Plan now for peak oil, transport chiefs say

The top executives of some of UK’s largest transport firms say the current recession is no excuse to not address the issues of peak oil and climate change.

Speaking with Martin Wright in Green Futures, Forum for the Future’s sustainability magazine, transport leaders Brian Souter, Moir Lockhead, Will Whitehorn and Richard Brown say action now is essential for business survival.

“The Oil Crunch,” a report published late last year by the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, warned that the production of cheap and easy petroleum is likely to peak by 2013. That would cause oil prices to skyrocket and send global markets into turmoil.

The report urged the Government to develop a crash programme to invest in renewable energy development and energy efficiency measures.

“Peak oil is a real threat,” said Brian Souter of the transport operator Stagecoach. “But most CEOs don’t really see the relevance of it … If anything, they see it as tomorrow’s problem.”

However, Souter added, peak oil also offers a business opportunity for those who can develop new technologies that address the dual threats of peak oil and climate change.

Peak oil, adds Virgin Group’s Will Whitehorn, is “going to happen, and we have to plan for it.”

“This isn’t about altruism, because frankly that approach gets you nowhere,” he said. “This is about long-term investment in the business opportunities of the future. It’s about industrial survival.”

To read the complete interview with all the transport chiefs, see the latest issue of Green Futures.