TIME100 2023 Climate Leaders on Technology

TIME

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00:00 (gentle music)

00:02 Renewable energy technologies,

00:11 which get a fair amount of attention,

00:14 are actually not widely available all across this planet.

00:18 The truth is the wealthiest countries in the world

00:20 are putting huge subsidies in place

00:23 to help their economies electrify in a more green manner.

00:27 Whereas most of the world's nations,

00:29 70 to 80 countries that over the next 20 years

00:33 will account for 75% of future carbon emissions

00:36 are still stuck on coal, heavy fuel oil,

00:39 and diesel generators.

00:40 And until we make those renewable energy technologies

00:43 truly available to everyone,

00:45 we will not succeed at winning

00:48 the fight against climate change.

00:49 - One area that is not getting the attention

00:51 and funding it deserves is energy efficiency,

00:54 whose vast potential is not being tapped into

00:57 by businesses, policy makers, and society as a whole.

01:01 The important thing to remember

01:03 is that we may have built things incorrectly,

01:06 optimized to the wrong constraints,

01:08 or built them wastefully,

01:10 but human ingenuity is limitless.

01:12 We can redesign and optimize to the relevant constraints

01:17 of the carbon budget, greenhouse gas emissions,

01:20 resource use, and water shortages.

01:23 - Really looking at our aging infrastructure

01:26 and thinking about grid modernization,

01:28 about transmission lines,

01:29 is one of the most important things that we can do.

01:33 And it's going to allow us to be able

01:35 to grow the supply of renewable energy

01:38 and to really get at climate change much quicker.

01:42 And we don't talk about it because it's complicated.

01:45 It is tied up in a lot of regional issues

01:48 and power dynamics and local issues.

01:51 And it has big upfront costs

01:54 that we don't always want to invest in.

01:56 But one of the things that we know

01:58 is that if we don't invest now,

01:59 we are going to be facing those costs down the road

02:02 in much bigger ways.

02:03 - Aviation is today responsible

02:07 for two to 3% of global CO2 emissions.

02:10 And with air travel expected to double in the next 15 years,

02:14 aviation emissions are expected to increase significantly,

02:17 underscoring the urgent need for solutions and action.

02:21 Sustainable aviation fuel is one key lever

02:24 to reduce aviation-related emissions

02:27 and to achieve the aviation industry's

02:29 net zero carbon emissions by 2050 goal.

02:33 - I strongly believe we need a shift

02:35 to increase investments directly into nature.

02:37 Nature is a foundational resource,

02:40 especially within our industry,

02:42 providing nature-based solutions for us to utilize,

02:45 fostering vital biodiversity,

02:46 which will sustain our wellbeing and long-term future,

02:49 and offering ecosystem services of incredible value.

02:53 If I take as an example,

02:54 our work with coral reefs at Iberostar,

02:57 a healthy reef will nurture small fish

02:59 for future food sources and lift up local fisheries.

03:03 By protecting and regenerating nature,

03:05 we support the environment and local economies.

03:08 - There's a technology right now available

03:10 that's been around for like 3.4 billion years

03:13 that is deployable instantly, and that is photosynthesis.

03:17 25% of the global carbon emissions that we have today

03:19 comes from our destruction on nature, our war on nature.

03:22 We've got to get that to zero

03:24 and then into negative territory within 10 to 15 years.

03:27 If we don't do that, then we have no chance,

03:30 even if we deploy all the other technologies we have

03:33 at scale, which is almost impossible,

03:35 we will still exceed the 1.5, 1.8 degree Celsius jump

03:40 that we think still keeps our planet relatively livable.

03:45 And it provides multiple benefits,

03:47 it provides water, it keeps cities cool,

03:50 it provides biodiversity, pollination, food security.

03:53 To me, that's the technology that we need to lean in on.

03:56 (upbeat music)

03:59 (upbeat music)

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