or degrade them.

  • For a just and regenerative future

    For a just and regenerative future

    Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability non-profit running out of offices in the UK, US, India and Singapore.

  • Jobs

    We are a growing organisation and we are regularly on the look out for new recruits to join our teams around the world.

  • Growing our Future US

    Growing our Future US

    Working together to accelerate the transition to a just and regenerative agriculture system in the United States.

  • Sustainability and system change

    Sustainability and system change

    Climate change, malnutrition, inequality, poverty, ecological degradation. The global challenges we face are so urgent and tricky that we need a solution to match their scale and complexity. This is where system change comes in. We use systems thinking to understand the web of interrelations that create complex problems, anticipate unintended consequences, and identify how and where to take action to meet the SDG goals.

  • What is Net Positive?

    What is Net Positive?

    We reinvent strategies for a 1.5°C world. Our Net Positive approach helps business put back more into society and environment than it takes out. Unilever’s pioneering commitment to eliminate fossil fuels from its operations and directly support the generation of more renewable energy than they consume was driven behind the scenes by Forum.

  • Become a system change agent

    Become a system change agent

    Learn more about upcoming system change programmes and express your interest.

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    Trailblazing sustainability strategies

    Leadership in the 2020s is about your organisation’s ability to positively influence its operating context. We help you to understand the opportunities, and then how to unlock them.

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    Cotton 2040 aims to create a resilient cotton industry in an increasingly climate-disrupted world by bringing together stakeholders across the value chain.

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    A year ago this week, Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), one of the most ambitious strategies that a global company has ever embarked on. Pioneering a bold new business model, the company pledged to double in size at the same time as halving its environmental footprint.

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Behaviour Change Business Circular Economy Climate Change Economy Forum Blog India Innovation Jonathon Porritt Leadership Supply Chain Sustainable Business System Change System Innovation The Big Shift Waste

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Forum for the Future is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales.

Registered office: 3rd Floor, 22-26 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4QE, UK. Charity No. 1040519. Company No. 2959712. VAT Reg. No. GB 186 2230 12.

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