2024-10-14
18 分钟A new report from the UBS Sustainability and Impact Institute explores whether key climate technologies are breaking through at the scale and pace required to address the climate crisis. William Nicolle, the author of the report, explains that despite climate tech’s vast potential for emissions reduction, there remains a tricky road ahead as most of these technologies are economically uncompetitive or as yet too immature to easily scale. We’ll hear how processes might be improved to better understand complex dependencies, and also to better inform strategic policy, investment and organisational decisions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to the Bulletin with UBS on Monocle Radio.
Each week the sharpest minds and freshest thinkers in finance take you beyond the numbers and hype right to the heart of the big issues of the day.
Today we're discussing a new report from the UBS Sustainability and Impact Institute entitled Green Hockey Sticks are Key Climate Technologies Breaking Through.
The author of the report is here to tell us about how they identified vast potential emissions reductions through climate tech.
However, as I'll explain, the reality is a tricky road ahead as most climate techs are too immature to easily scale and are economically uncompetitive.
We'll consider how processes might be better designed both to better understand complex dependencies, but also to better inform strategic policy, investment and organizational decisions.
We'll hear about where financing gaps exist in the climate tech sector and consider ways that innovative solutions can address those gaps and drive progress at the pace and scale we all need to move the needle and address the urgent climate challenge.
Let's meet the reports author.
It's a pleasure to welcome back to the show and William Nicole, ESG analyst in the UBS Sustainability and Impact Institute.
William, great to have you with us once again.
Well before we get into the detail of the report, tell me what your frames of reference were.
What were the objectives at the outset?
So the starting point was looking at climate change as a sort of technology led story.
So if you look back in history, it's replete with examples of technology breakthroughs which are basically a better solution emerging, replacing a worse one.
And you can really see examples everywhere.
And they can be as simple as like horses being replaced by canals and then eventually cars or lighting sources where for example candles have been eventually replaced by nice cheap modern light emitting diodes.
And climate change is really a similar process of kind of new climate technologies which is any technology that helps reduce emissions replacing kind of carbon intensive technologies.
And a clear example for example is electric vehicles replacing internal combustion engine vehicles.
And you can really see this process of climate technologies replacing carbon intensive technologies already happening in some areas today.
So I gave an example there in transport.