The BP Forum on Energy and Sustainability is an initiative of the BP Chair on Sustainable Development of the Comillas University, which has been held every year since 2004. The Forum reunites a small number of invited distinguished experts, both national and international. They participate in the discussions in the internal sessions, where there are short presentations followed by a long time for debate.

This year, the Forum took place on the 16th and the 17th of April in collaboration with Club Español de la Energía, Iberdrola and Banco Santander. The topic was the promotion of investment on low-carbon technologies.

The goal of the Forum was to analyze the perspective of regulators, academicals and private companies, on the most relevant policies in order to promote the different low-carbon technologies, as a component of the global strategy for GHG emissions reduction. Policies for the promotion of renewable energies, energy efficiency and conservation, clean coal and nuclear were examined. Also, the interaction between technology policies and global policies for GHG emissions reduction were analyzed and a panel on the role of the technology path in the future climate regime was held.

As mentioned, relevant representatives of Public Administrations, International Organizations, Universities and private companies participated at the Forum.

The Forum was held jointly with the Seminary of the European High Level Platform on Climate (ECP), where issues related to the negotiations for the GHG emissions reduction were discussed.

The conclusions of the Forum were presented in a public event on Friday 18th of April. A press conference followed the presentation in order to obtain a large dissemination of the results. A written summary of the Forum is being prepared and will be disseminated after the Forum.

The already mentioned public event featured presentations by Ignacio Pérez Arriaga, Director of the BP Chair and one of the most distinguished personalities at the Spanish level on energy issues, who presented the conclusions of the Forum and by Christiana Figueres, who evaluated the world's efforts in GHG emissions reductions and the perspectives for the next negotiations.

Christiana Figueres is one of the main international leaders on global climate change. Native of Costa Rica, she is an official negotiator at the United Nations Convention for Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol since 1995. She is also one of the main promoters of the active participation of Latin America in the Convention.

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Complete Program in pdf format

Social calendar in pdf format

Tuesday April 15th

20:30 - 22:00 Wellcome cocktail at AC Cuzco Hotel

INTERNAL SESSIONS

Wednesday April 16th

8:30 - 9:00. Registration and optional lunch at Hotel Palacio del Retiro

9:00 - 9:15. Welcome and participant introductions

9:15 - 9:45. Introduction
The issues to be addressed. Presentation of the agenda of the 2008 Forum.
Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga
Director, BP Chair on Sustainable Development, Comillas University

9:45 - 11:15. SESSION 1: PROMOTING INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLES
Chair: Domingo Jiménez Beltrán
Advisor, Spanish Sustainability Observatory, Spain
former Director of the EEA

First perspective.
Regulatory instruments to deliver the full potential of renewable energy sources efficiently (20 min. presentation)
Reinhard Haas
Energy Economics Group (EEG), Vienna University of Technology, Austria

Segunda perspectiva.
Universal energy access & rural electrification in developing countries. Promoting investment in clean energy technologies (20 min. presentation)
Ivan Nygaadr
UNEP RISØ Center, Denmark

Discussion

11:15 - 11:45. Coffee break

11:45 - 13:15. SESSION 2: PROMOTING INVESTMENT IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION
Chair: Andrew Warren
Director, Association for the Conservation of Energy, UK

First perspective.
The Italian experience. White certificates in electricity and gas. The regulatory viewpoint. (20 min. presentation)
Arturo Lorenzoni
IEFE, Bocconi University, Italy

Second perspective.
The French experience on policy instruments to promote energy efficiency. (20 min. presentation)
Dominique Finon
Centre International de Recherche sur l’ Environment et le Dévelopment (CIRED), CNRS-Paris, France

Discussion

13:15 - 14:15. Lunch

14:15 - 15:45. SESSION 3: PROMOTING INVESTMENT IN CLEAN COAL
Chair: David Newbery
University of Cambridge, UK

First perspective.
Carbon Capture and Storage –A strategy for early deployment in Europe. (20 min. presentation)
Simon Worthington
BP, UK

Second perspective.
Promoting Investment in Sustainable Coal (20 min. presentation)
Eloy Álvarez Pelegry
Unión Fenosa, Spain

Discussion

15:45 - 16:15. Coffee break

14:15 - 15:45. SESSION 4: SESSION 4: PROMOTING INVESTMENT IN NUCLEAR
Chair: Jacques de Jong
Clingendael Institute, The Netherlands

First perspective.
Investment in nuclear energy. (20 min. presentation)
William J Nuttall
Electricity Policy Research Group, University of Cambridge, UK

Second perspective.
Promoting investment in nuclear. (20 min. presentation)
Félix Alonso de las Fuentes
Iberdrola, Spaim

Discussion

20:30. Dinner at Teatro Real
Welcome address
Alfredo Barios
Chairman of BP Spain

Thursday April 17th

9:00 - 10:30. SESSION 5: INTERACTION BETWEEN CARBON POLICIES & TECHNOLOGY POLICIES
Chair: Christian Egenhofer
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Belgium

The perspective of the technology policies
Primes model impact assessment of the new policy objectives of the EU. (30 min. presentation)
Pantelis Capros
National Technical University of Athens, Greece

The perspective of the carbon policies
Interaction of technology and carbon market. (30 min. presentation)
Michael Grubb
UK Carbon Trust, Climate Strategies and Cambridge University, UK

Discussion (30 min.)

10:30 - 11:00. Coffee break

11:00 - 12:45. SESSION 6: PANEL ON THE ROLE OF THE TECHNOLOGY PATH IN THE FUTURE CLIMATE REGIME
Chair: Frank Convery
University College of Dublin, Ireland

Panelists
o Henry Derwent, IETA, UK
o Christiana Figueres, Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas, Costa Rica
o Bo Kjellen, Stockholm Environmental Institute, Sweden
o Teresa Ribera, Spanish Office for Climate Change, Ministry for the Environment, Spain
o Jiahua Pan, Research Centre for Sustainable Development, China

Discussion

12:45 - 13:00. Closure of the Forum
Final comments and wrap-up. Feedback from participants and plans for future Forums.
Emilio Estrada, BP
Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, Comillas University

13:00 - 14:00. Lunch

PUBLIC SESSION

Friday April 18th 12:30 - 14:15

Welcome
José Ramón Busto Sáiz
Rector, Comillas University

Presentatiom
Alfredo Barios
Chairman of BP Spain

Summary of the Internal Sessions of the 2008 BP International Forum on Sustainable Development
Promoting investment in low-carbon energy technologies
Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga
BP Chair on Sustainable Development, Comillas University

Assessing the world’s efforts in climate change
Christiana Figueres
Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas

Closure

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Besides the public act where public conclusions were exposed on Friday April 18th, the Forum was followed by a press conference in order to spread the results. The staff of the Chair has prepared a written summary reports of all the sessions. This documentation is available below:

Summary

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