The event was opened with an apology from the Michael McCarthy, environment editor at The Independent for the lack of diversity on the panel. “You’re looking at five middle aged white geezers, and for this I apologise,” said McCarthy.

The 90 minute ‘Question Time’ style discussion asked whether it is possible enough reduce CO2 emissions quickly enough over the next forty years to avert catastrophic climate change and returned frequently to the issue of technological fixes. There seemed to be broad agreement from the panel that while the technology required already existed there was a lack of political will to make the necessary changes.

A question about the exploitation of Canadian tar sands by the world’s major oil companies at one point put Shell’s David Hone on the spot. He responded, “We need to put oil sands in context, they’re currently used primarily for economic development, that is the model that the world is operating on today.”

He added that people complain when petrol prices rise too much and that it is economic stimulus that make projects such as the tar sands possible.

In total Mr Hone had to put up with around ten minutes of awkward comments from fellow panellists regarding not just tar sands investments but also his support carbon markets as an effective mitigation mechanism, as well as Shell’s continued lobbying against efficiency improvements at the EU level.

The event entitled “On the Eve of Cancun, Can we Cut the Carbon in Time?” held at the Manchester Art Gallery, was jointly hosted by the Independent in association with Shell and Channel 4.

Robbie Gillett