THE WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK : CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends and colleagues, it is an honour and a pleasure for me to introduce this event dedicated to the world energy outlook. For a Group like EDF, decisions taken today will have a very long range impact, well into the century (2060-2100). Thinking about the future is therefore a truly useful exercise in the decision-making process. We are at a crossroads. It has been somewhat perplexing to see how widely future scenarios have tended to diverge. So, which path should be taken if all seem equally viable? Thankfully, it seems to me that we are in fact moving towards greater convergence on core issues. I ’m going to attempt to draw out the main points as to why this may be the case. I will first discuss the various scenarios, then the time, technological and political dimensions of the energy outlook.