Excess CO2 in the atmosphere as a result of our species lifestyle - is a major factor that’s causing our planet to heat up - and as a result is causing all types of issues.
Experts reckon the world must remove about 6bn tonnes of CO2 a year from the atmosphere by 2050 to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
Less than 10,000 tonnes have so far been permanently extracted each year - leaving a large gap .
Closing the gap thus requires focussed energy !!! And if one gets this right ….. says Mark Patel of McKinsey - there will be exponential returns!!
This month 4 tech companies —. Meta Alphabet,, Shopify and Stripe—and McKinsey, pledged $925m over nine years to bootstrap technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in an effort to arrest global warming.
Through a first-of-its-kind investment fund, Apple and 10 of its suppliers in China are investing nearly $300 million to develop projects totalling 1 gigawatt of renewable energy.
The First Movers Coalition, created at CAF in November - are focussed on programmes to decarbonise the aviation, shipping, trucking and steel industries.
There are some wicked problems to solve…..
- How can a technology store carbon sucked out of the atmosphere for 1000 years?
- How can this technology scale?
- Can one bring down the exorbitant cost of this technology to less than $100 per tonne of carbon?
Nan Ransohoff of Stripe and Peter Freed says that a billion dollars is not even close to what is needed - but is a pebble that will “start a snowball rolling down the hill”.
Chris LaRosa, Senior Product Manager says “At Google, we believe technology has a crucial role to play in a carbon-free future and we want to help people make more sustainable choices every day.”
Apple is taking climate Action seriously and is
already carbon neutral today for its global corporate operations, and by 2030, every Apple device sold will have net zero climate impact.
Lisa Jackson - Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives says
“Systemic racism and climate change are not separate issues, and they will not abide separate solutions. We have a generational opportunity to help build a greener and more just economy, one where we develop whole new industries in the pursuit of giving the next generation a planet worth calling home.”
“Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of our common concern for the planet we share,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The innovations powering our environmental journey are not only good for the planet — they’ve helped us make our products more energy efficient and bring new sources of clean energy online around the world. Climate action can be the foundation for a new era of innovative potential, job creation, and durable economic growth. With our commitment to carbon neutrality, we hope to be a ripple in the pond that creates a much larger change.”