The University yesterday hosted a major lecture by Lord Browne of Madingley, the group chief executive of BP, in which he expressed concern about global energy supplies.
The University yesterday hosted a major lecture by Lord Browne of Madingley, the group chief executive of BP, in which he expressed concern about global energy supplies.
He also expressed his concern about global warming, the evidence for which he described as “compelling”. However Lord Browne said he believed mankind had the brains to one day create completely clean forms of energy.
Energy supplies were a concern due to the huge increase in demand from fast growing countries like China, and to the fact that four barrels in every five barrels of oil came, he said, from just three parts of the world (West Africa, Russia and the Gulf).
“The challenges are substantial, but they are not insurmountable,” he said. Lord Browne described himself as “cautiously optimistic”, expressing his faith in science and engineering to develop more energy efficient technologies, as well as in the flexibility of the free market. He was keen to stress that much scientific innovation was coming from China as well as the UK and the US.
His lecture ‘China and the world economy – prospects and challenges’ focused on the issues facing China at a time of its swift emergence onto world markets. It was held at the University’s Judge Business School, of which Lord Browne is also chair of the advisory board. It was to commemorate links between Cambridge and China initiated by the Needham Research Institute, a centre for the study of the history of East Asian science, technology and medicine, based in Cambridge.
The event was organised by the Cambridge Network and the 48 Group, a networking group formed in the early 1990s to maintain the spirit of the original 48 Group, which pioneered trading links between Britain and China. This was the 48 Group’s annual ‘Icebreaker Lecture’ held each year on the theme of China.
Lord Browne received praise for his global leadership from the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, who described him as “a Cambridge lad” as he went to school in Ely and studied at the University. Stephen Perry of the 48 Group called Lord Browne the “UK's leading entrepreneur with China… the one person who has repeatedly understood China and broken the ice”.
The event was sponsored by Invest Hong Kong, Rolls Royce and Mills and Reeve.
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