COP19 (18/11/13) – Karl Rose, Senior Director Policy and Scenarios, World Energy Council, says in his team’s scenarios they see coal as a mainstay of energy supply particularly in the developing world.

Countries like India have cheap coal and therefore will continue to use it.

He says the problem of climate change, although is a global issue, needs to be solved on a regional level. Solutions that work in Europe may not necessarily achieve success in places like Asia or Africa where their issue is not adapting things like renewables to the grid, but access to affordable energy.

Rose says clean coal technologies could help developing countries achieve energy security.

He says that forecasts are difficult to make because the future is so uncertain, for example, in 2007 researchers did not envisage it would still be difficult for renewables to get financing.

What we need now says Rose is a breakthrough in energy storage which would put the fossil fuel industry out of business within two decades.

In terms of energy efficiency he says the main thing holding back its progress is the consumer. For them comfort is more important than energy efficiency. He suggests consumers, energy providers and regulators need to work together to make the energy efficiency target achievable.