Alan Finkel: ‘Technology is enabled by government’
Now is the moment as government, industry, technology and communities embrace both the urgency and practical reality of emissions reduction.
Introducing our list of 100 green power players, Alan Finkel AC explains how now is the moment.
It’s hard to find an article about new product development that doesn’t feature an “S curve”. This is the curve that starts off with a gentle slope, then sweeps upwards into a steep climb before slowly flattening as it approaches 100 per cent, indicating that the new product has achieved saturation levels.
Instead of looking at an S curve, at this moment I am living inside one, like the computer programmer in the movie Tron who is transported into the inner-software world of a mainframe computer. This new S curve is the one that describes the uptake of new and emerging technologies that will transport us to net-zero by 2050.
See the full list of green power players here
Change is in the air. I am more excited in recent times about our prospects for reducing emissions than in any of the years I have been providing policy advice on low emissions energy and technologies.
Across Australia, there is tangible determination from industry, communities, researchers, financiers and all levels of government to reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions. The challenge is to do so without compromising our current and future prosperity.
The heavy lifting to reach net-zero will be delivered by technology. Although I am deeply engaged in this area, I am the first to acknowledge that technology does not live in a vacuum. Technology does the work, but it relies on many key enablers.
The first enabler is government. Government provides the back-end programming to the S curve, by constructing the environment for technology to thrive. It does this through policies that provide signals to investors. It sets up the regulators and operators of the sustainable markets in which the new technologies operate. And importantly, government provides the funding for research and demonstration projects, necessary to help new technologies achieve commercial viability.
See the full list of green power players here
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Investors are next. By financing new technologies they give the S curve flare and momentum. They empower companies to capitalise on innovative technologies to build their new products and services. One of the most remarkable outcomes of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last year was that global investors stepped up to the podium — institutions representing US$130 trillion ($182 trillion) expressed their determination to spend US$100 trillion between now and 2050 on green investments.
The final enablers are the consumers whose choices drive the product development decisions of every company, and the community leaders who encourage our citizens to be involved and ensure that they are the beneficiaries of the coming changes. In the S curve I’m living in, there’d be no movement without them.
Right now, the enablers and the technologies are coming together to achieve the double goal of cutting our emissions to net-zero while improving prosperity.
Think about solar and wind generation. They are delivering not just cleaner but cheaper electricity, and for some Australian households, energy independence.
Think about lithium-ion batteries. They are more powerful and cheaper every year and contributing to the reliability of our electricity system.
Think about electric cars. They are more pleasurable to drive and within a few years will achieve a lower cost of ownership than their petrol counterparts. The same will happen with steelmaking and industrial heating.
I’ve been involved in the review of the National Electricity Market, the creation of the National Hydrogen Strategy and annual updates of the Australian government’s Low Emissions Technology Roadmap. It is for good reason that I feel I am living inside the S curve, and I am delighted by the number of friends and colleagues already inside and others clamouring to enter.
As a nation, we have traversed the gently rising initial slope and are in the early stages of the rapid escalation, heralding a decade of tremendous change, reminiscent of the 1960s space race. Our investment in technology will bring us cheaper electricity with lower emissions, underpinning the deployment of a broad range of low and zero emissions technologies such as hydrogen production for export and domestic use, electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes, short- and long-term electricity storage, and exports of iron ore, bauxite, critical minerals and rare earths in growing demand as countries near and far pursue their journey to net-zero.
This new magazine lists 100 remarkable people who have contributed directly and indirectly to creating jobs and economic growth in support of our national emissions reduction effort. The editors chose them from a longer list compiled from the advice of the expert members of the advisory board, who themselves have been persuasive and knowledgeable contributors to this extraordinary journey.
There is a long way to go, but the determination is there and collectively we are unstoppable. There is always a better way, and this is the decade to seize it.
Alan Finkel AC is special adviser to the Australian government for low emissions technology and was Australian‘s chief scientist from 2016–2020.
See the full list of green power players here