The Oxford Sustainable Finance Group are hosting a talk by Guy Newey, CEO of the Energy Systems Catapult, on Wednesday 4 February at the Oxford Martin School, followed by a reception.

Guy’s talk is titled ‘How Government decisions really get made and what it means for Net Zero.’ The politics of climate action are increasingly challenging, even as the costs of low-carbon technologies continue to fall. What lessons can we draw from major climate and energy decisions over the past 15 years, and what might they imply for the years ahead? Drawing on his time in Westminster, Guy will reflect on how Government decisions are made in practice and share his perspective on the future of energy.

Guy was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Energy Systems Catapult, the innovation business, in June 2022. Guy joined ESC in 2018 as Director of Strategy after working as an energy and political adviser to two UK Government Secretaries of State; Greg Clark and Amber Rudd. In Government, he was involved in many key decisions, including closing the UK’s coal-fired power stations, greater independence for the electricity system operator, and as an architect of the Clean Growth Strategy.

Before joining Government, he was Head of Policy at the challenger energy supplier, OVO Energy and Head of Environment and Energy at the influential think tank, Policy Exchange. He was previously a journalist, including three years as a foreign correspondent in Hong Kong for the international newswire, AFP. He is a non-executive director with UK100, a charity campaigning for greater environmental action by local authorities.

If you would like to attend, please register here. Please also feel free to share details of the talk with colleagues and people in your network.