Renewables champion and Octopus Energy’s Greg Jackson revealed that an oil CEO told him the fossil fuel industry is privately preparing for dangerous global temperatures – and six feet of sea level rise – in a powerful keynote speech to launch The Independent’s second annual Climate 100 List.
Jackson, founder and CEO of the U.K.’s largest energy supplier, is one of 100 business leaders, environmentalists, scientists, and creatives featured on the 2025 Climate 100 List, following the success of last year’s inaugural list. It celebrates leaders on diverse paths with a singular goal: tackling the worsening climate crisis.
The launch took place Tuesday during the annual New York City Climate Week, which coincides with the gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in the city.
Others on the Climate100 List include British-Nigerian writer Abi Daré’, Sioux Chef Sean Sherman, actor and activist Jane Fonda, Kenyan-American climate activist Wawa Gatheru, documentarian Sir David Attenborough, and Pope Leo XIV.
Jackson, the event’s keynote speaker, founded Octopus in 2016, which sources a large portion of its energy from renewables, and invests in wind and solar energy. He spoke about the future of energy in a rapidly heating world, and the role of the fossil fuel industry.
He recalled recently attending an energy industry event, where one oil CEO remarked that he was “loving life” but divulged the company is privately preparing for 2.75 degrees of global temperature rise – far above the United Nations goal of holding to a liveable 1.5C.
“Without hesitation, the ‘Big Oil’ CEO said, ‘Six feet of sea level rise,” Jackson added.
The Octopus CEO explained that he appealed to his fellow executive about what he would tell his own children about such deadly conditions – but the man looked at him blankly.
“He had no answer,” Jackson said.
The Independent’s World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley was able to put such catastrophic climate impacts into real-world terms, and what that extreme sea level rise would mean for communities.
Kiley recently partnered with the Gates Foundation on a documentary about how climate change has led to rising water levels at Burundi’s Lake Tanganyika. The Southeast African lake has seen a six-foot rise in the past 20 years, resulting in the displacement of 100,000 people, the spread of cholera, and political tensions.
“Any minute now, Burundi’s going to blow up and it will be generally, partly ignited by climate change,” Kiley said.
But despite bearing witness to such a dire prediction for the world, Jackson remains optimistic about the power of renewables to drive sweeping global electrification, and a shift away from fossil fuels.
He compared the crisis to 80s classic movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, where at the last moment Indiana Jones is able to escape a rolling boulder and poison darts, sliding under a closing stone wall with his prized hat.
“The treasure is cheap, clean, abundant energy. But, the door is closing. The boulder is the politics, the populism, and the incumbents doing everything they can to try and block us from getting to the future,” Jackson explained, referring to fossil fuel companies.
He underlined how far behind the U.S. and other western counties were lagging compared to China, where “everything on two wheels” is electric, and how the superpower planned to have no gas stations by 2045.
He said that Beijing saw the future and was plowing ahead on replacements for fossil fuel with “astonishing progress” in solar and batteries.
“The future is electric,” Jackson declared.
