With the Energy Institute’s (EI) International Energy Week (IEW) event in London drawing near, Rigzone asked the organization if it was worried about protests at the IEW forum and if it was implementing any extraordinary security measures at this year’s event.
“We absolutely respect the right to peaceful protest,” an EI spokesperson told Rigzone.
“As with previous years, sensible security measures are in place to ensure the safety of attendees and smooth running of the event,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also told Rigzone that EI is ensuring environmental campaigners’ voices are heard inside the conference, “with speakers from Just Stop Oil, WWF, Aldersgate Group and others, alongside senior figures from the UN, IPCC, CEOs from conventional and clean energy companies, and politicians from both main UK parties - all focused on our theme, ‘the search for the energy transition’”.
The EI’s IEW event is scheduled to place from February 27 to 29 at the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel. The 2024 IEW includes speakers from Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, Petronas, and Offshore Energies UK (OEUK).
“Convened by the Energy Institute’s sector experts and informed by the EI Statistical Review of World Energy, International Energy Week 2024 will be the biggest global energy meeting following the first UN Global Stocktake and other outcomes from COP28 in Dubai,” the IEW website states.
“It will focus on identifying and overcoming the barriers standing in the way of accelerating the global energy transition – from policy and regulation to finance and governance, from energy efficiency and shifting demand to capability, people and skills,” it adds.
“Building on the renowned legacy of IP Week, the conference brings together senior figures from across the energy industry, investors, government, academia, and NGOs. It’s where the latest strategic thinking, intelligence, and opportunities are shared, and collaboration happens,” it continues.
The EI spokesperson told Rigzone that the event typically attracts upwards of 1,000 guests.
A statement posted on Extinction Rebellion UK’s website on October 17, 2023, revealed that hundreds of climate activists were blockading the Energy Intelligence Forum conference, which was taking place at the InterContinental Park Lane hotel in London that day.
“Protestors have glued themselves to the road outside the hotel and to its revolving door,” the statement noted, adding that Extinction Rebellion joined forces with a host of other campaign groups “to support Fossil Free London in closing down the Energy Intelligence Forum conference, known as the ‘Oscars of Oil’”.
“The fossil fuel era is over and governments and corporations need to move to a rapid transition to clean energy and green jobs for future generations,” one of the protestors at the site was quoted as saying in that Extinction Rebellion statement.
When asked to comment on the Extinction Rebellion statement, organizers of the Energy Intelligence Forum told Rigzone back in October last year that they recognized the protests at the summit and said they believe this action “reaffirms the need for constructive dialogue on climate change and the low-carbon transition”.
“The Energy Intelligence Forum is a platform for discussing the biggest issues in energy, including the low-carbon transition,” the organizers of the event told Rigzone at the time.
EI describes itself as the chartered professional membership body for people who work across the world of energy. Its purpose is creating a better energy future for its members and society by accelerating a just global energy transition to net zero, the organization notes on its website. EI was set up in 2003 as a result of a merger between the Institute of Petroleum (IP) and the Institute of Energy (InstE).
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