Innovation and Climate Technology

Abstract

Today’s diverse emerging technologies environment-- from renewable energy initiatives to infrastructure projects such as seawalls to AI-enabled agriculture and resource management software offers hope that we have real solutions to pressing climate issues. For these innovations to disrupt the status quo and succeed, we require an enabling environment comprising favorable social, economic, and governance factors such as a ripe consumer base, business-friendly policies, and ample climate investing that allow opportunities and new ways of thinking regarding climate tech’s social, economic, and environmental potential to flourish. In this ecosystem, the responsibility for safeguarding against the potential risks of these innovations has been disproportionately laid on public actors, such as governments and regulatory bodies, yet the private sector is the primary catalyst of climate technology innovation, and as such, the private sector’s power and influence compel it to play a more significant role in safeguarding against the risks. How do policymakers get the private sector to get involved in creating technologies that are climate-friendly?