We’re livingin a geological, not historical, period: the end of the fossil age and start of CO2 free times. In this shift of energy, city planning is key because it’s in cities that small changes lead to big transformations. Lorenzo Parola’s black beard opens with a smile, but immediately closes in concentration. He orders some blueberries and an espresso, alternating concepts in English with a refined Italian, full of literary references, yet with a hint of a Piedmont accent. Partner and Head of Energy and Infrastructure Practice for the international law firm Paul Hastings, Parola is a main player in the industrial and financial transition that lies behind what is taking place today. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t add sugar to his coffee. “I don’t believe you can impose social change through laws. In life, the power of the market only and always commands. Carbon dioxide follows the same rules. It’s growing less because the market understands that making clean energy is becoming the most economic way of making energy. Consequentially, not only enlightened brands like Ikea, Barilla and Carnival are heading in this direction, but also steel manufacturers like the Italian Duferco of Antonio Gozzi, while for some time now the British chain Marks & Spencer and the American Walmart choose their suppliers from among those who make clean energy”.

A scenario that also explains the great change of energy companies, those utilities that – Parola says – “from asset centric commodity sellers are becoming client service providers. Just like the bank, telephone and car industries had to do. The city of the future has three key lines of development: reduction of fossil fuels, because homes pollute a lot. Digitalisation will allow for energy saving. And finally, decentralisation, in the sense that energy will no longer be made by large, far-away assets but by the consumers themselves, who will become producers. In a word: prosumers”. A modern way of saying that the stone age didn’t end because there were no stones left.

Lorenzo Parola is partner of the international legal firm Paul Hastings at the Milan office and is chair of EU Energy and Infrastructure Practice. He is recognised as one of the greatest experts of energy law in Italy and worked on some of the most innovative and complex operations in the sector.