One on One with A.T. Kearney's Florian Haslauer

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been a topic of concern as the world has seen the rise of new industrial powers in new regions. Ahead of the recent United Nations 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris, where the issue of reducing emissions globally was discussed, A.T. Kearney released new research and a three-point plan to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe without harming economic growth. The plan includes increasing energy efficiency, changing the power mix to include more renewable energy sources, as well as finding the right price for C02 emissions to achieve technology leadership and create jobs. Consulting recently caught up with Florian Haslauer, A.T. Kearney's Global Head of Utilities, who has put together a plan of attack to facilitate this much-needed energy transition.

Consulting: Could you summarize the key points of the three-point plan to lower GHG emissions?

Haslauer: We tried to find an answer around the topics being discussed in Paris and what has been achieved so far and what can we learn from it regarding the reduction of C02 emissions. So we tried to get insight about what is urgent and what is not urgent regarding climate policy in Europe. We then tried to figure out what could be done. One option is a trading system like was introduced in Europe some years ago. The first option would be to expand this system and invite other countries to participate, especially other large emitters like China and the US. Another would be CO2 taxes. We also need to decouple the growth of economies from the growth of C02 emissions. This is what we see as maybe the most important reason may countries don't follow the ambitions of some others. Because they are afraid if they try to reduce emissions they'll hurt their economic development.