Shell has been developing scenarios to explore the future and deepen its strategic thinking for 40 years. Drawing on wide-ranging expertise from inside and outside the company, scenarios have helped Shell anticipate, adapt to, and respond to oil price shocks in the 1970s and the impacts of technology, terrorism, and globalization in a rapidly changing world. The recently released New Lens Scenarios explore how economic, political, and social forces will shape the global energy system and environment over the 21st century. These include the increasing ties among energy, water, and food and the impact of growing global urbanization — along with the socio-political-economic drivers that could take the world in different directions. Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Company, and Jeremy Bentham, head of Shell's Scenarios team, will discuss the New Lens Scenarios and how they help the company link uncertainties about the future to today's choices.
