The Energy Transition: A Slightly Nerdy Take on a Global Issue

1. Inertia: When you see a fire, you rush to put it out (hopefully). Seeing a problem is half the solution. Climate change is invisible and occurs on timescales where it is easy to ignore. No one rushes to put out a fire they cannot see.

2. Technology: Yes, the world needs new technology. While nobody can agree on what the future will look like, there is clear alignment that the future energy mix will be more complex with several interdependent and perhaps yet-to-be-discovered technologies.

3. Policy: Regulations and laws have a huge role to play. Powerful lobbies with vested interests in the status quo will push back (as expected). Without policy nudges, it is difficult to create a sense of urgency and give new technologies or businesses a chance.

4. Business: Like the humans who run them, businesses also suffer from short-termism. It is difficult to convince the CEO of a company to allocate part of next quarter’s earnings towards a problem that will hit her company ten years down the line.So, what needs to happen to get us over the proverbial Transition Energy of the Energy Transition? Let’s look at each of the barriers outlined above, with a focus on how we can overcome them:

5. Defeat inertia with planned urgency: Emissions are everybody’s problem and we need to invest in education and awareness. Equally important is increased accountability through systematic goal-setting (global and regional), monitoring and reporting.

6. Accelerate innovation: We no longer have the luxury to wait for the apple to fall on our heads. Technology has to be a top priority with unprecedented collaboration across industries and governments. No single sector or technology will be the silver bullet. 

7. Dynamic science-based policy: Science and policy have to learn to talk and educate each other as we develop new solutions. Lawmakers and shareholders need to be armed with facts and consequences to incentivize clean business opportunities.

8. Reimagine the role of business: Prevention is better than cure. For business, recovering from climate change may be much more expensive than getting ahead of the problem by moving to a more holistic view of the bottom line. Perhaps the only silver lining of the current pandemic is that it has shown us what we can achieve when we act together as a society and the consequences of ignoring facts. Navigating the energy transition will require similar coordinated action but on a longer time scale. Moving the ball to the top of the hill will be necessary to give entrepreneurs and businesses a fighting chance to lead the transformation towards a sustainable and environmentally conscious society. (Disclaimer: All views expressed here are those of the authors and do not reflect those of any company or organization that the authors are or have been affiliated with.)