The Challenge of Our Time

The EI premiered a specially produced documentary at COP26 in Glasgow, chronicling a 500-mile road trip across Scotland’s future energy landscape by a team of young Scottish energy professionals passionate about playing a practical role in combatting climate change.

Transported by ferry, train and Tesla, the group visited some of the most innovative, essential and dramatic energy projects, from biomass in Shetland and tidal in Orkney, to carbon capture and storage off Aberdeen and wind energy at Whitelee. It was a journey of discovery. Through what they saw and heard interviewing fellow young professionals and senior leaders on site, they arrived in Glasgow with findings they believed can help the UK and global community on the urgent race to net zero.

The project is part of the EI’s Generation 2050 initiative and its partners, with special thanks to Worley and all of the companies visited in the film.

Generation 2050 on video

Big or small - what do different energy companies bring to Net Zero, February 2022

'The Challenge of Our Time' Premiere & Panel Discussion, November 2021

Does foreign energy investment help or hinder SDGs in the Global South?, October 2021

View all

Generation 2050 Manifesto

Climate change is an intergenerational emergency that requires urgent action. It affects us at local, national and global levels as we consider the challenge of adapting our habits as a world community. This is compounded by the need to meet growing global energy demand, particularly for many millions still living without adequate access to energy.

We are Generation 2050. Young professionals embarking on their careers in energy today, and we will be the industry’s leaders in 2050. We will inherit a sector that will be judged on how it has responded, so it’s crucial that our knowledge is utilised, and our concerns are heard.

Through this Manifesto, we are reverse mentoring our political and industrial leaders; giving a collective voice to tomorrow’s energy leaders and providing fresh views on the skills we will need to meet global net zero targets.

As we approach critical decisions in the lead up to COP26 and for the recovery from the global pandemic, there hasn’t been a more important time for the voices of Generation 2050 to be heard.

Sinead Obeng

Sinead Obeng

Sinead Obeng AMEI, Chair, Energy Institute Young Professionals Council

Sinead Obeng AMEI, Chair, Energy Institute Young Professionals Council

Industry and political leaders respond to the Manifesto

Bernard Looney FEI
Ben van Beurden
Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP
Jim House
Emma Pinchbeck
John Pettigrew FEI
Duncan Clark
Simone Rossi
Hayaatun Sillem CBE
Keith Anderson HonFEI
Will Gardiner
Michael Lewis
Joan MacNaughton CB HonFEI
Dr Joanne Wade OBE FEI
Prof Jim Skea CBE FEI
Dr Ibilola Amao FEI

Join the debate on social media

Please help us amplify the voice of Generation 2050. Share the link to the manifesto and your own comments on social media – whether that’s Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook. Tag the Energy Institute @energyinstitute and use #Generation2050.

EI Podcast takeover

Energy in Conversation is a plain-speaking, thought-provoking look into our energy future, through the eyes of the people leading the way. Season 2 explores the views and hopes of young energy professionals from around the world, as part of the EI's Generation 2050 initiative. From the future of the electricity grid, to low-carbon finance, to the development of new energy technologies like carbon capture and storage, our guests chat about the biggest changes and challenges facing the sector.

Generation 2050 in the news

With thanks to our supporting partners:

IBM logoRepsol SinopecOrstedNeptune EnergyVattenfallEYHarbour EnergyBPWorley

With thanks to our supporting networks:

YEP Logo BLUEUADTA logoSEDET logoRAEngEnergy JoblinePOWERful WomenNuclear Institute Young Generation Network

and the Energy Institute's growing Young Professionals Networks in the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Middle East, Malaysia, Nigeria and across the UK

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