Wed 21st January 2026 | 5:30pm – Scotland
The James Watt Lecture 2026
Join us for
“Flip Flops and False Starts – Rethinking the UK’s Approach to Energy Policy”
In this year’s James Watt Lecture, Professor Ian Arbon will deliver a thought-provoking critique of the fragmented and short-sighted nature of current UK and Scottish government energy and emissions policies. He will argue that the persistent reliance on ‘siloed’ thinking – treating individual technologies or sectors in isolation – has led to a cycle of policy reversals, unrealistic targets, and ultimately, stalled progress on the primary goal of our climate commitments.
Drawing on insights from his long-running MSc module “Energy Policies, Politics & Ethics” at Newcastle University, Professor Arbon will explore how an integrated, whole-system-based approach can deliver coherent and achievable strategies for energy transition and climate change mitigation, the real objective.
The lecture will challenge the audience to look beyond short-term political ambitions and embrace a more holistic, strategic framework, one that aligns technological capability, ethical and societal responsibility, and environmental necessity
Event Speaker
Professor Ian Arbon
Ian Arbon is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, a Registered European Engineer and a Chartered Environmentalist, with an MSc in ‘Renewable Energy and the Environment’ and an MBA. He has over 50 years of experience with hydrogen compression and is past MD of several UK gas compressor manufacturing companies; he now runs Engineered Solutions, a Sustainable Engineering and Management consultancy. Ian is a Fellow of IMechE, where he is a founder member and past chair of its Energy, Environment & Sustainability Group and also of its Renewable Power Committee; he has a long history in spearheading the Institution’s work in sustainable energy development. He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (and a past member of ASME’s Distinguished Lecturers’ Program), the Energy Institute, the Institute of Refrigeration and the Institution of Engineers in Scotland. He has been a Visiting Professor in Alternative Energy Systems at Newcastle University, an Honorary Professor in Sustainable Energy at the University of Glasgow and a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Strathclyde.
The Venue
The Royal Scots Club, Edinburgh
The Royal Scots Club in Edinburgh is located in the heart of the New Town, only 15 minutes from Waverley Train Station on foot.
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