Powering Progress Together

The Shell Powering Progress Together conferences provide a forum for discussion and action on a range of energy challenges. For example, how can society address growing pressure on resources of energy, water and food in the coming decades? And, what can it do to build increased resilience in the face of stresses on these resources?

Since 2012, the programme has been bringing together some of the world’s leading thinkers from business, government and civil society to engage in a dialogue on future energy challenges. It also aims to trigger concrete on-the-ground action to address them, usually in the form of city-based initiatives run by young professionals.

Focus on cities

By 2050, around three out of every four of us will live in cities, where pressure on vital resources is most intense.

Around the world there are big differences in the way cities are built and run, from their transport systems to energy use. Understanding these differences will help society to make the right choices, helping to building sustainable cities of the future. Greater resilience in city planning and management systems will be essential.

Our events

Three main events take place annually in Asia, Europe and the Americas, facilitating the dialogue on the future energy challenges. In 2017, we will run events in Singapore; Detroit, USA and London, UK.

Why is Shell interested in resilience thinking and urbanisation?

Natural and man-made shocks and stresses will continue to challenge the world’s major cities. But should it only be up to cities to find ways to make cities more resilient? Shell believes these types of strategies require an integrated approach: cross-sector, public-private, and interregional collaboration.

For more than a century, Shell has been able to remain resilient in a changing world. Now, as we look ahead to the next decade, we see potential risks to our business as well as opportunities: from the threat to our most important refineries in low-lying coastal areas to the development of new energy solutions.

The Shell Scenarios team has worked with the Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore on research around city archetypes and how these can develop. Our publication New Lenses on Future Cities draws on insights we gained into 500 cities around the world and presents possible solutions for better urban planning.