Author: Power Peak Digest Team Pub Date: November 29, 2024
Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 requires substantial financial support, but experts at the London Climate Technology Show 2024 highlighted a persistent lack of investment in key sectors like carbon capture, grid efficiency, and decarbonizing buildings.
Speakers pointed to over-regulation and misaligned funding priorities as significant barriers.
Teele Niidas, CMO of UP Catalyst, stressed the need to redirect trillions invested in technologies like AI towards scalable carbon capture solutions with clear financial returns.
Celestine Cheong of the UK Atomic Energy Authority compared the $7 billion invested in fusion energy to the $7 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies, underscoring the disparity in funding for clean technologies.
Former German hydrogen commissioner Stefan Kaufmann highlighted the challenge of financing hydrogen infrastructure, emphasizing the difficulty in overcoming competition with natural gas and consumers’ reluctance to pay green premiums for sustainable products.
Collaboration between the public and private sectors emerged as a critical driver of the energy transition.
Sarah Mackintosh of Cleantech for the UK stressed the need for policy frameworks to unlock private investment and a structured public funding path to bridge gaps during the commercialization of clean technologies.
Despite the challenges, success stories like Microsoft’s $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund offer hope.
James Lockyer, the fund’s director, reported investments in 60 companies across sectors like grid transmission, low-carbon steel, and batteries, signalling growth in the climate innovation space.