00:00It's not just governments who are in Brazil, businesses make up a major part of the discussions at COP30.
00:11Among them is one of the UK's leading energy firms, which has been at the forefront of incentivising customers to switch to renewable energy.
00:19So Isa North Bond is CEO of Energy Generation Act, Octopus. She's been speaking to Juliet Mann.
00:26I think this time there has to be a focus on national plans specifically, because having a look, I think at the moment only 61 countries have submitted plans to lower emissions,
00:39which is only going to cover a third of what we need by 2035.
00:43So it's really important, I think, that people now knuckle down and start not only reiterating targets,
00:49but coming up with the solutions that are going to create what we need to lower emissions.
00:53And I think none more so than now that we do that, and specifically for those countries that are going to be experiencing climate change,
01:01and are experiencing climate change. We could see that just last week.
01:04But what would you like to see happening in the UK in particular to accelerate the renewable energy timeline?
01:11There are big challenges to story, aren't there, and to consider.
01:15Yeah, absolutely. I think in the UK, net zero is going to remain popular as long as we can keep costs down,
01:22and I think that's super important. So making sure that if we're using energy, clean energy,
01:28we're doing it in a way that makes the most of its flexibility.
01:32So that ability to store an abundance of those electrons in car batteries as they're rolled out,
01:37building out storage, but really designing those propositions that are going to resonate with consumers.
01:44We have one tariff within Octopus called Intelligent Octopus, for example,
01:50whereby consumers can plug in their cars, tell us when they want it charging and by how much,
01:55and we'll make sure that that happens. But then we also can work with the national grid.
01:59So when energy is at its deficit, because maybe the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining,
02:04we have this ability to jump on and help balance the grid with the power from those batteries.
02:08And in fact, I think at last count, we've got almost two gigawatts,
02:11which is the equivalent of two nuclear power stations that can jump on and balance the grid at any given time,
02:17which was built in under two years, so much quicker than building nuclear power or other generation.
02:23So very, very important that we look to those types of things and start to make grids flexible
02:30so that we can get more net zero electrons onto the grid and really meet those targets that we're setting.
02:35But you said that it will be popular as long as we can keep the cost down.
02:38So what are you doing at Octopus Energy to help educate the public, the consumers?
02:45If we have a turbine that's close to you in your village or town,
02:49if you sign up to a tariff and you're willing to follow a price signal that we send you on your mobile phone
02:54or to your computer and say it's going to be really windy today,
02:57consumers can get as much as 50% off their energy bill for doing that.
03:00It's a tariff called Fan Club.
03:02So what we then do is almost flip this on its head and green energy isn't expensive.
03:08It's actually something where if consumers understand it better in quick and easy ways through technology
03:14and all of the things that we have available, they get that ability to use it cheaper.
03:17And it becomes really popular. We had 45,000 communities right to us in the UK
03:22and asked us to come and build a wind turbine in their back garden
03:25if it meant that they could have a tariff like this.
03:27If you could wave a magic wand at COP and have one thing change, what would it be?
03:31It's really around now making sure that we've got a just transition and a fair transition
03:36and looking at some of the capital flows and making sure that they go now into emerging markets.
03:42As Octopus we work on the African continent and we're building Sierra Leone's first wind farm.
03:48And I'm also very conscious very often that those are the nations that are feeling the effects of climate change most greatly.
03:55They're also the places where it's hardest to attract capital to invest.
03:59So I would like to see at this COP obviously the ability to do all the things for the UK
04:04but also make sure that we really do flip the equation and there are now there's a focus on capital
04:10but innovative ideas that are going into places that really need the most.
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