Comment: COP28 is our chance to empower consumers to create a fair energy future

November 27 - The global energy system is unfair on consumers. Most of us are at the mercy of volatile international fossil fuel markets. We’re forced to rely on polluting energy that’s distributed through inadequate grids. And it’s expensive. Many people around the world are having to choose between eating or powering their homes.

At the same time, the fossil fuel giants are enjoying a boom. Last year, the five largest Western oil and gas companies made a combined profit of $200 billion. The disparity is unconscionable.

The U.N. climate summit, COP28, in Dubai is the moment to push for a radical transformation of the global energy system. We need to disrupt the traditional “command and control” model of energy production, which makes us dependent on centralised fossil-fuelled power plants. In its place, we need a new consumer-focused model, which enables ordinary people to stop being mere passive energy recipients and become generators, storers and users of renewable energy at home.

Comment originally published in the Reuters accessible below.