The past couple of days at the All Energy conference in Glasgow came with plenty of positivity and common purpose but, within an industry bubble, it somehow managed to avoid the massive stomping elephant in the room.
And before you tell me to be more positive, let me put this week into context: just a week ago we witnessed the most seismic, single political shift in the UK in living memory.
On 7th May, Reform UK secured 17 seats in the Scottish Parliament (+17) to become the equal second largest party at Holyrood; they won 34 seats in the Welsh Senedd (+34), making them the official opposition, and won 1,453 councillor positions (+1451) in the English local elections. This a party with a clear agenda to march back from net zero commitments and discredit renewables in any way they can.
But over the two days, whilst I could only attend a fraction of the total conference sessions, presentations and demonstrations, I never once heard direct reference to Reform or the elections.
The closest we came was in opening keynotes, with Energy Minister Michael Shanks referencing “uncertain times” and attacking “misinformation”, and Chair of Scottish Renewables, Susie Lind, referencing the “turbulent political world”. But surely we now have the loudest possible wake up call, a blaring klaxon to rouse us from any introversion we might have been nurturing, to get out there and fight the fight loudly and proudly.
The UK Government’s Head of Clean Power Mission Control, Chris Stark CBE , to the point as ever, called for us to collectively be “less preachy about climate, less technical, more positive”. Politicians and civic leaders all recognised that UK households must now feel the benefits, we have to deliver jobs.
And there is so much for us to be positive about, so many companies in our sector doing amazing things, creating jobs, developing skills and delivering incredible, exciting, earth-shattering innovation.
(A special shout out to all of the start-ups taking part in Net Zero Technology Centre TechX pitch session, but especially HexSeed Technology – really exciting innovation with incredible potential – you had my vote!).
Let’s not sleepwalk through the next three years believing that last week was an electoral anomaly. It wasn’t. There is a battle ahead if we are to secure not just the clean energy transition but grab the economic opportunity that it presents. That doesn’t mean negativity, that doesn’t make it a battle with oil and gas. It means we have to let people see just why they should believe in renewables, why they can create a better future for millions of people feeling left behind and looking for something better.
There’s an old joke: How do you know if someone’s a vegan? They’ll tell you. Well, there’s nothing wrong with being passionate about what you believe in. So let’s grab all of the positivity that was in Glasgow, the sense of pending momentum, and shout about it. Let’s all of us get out there and provide the positive evidence to counter misinformation – the jobs, the skills and training, the investment and the aspiration – not just within our own bubble but to the whole country.
That’s the mission of Regard Communications.