As Director of Sustainability within OGUK, Michael Tholen seeks to Help the UK’s oil and gas industry manage the Energy Transition and achieve a “net-zero” carbon goal by 2050.  In this role he works closely with industry to reduce their own emissions from exploration and production activities and supports the development and deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage and hydrogen to reduce the carbon impact from the use of oil and gas.   His team is responsible for managing industry’s relationship with the UK, and Scottish Government and the EU on energy, carbon policy, economics and fiscal matters and he was previously head of Upstream Policy within OGUK,. He formerly worked for Shell for 20 years, in the UK and internationally, in a variety of engineering and commercial roles. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a regular commentator on the energy scene.