This is the ONS main theme for the 2012 event and will set the agenda for the leading biennial energy meeting place in Stavanger, Norway.

Energy drives our economic growth and prosperity – but our energy use is damaging our planet. We all embrace the calls for change, but are we willing to accept the consequences?

The world is crying out for energy diversification, sustainability and security of supply while keeping costs low. Major commitments have been made and billions spent on reducing carbon emissions – but have we reversed climate change?

Hydrocarbons, by many viewed as an outdated source, nevertheless provide eighty-five percent of global energy needs and will continue to fuel the world economy for many decades to come. Renewables are now in the limelight, but often lack the scope, immediacy and economics to change the outcome as much as we would like. Is green really better than clean?

We are living in an age of turbulent change. The playing field is no longer level. Climate change and energy policies are not viewed as the same. Politics and markets are in conflict. Can we agree on a global energy policy and avoid an energy crisis?

“Few industries are facing more paradoxes than the energy sector. At ONS 2012 we will focus on deconstructing these paradoxes in an effort to create new opportunities”, says Kjell Ursin-Smith, President & CEO of the ONS Foundation.

“We must cross traditional cultural and industrial boundaries and develop technologies to resolve the great challenges we face. At ONS we gain inspiration from the paradoxes themselves, knowing that we will make progress only by confronting them.”

Tags: ONS 2012