Far away from the political gridlock in Washington, D.C., a new energy consensus is brewing in the U.S., including in its reddest and most fossil fuel-reliant states. The emerging middle ground looks something like this: advocates of renewable energy acknowledge that fossil fuels will remain in the mix for decades to come to allow for an orderly and affordable transition to cleaner sources of energy. “The early days of the green transition being focused on green solutions and renewables—I very much believe that was energy transition 1.0,” Megan Starr, global head of impact at Carlyle, told me in an interview yesterday. But these companies must do two things: first, set long-term emissions targets in line with the international Paris climate accord. One beneficial outcome of that approach, Starr told me, is that it allows for a world where “energy security and transition are not in conflict.” Another is that it prevents entire industries and human capital from becoming obsolete.

Source: Forbes August 15, 2023 22:26 UTC