BUS604: Innovation and Sustainability

Of all the interim solutions, however, neither solar energy, nor offshore and onshore wind energy, nor ocean wave energy provides in the shorter term a commercially viable alternative to fossil fuels at present. This leaves nuclear energy, which has a very minimal carbon footprint, but may not be acceptable to many societies in the West, especially since the Fukushima disaster.

The dilemma has come to the fore as decision-makers are unable to resist the political will of electorates protesting at nuclear energy, or directives from the European Union. It is becoming ever more difficult to exercise leadership because a confluence of forces is driving reactive policies and compromises in which long-term national, regional, and global interests are sacrificed. After the Fukushima disaster, nuclear energy became unacceptable and a nuclear phase-out started in various European countries, especially in Germany, which plans to shut down all its reactors in 15 years or so. Austria and Spain have passed laws to cease production of new power stations, and other European countries are debating phase-outs. These short-term reactions are not in their long-term interest, either economically or environmentally. Nuclear energy remains a viable interim solution to reduce carbon emissions on a large scale, but in the public mind it no longer passes the test of the first A - Acceptable.

Van der Veer comments: "Mind you, Angela Merkel could have said: we will close all old nuclear power stations, but we will create a European task force that will look into how we can build safe nuclear energy for the future. That would have been a much better stance in my opinion than simply: I'm shutting down nuclear energy, full stop".

The challenge for leadership is immense. To be able to exercise leadership effectively in this area requires solid intellectual foundations and public support that does not exist. As our case study on the Responsibility to Protect doctrine shows, the ground was prepared over a long period before the diplomatic breakthrough occurred. To articulate a vision at the political level, and to gain traction with genuine public support, requires a broad campaign. It may be better to start from the bottom, General van den Breemen noted, to develop an integrated policy across the whole of government, rather than merely in one ministry. At this point in the conversation, former Defense Minister Hans Hillen interjected, "Don't overestimate politics".

Or would a top-down approach be more effective? "I think top-down," says van der Veer. "You first have to agree in Brussels that the goal in the end is to get European energy policy. So, our heads of state can say: this is our common policy. But that will take years of preparation, because people are all over the place at the moment".