Bim Afolami MP, Member of Parliament for Hitchin & Harpenden, warned that the UK Government will have to be strategic in its solutions to the UK’s Energy Challenges as he appeared on a panel at JP Morgan’s Global Energy Conference in London.
The Conference brought together figures from the worlds of finance, politics, and the renewable energy industry to talk about the energy issues of the day against a backdown of global energy pressures following the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Mr Afolami appeared alongside Professor Helen Thompson of Cambridge University, led by Christyan Malek, JP Morgan’s Global Head of Energy Strategy, to discuss the UK's energy challenges and the political route to Net Zero.
Mr Afolami, who serves on Parliament’s influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee and Chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Renewable and Sustainable Energy, argued that co-operation between government and industry must be much closer. He also made the point that the UK must cooperate with its allies on critical minerals and the net zero supply chain, working to cut out volatile state actors from our energy supply chain.
Bim Afolami MP said,
“Energy security is now a vital and pressing issue for constituents in Hitchin & Harpenden and across the world. Government needs to take serious action with industry to increase investment in and the delivery of clean, homegrown energy to both improve energy security and deliver our net zero agenda.
“Britain can be a world leader in developing the new technologies that we need globally to achieve net zero and we should be working with our allies to secure supply chains and long-term energy security. With COP27 ongoing, this is a crucial moment for energy security and net zero and I will continue to engage with Ministerial colleagues, industry and decision-makers from our friends and allies internationally on this.”
