Our CEO, Dev Sanyal, participated in a panel discussion at the Greek Investor Forum on Energy Security and Sustainability in Europe in London

The opening by HE Nikos Dendias, Greek Minister of National Defence and HE Graham Stuart, UK Minister of Energy Security and Net Zero, set the scene for the discussions.

Together with his co-panelists Marianthi Stavrinou, Head of Country, Greece, BP, Rikard Scoufias, Chairman, Hellenic Hydrocarbons & Energy Resources Management Company and Rob Turner, Partner, Head of Energy, PwC, they engaged on the changing energy landscape and how this has affected the way in which policy-making and business operate.

The last couple of years have certainly changed our perception about energy and the need to provide both energy security for Europe and to shape a new more diversified energy landscape.

Speaking of VARO’s experience and strategy, he touched on 5 key points:

• The devastating and tragic war in Ukraine that flagged Europe’s dependence on Russian energy. Moving away from this has been the right decision for VARO, but also for Europe.
• The interplay of energy demand and production. We are, for example, creating a new hydrogen business with our captive demand and partnering with our customers such as Lufthansa in creating a symmetry between new production of sustainable aviation fuel and new demand.
• The importance of fortifying Europe through more energies which are sustainable. We are investing $3.5 billion by 2026, with around two-thirds deployed in sustainable energy.
• Repurposing. At VARO, we have a roadmap to decarbonise our operations, replacing, for example, conventional power with solar (as we announced in Cressier), grey hydrogen with green, and building new bio energies value chains.
• Finally, the imperative of creating a secure, sustainable and affordable energy system needs multiple customer and product solutions, strategic partnerships and supportive regulations.