Can innovation tackle the climate change?

The impact of climate change can be felt in every part of our lives whether it is with increasing floods and rising temperatures as well as with the impact on bio-diversity in the planet. The 2015 Paris climate agreement was meant to ensure a a common target: to hold the rise in global average temperature “well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” The countries participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to the common target. However, the goal already seems to be quite difficult to attain.

The 1.5 degree average rise is extremely significant: though the number seems small, it is just the average which implies that in certain places the temperature rise will be even higher. With rising sea levels, there is a possibility that many island nations will cease to exist by 2050. In the midst of all these there are few notable start-ups which are focusing on innovative solutions to tackle the problem.

Infrastructure firms have also been in the forefront of this movement. AECOM, an engineering firm has been working on building roads in coastal areas of California as high as 150 cm from ground level. While this leads to increase in cost of construction, one should also look at the impact in terms of savings in case of floods and natural disasters. Agricultural firms like Bayer and Syngenta are looking at developing crops that can withstand extreme weather conditions. Companies like Schneider Electric are increasingly looking at green energy as a viable alternative with nearly 70% contribution to its top-line.

There are however three major enablers to make this aim of environmental sustainability a reality in the coming decade. Firstly, it will be industries which be based on the principle of adapting to the changed reality. This will include segments such as electric cars and recycled goods. The second factor will involve the impact of regulations. The stricter the regulations, the more likely it will have a positive impact on climate change.  The third and probably the most important factor is the price of renewable energy. In the last 10 years, this has reduced significantly.

Carbfix, a startup based in Ice Land seems to have discovered a unique approach for carbon removal. The company focuses on converting carbon into rocks by accelerating this process of mineralisation. The rocks would then be stored at the bottom of the oceans. The strategy seems innovative and if it works fine, it may solve the problem permanently.

The bigger question, though is, can innovation successfully tackle the climate change ?