• CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Lord John Browne of Madingley

General Atlantic

Chairman, BeyondNetZero

Lord Browne is Chairman of BeyondNetZero, a climate growth equity fund established in partnership with General Atlantic. He served as Group Chief Executive of international energy company BP from 1995 to 2007, having joined the company in 1966 as a university apprentice. He led BP through a period of significant growth and transformation, including a merger with Amoco in 1998. His landmark speech at Stanford University in 1997 established BP as a global leader in the way it thought about and sought to address climate change. In 2007, Lord Browne joined Riverstone, where he was co-head of the world’s largest renewable energy private equity fund until 2015. Lord Browne is independent co-Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Council on Science and Technology, Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, Chiarman of the Francis Crick Institute, Chairman of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and a past President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Sessions With Lord John Browne of Madingley

Monday, 18 March

  • 12:30pm - 01:00pm (CST) / 18/mar/2024 05:30 pm - 18/mar/2024 06:00 pm

    COP28 Chronicles: Achievements, implications and a way forward
    Climate & Sustainability

    The “UAE Consensus” that emerged at COP28 included language around "Transitioning Away" from fossil fuels for the first time. What will be the realistic impact of this language on future climate policy? Progress was also made on methane abatement and pledges around accelerating renewable energy and nuclear development. However, progress on voluntary carbon markets and financing fell short of expectations. How has COP28 impacted the future trajectory of global climate policy and what challenges remain to be resolved?

  • 05:15pm - 05:55pm (CST) / 18/mar/2024 10:15 pm - 18/mar/2024 10:55 pm

    Decarbonization Pathways
    Carbon Management/Decarbonization

    Decarbonizing the global economy will require the transformation of existing energy systems and a large-scale development and deployment of low-carbon technologies. The path to a low-carbon economy is still to be determined and the energy mix of the future is being influenced by government and corporate decisions today. Renewable power, carbon removal, hydrogen and other technologies are competing for market share and different industries are looking to different solutions. Can everything be electrified with cheap renewable power? How can technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen become more competitive? What role will governments play in shaping decarbonization pathways?      

Tuesday, 19 March

  • 03:30pm - 04:00pm (CST) / 19/mar/2024 08:30 pm - 19/mar/2024 09:00 pm

    VCM Evolution: Overcoming challenges and upholding integrity
    Climate & Sustainability

    Voluntary carbon markets (VCM) will play a critical role in the path to net zero. However, challenges with transparency and integrity represent a major hurdle toward strong and functioning global voluntary carbon markets. Participants were looking to COP28 to provide guidance that would alleviate these lingering issues, but no progress was made at COP. What policy prescriptions and strategies would improve confidence and participation and make for stronger functioning carbon markets?