“There is not enough money, and therefore you have to innovate,” he said. “The idea that this could be done by brute force doesn’t stand a chance.”
He says companies need investment and technical support to prove their low-carbon ideas beyond the pilot stage – and then to scale up to manufacturing. But any Breakthrough Energy profits are channeled back into the group or foundation.
Breakthrough Some companies developing direct air capture (DAC) – technology designed to pull CO2 directly from the atmosphere – have won some $3.5 billion in newly announced US contracts to build DAC plants and fund research grants You have set your places.
“We have a number of direct air capture companies bidding to be part of those projects,” he said, noting that recent Inflation Reduction Act legislation has boosted the possibilities for climate innovation. He did not elaborate on the plans of the DAC companies.
In manufacturing, the steel and cement industries have made “fantastic” progress, he said, a turnaround from his concerns about that sector two years ago.
Manufacturing is responsible for about a third of global climate-warming emissions.
Now, “there’s no area of climate mitigation that makes me think ‘Oh, this is really totally open,'” he said.
Instead, the world is poised to move past levels of 1.5C warming, he said, adding that the challenge is turning to helping people adapt to a harsher, warmer future.
“In addition to mitigation, which will still be the largest portion (of Breakthrough Energy’s investment), we will also fund adaptation-related work.” This could include techniques to help control wildfires, using coral reef-type structures to create barriers to flooding, or developing crop strains that withstand drought.
